Pittsburgh has been one of the hottest teams in the NHL over the last month, going 9-3-1 in its last 13 games. Since Nov. 27, the Penguins rank towards the top of the league in multiple categories.
During this 13-game stretch, the Penguins top line of Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have dominated, combining for 21 goals and 54 points.
Bryan Rust has been one of the hottest players in the NHL during Pittsburgh’s 9-3-1 stretch, recording a team-high 19 points (10G-9A) in 13 games. His 19 points are 10th in the league since Nov. 27, and no player has more goals than his 10.
Rust is one point shy of becoming the 15th player in franchise history to record 400 points. Rust, who was selected in the third round (80th overall) in the 2010 NHL Draft, is 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: Zach Hyman, Brock Nelson and Tyler Toffoli.
Sidney Crosby has been picking up points in bunches having notched 12 points (2G-10A) over his last six games. During that span dating back to Dec. 12, Crosby’s 10 assists are tied for first in the NHL and only Leon Draisaitl (14) has more points than his 12. Crosby enters tonight’s game just one assist shy of surpassing Mario Lemieux (1,033) for the most assists in Penguins history.
Crosby and Lemieux’s 1,033 assists are tied for 12th all-time, and only three players in NHL history have notched more assists with a single team.
Assistant Coach David Quinn has Pittsburgh’s power play firing on all cylinders after going 3-for-3 in the team’s last game on Monday against Philadelphia. The Penguins rank seventh in the NHL in power-play percentage (24.5%) and going back to Nov. 30, only two teams have a better success rate than Pittsburgh’s 33.3%.
Eleven different Penguins have notched a power-play goal this season which matches last year’s total in 82 games. Only Calgary (12) has more players with a power-play goal this year than Pittsburgh (11).
Winger Michael Bunting enters tonight’s game one point shy of 200 in his career. After starting the season with just one assist in his first 12 games, Bunting has notched 17 points (9G-8A) over his last 23 games which is fourth on Pittsburgh during that span.
Of Bunting’s 199 points, 37 (15G-22A) have come with the Penguins over parts of the last two seasons, which is his second-highest total for any team that he’s played for.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson notched his fifth multi-point effort (2A) on Monday prior to the holiday break, giving him five points (1G-4A) over his last four games. Going back further, Karlsson has recorded 12 points (1G-11A) over his last 13 games and in that span, only five NHL blueliners have recorded more points.
After his two assists on Monday, Karlsson became the fourth Penguins defenseman in the past 20 years to record 20 assists in each of his first two seasons with the franchise joining Paul Martin (2010-12) Sergei Gonchar (2005-08) and Ryan Whitney (2005-08).
QUICK HITS
Ryan Graves is set to appear in his 400th NHL game. Drafted in the fourth round (110th overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft, Graves is looking to become the 37th member of his draft class to skate in 400 regular-season games. He’s spent 97 of his 399 games with the Penguins, notching 14 points (3G-11A) and is plus-3.
Evgeni Malkin enters tonight’s game one point shy of tying Hall-of-Famer Gilbert Perreault (1,326) for the 35th-most points in NHL history.
The Penguins own an overall record of 397-90-48 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
PENGUINS VS. ISLANDERS
Throughout his career, Sidney Crosby has played dominant hockey against the New York Islanders. In 87 career games, Crosby has recorded 135 points (42G-93A) against the Islanders, helping Pittsburgh to a 51-23-13 record in those games. He has almost double the number of multi-point games against them (40) as opposed to games with no points (22). Only Jaromir Jagr (155) has more points against the Islanders in NHL history than Crosby’s 135. Crosby’s 135 points versus the Islanders are also the most that any active player has against one single team.
Crosby is one of 17 players in NHL history, and the only active player, to have 100 or more points against three or more franchises.
Defenseman Kris Letang leads all active NHL blueliners in goals (13), assists (36) and points (49) versus the Islanders.
