Game Notes
The Penguins have wins in three-straight games against the Canadiens, and are 7-2-2 in their last 11 games against Montreal.
The Penguins have scored three or more goals in 10 of their last 11 games against Montreal.
The last three games between these two teams at the Bell Centre have gone to overtime, and the Penguins have an active nine-game point streak versus the Canadiens in Montreal (6-0-3).
Erik Karlsson has 40 points (10G-30A) in 49 career games versus the Canadiens. His 10 goals versus them are most among all active blueliners. Teammate Kris Letang is second among active defensemen in goals against Montreal with nine.
Tristan Jarry is 6-1-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average, a .913 save percentage and one shutout in nine career games against the Canadiens.
In 20 games against his former team, Lars Eller has 14 points (7G-7A), which includes 12 points (6G-6A) in his last 14 games against them.
Marcus Pettersson has succeeded against Montreal, posting eight points (1G-7A) in 13 games.
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 four points (4A) in three games. Malkin has recorded multi-point efforts in back-to-back games, and only St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou (3) and Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele (3) has more multi-point games than Malkin this season. With two-plus points tonight, Malkin could have his first streak of three- or more games with multiple points since Feb. 23-26, 2023 (3GP, 2G-4A).
Malkin enters tonight’s game riding an active six-game point streak (4G-4A) against the Canadiens, and he’s notched 61 points (21G-40A) in 49 career games versus Montreal. He has more than double the amount of multi-point games (18) as he does games where he’s been held scoreless (8) versus them.
Malkin enters tonight’s game just two goals 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 498 in 1,148 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.
In addition to being two goals shy of 500, Malkin notched his 1,300th career point on Saturday night in Toronto, making him the 37th player in NHL history to accomplish this feat. In doing so, he tied Hall-of-Famer Jarome Iginla for the 36th most points league history.
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.
Bryan Rust returned to the Pittsburgh lineup after missing the first two games of the season due to a lower- body injury, skating 20:07 minutes and recorded two shots. Rust, who has notched 372 points (172G-200A) in 568 games, is one game shy of tying 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 (633), Kris Letang (494) and Jake Guentzel (466) have recorded more points on Pittsburgh than Rust.
Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game two even-strength goals shy of tying Luc Robitaille (418) for the 13th-most even-strength goals in NHL history.
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.
Sidney Crosby has recorded 64 points (23G-41A) in 49 career games against the Montreal Canadiens. He enters tonight’s game with points in 13 of his last 16 games versus them (6G-18A). Crosby’s 1.31 points-per-game average against Montreal is third among all active players and is tied for ninth in NHL history among players who have played at least 15 games against them.
Kris Letang has accumulated 744 points (167G-577A) in 1,090 games. With his goal last game, he surpassed Mathieu Schneider for sole possession of 24th place on the NHL’s all-time points list among defensemen.
Montreal native Kris Letang has picked up 35 points (9G-26A) in 44 career games against his hometown team. Here at the Bell Centre, he’s picked up 16 points (3G-13A) in 23 games. Among all active players born in Quebec, Letang has the second-most points, but is first among Montreal-born skaters.
