Game Notes
QUICK HITS
1) The Penguins are looking to cap off a perfect Western Canada road trip (CGY-EDM-VAN) for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign (3-0-0).
2) Tommy Novak has six points (1G-5A) over his last five games.
3) Sidney Crosby has 27 points (13G-14A) in 26 career games against the Canucks, including points in 13 of his last 17 games versus them (9G-11A). He has multiple points in four of his last eight games against Vancouver (4G-6A).
4) The Penguins have killed off 23 of their last 24 penalties over the past seven games (95.8%).
5) Rickard Rakell has a five-game point streak (3G-2A). Pittsburgh is 14-2-2 when he records a point this season.
ON A ROLL
The Penguins continued their dominant play since returning from the holiday break on December 25 having picked up points in 12 of their 14 games with a 10-2-2 record.
SCORING SID-SASTION
Sidney Crosby is three goals shy of reaching the 30-goal mark for the 14th time in his career and the fifth-consecutive season. Only six players in NHL history have more 30-goal seasons than him currently and only Alex Ovechkin has more among active players (19).
Crosby found the back of the net on Thursday in Edmonton to extend his point streak to five games. He and teammate Rickard Rakell’s five-game point streaks are tied for fifth in the NHL.
Crosby has seven multi-point efforts in his last 12 games and is now one such instance shy of tying both Mark Messier and Marcel Dionne for third most multi-point games in NHL history.
DAZZLING D-MEN
The Penguins have gotten a lot of production from their defensemen this season. They have accounted for 25.1% of the Penguins total points this year (446) and they have the fourth-most assists by their blueliners this season.
On their current road trip, Jack St. Ivany has recorded back-to-back two-assist games for the first time in his career. Since the start of their trip on January 19, only Quinn Hughes (6) has notched more points among league defensemen.
LEADING THE WAY
The Penguins have made a habit of scoring early and then keeping the lead throughout the first 50 games of the season. Pittsburgh has scored the first goal of the game in 30 of their 50 games this year (60.0%), and only one other team in the NHL has more goals in the first period than the Penguins.
STUUU-PENDOUS GOALIE
Stuart Skinner has been red hot since the Christmas Break, winning six of his seven starts (6-1-0). During this stretch, he has only allowed one goal in five of the seven games, and ranks near the top of the league in multiple statistical categories among goaltenders.
SCORING SENSATION
Egor Chinakhov has made his presence felt early on in his time in Pittsburgh. He has six points (5G-1A) in 12 games, helping the Penguins go 8-2-2 with him in the lineup. Since he made his Penguins debut on January 1, only Sidney Crosby has more goals than him.
40-POINT PLATEAU
Bryan Rust is one point shy of 40 points this season. It would be the seventh time in his career and would be the 11th player in Penguins history with seven or more 40-point seasons.
Teammate Evgeni Malkin is also one point shy of his 17th 40-point campaign, which would make him the second Russian-born player in NHL history to have 17 or more 40-point seasons.
