1) The Penguins have scored three or more goals in 23 of their last 29 games against the Blue Jackets, while 18 of those 29 games have been four-plus goal efforts.
2) The Penguins enter tonight’s game ranked third in the NHL in power-play percentage (29.6%).
3) Parker Wotherspoon is riding a career-long three-game point streak (4A) and has five points (5A) over his last five games.
4) Sidney Crosby’s 23 goals this season are tied for seventh in the NHL, and only Boston’s Morgan Geekie (25) has more goals among Eastern Conference skaters.
5) Pittsburgh has points in 24 of the 31 games that Blake Lizotte has dressed in, going 18-7-6.
ON A ROLL
The Penguins are red hot with a 4-0-0 record since Christmas (December 25). They rank near the top in multiple statistical categories around the League.
FRANCHISE ICON
On Thursday, Kris Letang appeared in his 1,200th NHL game, becoming just the 40th defenseman in NHL history, but just third active blueliner, to reach 1,200 games. He is now one game shy of tying Larry Robinson for the sixth-most games played by a defenseman with one team in NHL history.
FILLING THE NET
Forward Yegor Chinakhov scored his first goal as a Penguins yesterday in Detroit in his second game with the team. In doing so, he became the 24th player to score a goal this season for Pittsburgh, and only the Vancouver Canucks have more individual goal scorers.
Chinakhov is set to face Columbus, the team that drafted him, for the first time in his career today.
CATCHING THE GREAT ONE
Sidney Crosby notched two assists in Detroit yesterday, giving him five points (2G-3A) over his last two games, as well as an active six-game point streak (4G-6A). Crosby is two assists away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the second-most assists with one franchise in NHL history.
Crosby’s two helpers yesterday marked his 257th career multi-assist game, surpassing Marcel Dionne for eighth all-time.
ROAD WARRIOR
Yesterday, Sidney Crosby picked up a helper on Bryan Rust’s first-period goal and finished the game with two points (2A), surpassing Gordie Howe for the 9th-most road points in NHL history.
POINT STREAKIN’
Sidney Crosby (4G-6A) and Bryan Rust (4G-4A) both enter today’s game riding six-game point streaks. With a point tonight, they could match the longest point streak by a Penguin this season.
DISHIN’ DEFENDER
Defenseman Erik Karlsson leads all Pittsburgh blueliners with 30 points (3G-27A) in 40 games this season. His 27 assists are tied for seventh in the NHL among blueliners.
VERSUS COLUMBUS
Captain Sidney Crosby has notched 67 points (23G-44A) in 47 career games versus the Blue Jackets. Only two players in NHL history have more points against Columbus than Crosby.
Crosby’s 1.43 points-per-game average versus the Blue Jackets ranks fourth in NHL history (min. 20 GP) behind Connor McDavid (1.90), Nikita Kucherov (1.57) and Joe Sakic (1.46).
Kris Letang’s 14 goals against Columbus are the most by a defenseman in NHL history. It’s also the most goals Letang has scored against any opponent in his career.
He also now leads all active defensemen in points (34) against the Blue Jackets after his two-point (1G-1A) performance earlier this season on November 28.
