Bryan Rust is looking to become the 28th player in his draft class to appear in 600 career NHL games. Rust, who was selected in the third round (80th overall) in the 2010 NHL Draft, has the 10th-most points through 600 games by anyone that was drafted in 2010.
Rust is also one point shy of becoming the 15th player in franchise history to record 400 points. He’s looking to become the 20th member of his draft class to reach 400 points. Over the last five seasons, only three members of his draft class have accumulated more points than Rust.
Assistant Coach David Quinn has Pittsburgh’s power play firing on all cylinders, having scored on the man advantage in four-straight games. The Penguins rank fourth in the NHL in power-play percentage (26.1%), and going back to Nov. 30, no team has had a better success rate than Pittsburgh’s 35.7%.
Drew O’Connor’s first-career power-play goal on Tuesday gives the Penguins 12 different players with a tally on the man advantage this season. Only the Calgary Flames have more unique power-play goal scorers.
The Penguins have scored a whopping seven power-play goals in their last 12 opportunities (58.3%) during their four-game power-play goal streak. If the Penguins score on the man advantage tomorrow, it would mark the first time the team scored a power-play goal in five-consecutive games since Dec. 1-22, 2022 (10-game streak).
Sidney Crosby has scored on exactly 150 different goaltenders in the regular season throughout his 20-year career. Included in those 150 netminders is Panthers’ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who Crosby has tallied seven of his 602 career goals against. There are only three other active goalies that Crosby has scored more goals against than Bobrovsky.
Per NHLPR, only 13 players in NHL history have scored on more individual goalies than Crosby, who’s also tied with teammate Evgeni Malkin (150).
Pittsburgh’s duo of Sidney Crosby (29G-36A-65PTS) and Evgeni Malkin (18G-32A-50PTS) rank third and fifth among all active skaters in points against the Panthers, respectively. The Penguins have four of the top-11 point scorers against Florida among active players.
Erik Karlsson (11G-25A) and Kris Letang (12G-24A) are tied for third in points among defensemen against the Panthers all-time.
Since the 2015-16 season, Sidney Crosby (15G in 22GP, 0.68) trails only Mark Scheifele (11G in 16GP, 0.69) for first in the NHL in goals per game against Florida (min. 5 GP).
Defenseman Erik Karlsson enters tonight’s game with seven points (1G-6A) over his last seven games. Going back further, Karlsson has recorded 14 points (1G-13A) over his last 16 games and in that span, only four NHL blueliners have recorded more points.
QUICK HITS
1) Matt Nieto has seven goals and 10 points (7G-3A) in 16 career games against the Panthers. His seven goals against them are his most against any one team.
2) Blake Lizotte has six points (1G-5A) in eight career games versus Florida. His teams are 7-0-1 against the Panthers when he dresses.
3) Drew O’Connor’s two-goal performance on Tuesday night against Detroit tied his career high originally set on Oct. 23, 201 versus Toronto (2G). He has four points (1G-3A) in seven career games against Florida which includes assists in back-to-back games (2A).
4) Cody Glass has picked up assists in back-to-back games (2A). With an assist tonight, he can establish a new season-long point streak and give him his first point streak of three or more games since Feb. 21-26, 2023 (3 game streak, 1G-3A).
5) The Penguins own an overall record of 398-90-48 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
