Game Notes
Alex Nedeljkovic was drafted by Carolina and spent the first five seasons of his professional career with the Hurricanes. He is 3-2-0 with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage in five career games against his former team.
Marcus Pettersson became the sixth defenseman chosen in the 2014 NHL Draft Class to record 100 assists. His two points on the night (2A) was a season high, and marked his 16th multi-point outing.
Evgeni Malkin is averaging nearly a point per game against the Hurricanes, registering 42 points (14G-28A) in 47 games. Malkin found the back of the net on Monday and recorded multiple points (1G-1A) in the Penguins 4-3 win. The goal was the 482nd of Malkin’s career, moving him within one goal of tying Sergei Fedorov for the second-most goals among Russian-born skaters in NHL history
Jake Guentzel has 18 points (8G-10A) in 19 career games against the Hurricanes. Here at PPG Paints Arena, he has six points (3G-3A) in nine games but four points (1G-3A) over his last four games here.
Pittsburgh’s team faceoff percentage of 54.8% ranks second in the NHL behind the New York Rangers (55.3%).
Rookie forward Valtteri Puustinen recorded his first multi-point game in his sixth career NHL game on Wednesday night against Minnesota, tallying two assists. In six career games, Puustinen has recorded five points (5A), which included points in his first three-consecutive games.
Captain Sidney Crosby leads Pittsburgh in goals (18) and multi-point games (7), and is second in points (33). Crosby has registered points in 23 of 30 games this season (76.7%), and is two goals shy of hitting the 20-goal plateau for the 16th time in his career. He’s looking to become just the second active player, and 22nd player in NHL history to have 16 seasons with 20 or more goals. Only four players in the NHL have scored more goals than Crosby this season, and his 14 goals at even strength are tied for third in the league.
Crosby has goals/points in six of his last eight games against Carolina (7G-3A) and has 15 points (8G-7A) in his last 15 games versus them. Only Alex Ovechkin (9), Steven Stamkos (7) and Adam Henrique (6) have more gamewinning goals against the Hurricanes than Crosby (5) among active players.
Erik Karlsson enters tonight’s game one assist away from collecting 600 helpers in his career. Karlsson will be the second active defenseman to record 600 career assists after Carolina’s Brent Burns (602), and just the 10th active player to hit the mark. He is set to become the 18th blueliner in NHL history to reach the milestone, and the eighth fastest to do so in league history.
Pittsburgh’s power play has been red hot over the last four games, going 6-for-16 (37.5%). Since this stretch began on Dec. 12, Pittsburgh’s 36.4% success rate on the power play is tied for fifth in the NHL, and only one team has scored more power-play goals (CAR, 7).
