* Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic registered his first shutout of the season and the ninth of his NHL career on Saturday night as he turned aside 25 shots from Nashville. The Penguins netminder has been heating up over the last couple weeks, ranking third in the NHL in save percentage since Jan. 17 (min. 5 GP).
* Forward Philip Tomasino’s game-opening goal Saturday night against his former team doubled as his fourth game-winning goal of the season. Since the forward made his Penguins debut on Nov. 27, only three players in the NHL have more game-winning goals than Tomasino’s four. Of Tomasino’s six goals this season, four have been game winners. Only Sidney Crosby (5) has more game-winning goals for Pittsburgh this season.
* Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is looking to suit up for his 500th career NHL game. Grzelcyk will become the 19th defenseman picked in the 2012 NHL Draft to reach 500 career games played. Among all players picked in the 2012 NHL Draft, Grzelcyk’s plus-124 through his first nine seasons ranks third.
In his first season with the Penguins, the defenseman has set career highs in assists (26) and points (27), and his 26 helpers are the third most on Pittsburgh.
* Captain Sidney Crosby is leading the charge for the Penguins with 57 points (17G-40A) on the season. The forward is just three points away from becoming the ninth player in NHL history to have 17 or more 60-point seasons, and only Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (17) has more 60-point seasons than Crosby among active players.
Crosby’s second-period goal Saturday night stretched his active goal-scoring streak to four games, his longest such streak of the season. No player has a longer active goal streak than Crosby. If the captain scores again tonight, he will record his first goal streak of five or more games since Feb. 23 – Mar. 7, 2019, when he had a six-game goal streak (6G).
Crosby also became the fourth different Penguins player with a goal streak of four or more games at the age of 37 or older, joining Dean Prentice (4 GP; 2x in 1969-70), Mario Lemieux (4 GP in 2002-03) and Evgeni Malkin (4 GP in 2023-24).
Sidney Crosby (1G-1A) recorded his 484rd career multi-point game Saturday night against Nashville, a figure that leads all active players. Only six players in NHL history have recorded more multi-point games than Crosby’s 484.
* Defenseman Erik Karlsson recorded his eighth multi-point game (2A) of the season on Saturday night against the Predators. With his two-assist performance, Karlsson is now one multi-point performance shy of tying Doug Wilson for the 12th-most multi-point games by a defenseman in NHL history. Karlsson leads all Pittsburgh defensemen with 30 assists and 35 points (5G-30A) and is closing in on his 12th-career 40-point season.
Quick Hits
1) Bryan Rust has 31 points (17G-14A) and is plus-12 in 37 career games against the Devils. It’s the most points he’s picked up versus any one team and six more than his next closest opponent (Philadelphia, 25 PTS in 33 GP). He has points in four of his last five games against the Devils (4G-2A) and 11 points (6G-5A) in 17 games at home vs. New Jersey.
2) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Emil Bemstrom and defenseman Owen Pickering will be participating in the AHL All-Star Game, which will be held tonight at 9:00 PM.
3) Over the last three games dating back to January 27, the Penguins have allowed a league-low four goals against.
4) The Penguins rank sixth in the NHL in power-play percentage (25.5%).
5) Rickard Rakell continues to stay consistent on the ice with nine points (2G-7A) in his last nine games, which ranks second on the Penguins in that span trailing only Sidney Crosby (5G-5A).