Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby leads the NHL with 14 goals. He scored two in Pittsburgh's 6-1 win against the New York Rangers on Wednesday. He has points in 11 of his past 14 games. Pittsburgh forward Phil Kessel has seven points in his past five games. Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist is expected to miss his fifth straight game with a concussion. Pittsburgh did not hold a morning skate Thursday.
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Wild team scope
Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk will get his 16th start of the season. Dubnyk is 8-6-1 with a 1.55 goals-against average and .948 save percentage. He has allowed 13 goals in the past 11 games. Forward Jason Zucker moved to the second line with left wing Mikael Granlund and center Mikko Koivu. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said he was happy with Zucker's play in the 3-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday. "I've had a couple good talks with [Zucker] this week and I thought he was skating," Boudreau said Wednesday. "I knew I was gonna go down to three lines, so if he was skating and I was gonna go down to three lines, I wanted him to play." Zucker had his first point since Oct. 29 on Wednesday. He has two goals and eight points in 19 games. Minnesota did not hold a morning skate Thursday.
Wild defenseman Mike Reilly was sent to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … Kessel is a point away from becoming the fifth active American-born player to reach 600 in his NHL career.
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Who's hot
Kessel leads the Penguins with 15 assists. … Granlund has at least one point in nine of his past 14 games. … The Wild are first in the League with a 1.90 GAA.
