Game Notes
Erik Karlsson’s 40 points (14G-26A) and Kris Letang’s 33 points (6G-27A) against the Sabres rank first and second, respectively, among active defensemen.
Sidney Crosby’s 50 face-off wins rank third in the NHL behind New Jersey’s Nico Hischier (85) and Robert Thomas (64).
Anthony Beauvillier has an active four-game point streak (1G-3A) versus the Sabres and has 14 points (7G-7A) in 20 career games versus them.
Kevin Hayes has notched seven points (2G-5A) in his last seven games against Buffalo and has 21 points (6G-15A) in 30 career games against them.
The Penguins own an overall record of 388-90-47 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
Evgeni Malkin has been one of the hottest Penguins out of the gate, accumulating a team-high seven points (1G-6A) in four games. Malkin has recorded multi-point efforts in three-straight games, and no NHL player has more multi- point games than Malkin this season. With two-plus points tonight, Malkin could have his first streak of four or more games with multiple points since Nov. 18-23, 2013 (1G-7A). Malkin’s seven points on the season are tied for fourth in the NHL. His seven points in four games are already tied for the fifth-most points he’s recorded through his first five games.
Evgeni Malkin enters tonight’s game just one goal away from becoming the 48th player in NHL history to score 500 career goals. When he reaches that milestone, Malkin will join teammate Sidney Crosby (592), as well as Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (853) and Nashville’s Steven Stamkos (555) as the only active players with 500-plus goals. Malkin, who has the third-most goals in Penguins history with 499 in 1,149 games, will be the 20th player in NHL history to score 500 goals with one team.
Pittsburgh (Mario Lemieux & Crosby) is set to become the second team in NHL history with three 500-goal scorers, joining the Montreal Canadiens (Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau & Maurice Richard).
Malkin is looking to join Ovechkin as the only Russian-born players in NHL history to reach the 500-goal plateau.
After registering an assist on Saturday night in Toronto, Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s contest one point shy of becoming the 10th player in NHL history to record 1,600 regular-season points. He’s looking to reach this milestone in the fifth fewest games. When Crosby gets to point 1,600, it will mark the first time that this milestone has been reached by an NHL player since Jaromir Jagr on Oct. 6, 2011.
Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have combined on 303 goals in their careers, which is one such effort shy of tying Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty for the third-most goals combined on by a forward-defenseman duo in NHL history.
Crosby enters tonight’s game two even-strength goals shy of tying Luc Robitaille for the 13th-most even- strength goals in NHL history.
The captain enters tonight’s game with points in 20 of his last 26 games (13G-19A) versus Buffalo. He has recorded at least one point in 49 of 59 career games played against them, while his 82 points (28G-54A) are the most he’s tallied against any non-Metropolitan Division opponent. Crosby enters tonight’s game with the sixth-highest career points-per-game average versus the Sabres (min. 20 GP).
Crosby is one of 11 players in NHL history to record 50 assists against Buffalo, and is one point shy of tying Wayne Gretzky (83) for the seventh-most points against the Sabres in NHL history.
Bryan Rust, who has notched 372 points (172G-200A) in 569 games, is one game shy of surpassing Chris Kunitz for 13th place on the Penguins all-time games played list. Since making his NHL debut on Dec. 13, 2014, only Sidney Crosby (795), Evgeni Malkin (636), Kris Letang (495) and Jake Guentzel (466) have recorded more points on Pittsburgh than Rust.
Despite only playing in the same division as Buffalo for one season (2020-21), the Penguins have the two top point scorers versus the Buffalo Sabres among all active players: Crosby (59GP; 28G-54A--82 Pts.) and Malkin (53 GP; 21G-48A--69 Pts.)
In his last 23 games against the Sabres, Evgeni Malkin has been held off the scoresheet just twice (9G-29A).
