Game Notes
Kris Letang (6G-24A) is tied with Alex Pietrangelo (6G-24A) for the secondmost points against the Jets among active defensemen behind Roman Josi (5G-27A).
Erik Karlsson has 28 points (3G-25A) in 33 career games against the Jets. His 0.85 points-per-game average versus Winnipeg ranks first among all active defensemen (min. 10 GP).
Michael Bunting has five points (3G-2A) over his last eight games after recording just one point (1A) in his first 12 games.
St. Adolphe, Manitoba native Owen Pickering, who grew up roughly 30 minutes from downtown Winnipeg, is looking to play his first game against his hometown team. Pickering has one assist in two career games played, averaging 15:40 of time-on-ice per game.
The Penguins own an overall record of 391-90-48 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
Tonight, Sidney Crosby is set to appear in his 1,294th career game, all of which have come with the Penguins. In doing so, he will tie Patrice Bergeron for the 18th most games played with one franchise in NHL history.
Crosby, who has notched six goals over his last 10 games, enters tonight’s contest just one goal shy of becoming just the 21st player in NHL history to reach 600 goals. Crosby is looking to join Washington’s Alex Ovechkin as the only active players to accomplish this milestone. Throughout franchise history, only Mario Lemieux 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.
Erik Karlsson enters tonight’s game one assist shy of surpassing Borje Salming for 15th place on the NHL’s all-time assist list among blueliners.
Karlsson is also tied for the second-most assists by a Swedish-born defenseman in league history.
Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game just one even-strength goal shy of tying Teemu Selanne for the 12th most even-strength goals in NHL history.
Evgeni Malkin enters tonight’s game just one even-strength goal shy of tying Jaromir Jagr for third place on the Penguins all-time even-strength goals list.
Crosby has 13 points (6G-7A) in 10 games here at PPG Paints Arena compared to seven points (1G-6A) in 11 road games this season. Crosby has points in six of his last seven home games and seven of 10 games at PPG Paints Arena overall.
Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have combined on 305 goals in their careers. 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.
Jesse Puljujarvi has 11 points (4G-7A) in 22 career games against Winnipeg. It’s the second-most points he’s notched versus any one team.
Puljujarvi enters tonight’s game with goals in back-to-back games. With a goal tonight, he could tie his career-long goal streak previously set twice.
Tristan Jarry has played some of his best hockey of his career against the Winnipeg Jets. The goaltender is 5-1-0 with a 1.15 goals-against average, a .960 save percentage and two shutouts in six games. Jarry has allowed two or fewer goals in all six starts, and his goals-against average and save percentage are both best against any one team.
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are statistically two of the most productive players in NHL history on a point-per-game basis against the Winnipeg Jets.
Three of Malkin’s eight five-point performances in his career have come against the Jets/Thrashers franchise.