Game Notes
Eight of the last 12 games between Pittsburgh and Carolina have been one-goal games.
Blake Lizotte has two goals, three assists, and five points in seven career games versus Carolina. His 0.71 points-per-game average against the Hurricanes is tied for his highest versus one team (MTL, 0.71).
Matt Grzelcyk has five points (5A) over his last seven games. During that span dating back to Oct. 22, no Pittsburgh defenseman has more points than him.
The Penguins own an overall record of 389-90-48 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
Jesse Puljujarvi returned to the lineup on Tuesday night and picked up an assist on Michael Bunting’s goal. Puljujarvi now has six points (1G-5A) in 11 games, and his 0.55 points-per-game average is fifth on the Penguins.
Puljujarvi has five points (2G-3A) in eight career games against the Hurricanes. The winger spent a portion of the 2022.23 campaign with Carolina, notching two assists in 17 games.
Sidney Crosby, who has notched five goals over his last three games, enters tonight’s contest just two goals shy of becoming just the 21st player in NHL history to reach 600 goals. Crosby is looking to join Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (860) as the only active players to accomplish this milestone. Throughout franchise history, only Mario Lemieux (690) has scored more goals in a Penguins sweater than Crosby. Among first-overall draft picks, only Ovechkin and Lemieux have scored more goals than Crosby.
Ovechkin scored his 600th NHL goal on March 12, 2018. Prior to that, the last time anyone reached 600 goals in the league came on Jan. 4, 2016 when Jarome Iginla found the back of the net against Los Angeles as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.
Over the last four games, Head Coach Mike Sullivan has deployed a top line of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell, and the trio have been one of the league’s most dangerous lines. Per moneypuck.com, only one combination in the NHL is producing more shot attempts per 60 minutes than Pittsburgh’s trio (min. 60 minutes played together): Roslovic-Aho-Svechnikov (CAR).
Crosby enters tonight’s game with goals in three-straight games (5G) and has an active four-game point streak (5G-3A) dating back to Oct. 29. During this span, his eight points are tied for fourth in the NHL, and his five goals are tied for first in the league.
Crosby is just one of four players in the NHL with an active goal streak of three or more games.
Crosby enters tonight’s game just three assists shy of tying Hallof-Famer Joe Sakic for the 13th most assists in NHL history.
Crosby enters tonight’s game just three even-strength goals shy of tying Teemu Selanne for the 12th most even strength goals in NHL history.
Erik Karlsson enters tonight’s game two points shy of tying Doug Wilson for 16th place on the NHL’s all-time points list among defensemen. He is also two assists shy of tying Borje Salming for 15th place on the NHL’s all-time assist list among blueliners. He’s also looking to tie Sakic for the sixth-most assists by a player with a single franchise in league history.
The Penguins rank seventh in the NHL in penalty kill percentage at 85.4%. Over the last eight games dating back to Oct. 20, the team is tied for third in the NHL, going 22-for-24 in that span.
Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have combined on 305 goals in their careers after Crosby’s second-period goal on Saturday night. They are one goal shy of tying Boston’s Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr for the second-most goals combined on by a forward-defenseman duo in NHL history.
Sidney Crosby has 67 points (24G-43A) in 60 career games against the Carolina Hurricanes. Crosby’s 67 points versus the Hurricanes are the second most among active players, and his 1.12 points-per-game average against them is tied for fourth best (min. 15 GP).
Crosby has points in nine of his last 12 games against Carolina (9G-6A) and has 20 points (10G-10A) in his last 19 games versus them. Only Alex Ovechkin (9), Steven Stamkos (7) and Adam Henrique (6) have more game-winning goals against the Hurricanes than Crosby (5) among active players.
