WITNESSING GREATNESS
Sidney Crosby is statistically having one of the best seasons in NHL history by a player in their age 37 season or older, as his 86 points are the sixth most in a single season in league history.
Crosby hit the 30-goal plateau as part of his four-point outburst (3G-1A) yesterday against Dallas. In doing so, Crosby became the 11th player in NHL history to have 13 or more 30-goal seasons, and only six players in NHL history have more such seasons than him.
Sidney Crosby notched a season-high (tied) four points yesterday against Dallas (3G-1A), stretching his point streak to 12 games. No NHL player has a longer active streak than Crosby. Crosby’s 12-game point streak is tied for the NHL record for the longest point streak by a player age 37 or older.
RUST SEEKING CAREER BESTS
Bryan Rust is having an exceptional year as he is currently just one goal and one point each away from establishing new career highs in goals and points, respectively.
Rust has six goals over his last seven games (6G-3A) and hit the 200-goal mark yesterday against Dallas. Only eight players in Penguins history have recorded more goals with the franchise than Rust. Since his seven-game stretch began on March 21, only John Tavares and Brayden Point have more goals than Rust and teammate Sidney Crosby.
KILLER KARL
Erik Karlsson enters tonight’s game just one goal shy of becoming just the 24th defenseman in NHL history to reach the 200-goal plateau. Among active blueliners, Karlsson’s 199 career goals rank second in the NHL. Among Swedish-born defensemen, only Nicklas Lidstrom (264) has more career goals than Karlsson.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson ranks first among team defensemen and fourth overall with 52 points (10G-42A) this season. He currently sits one point away from surpassing Markus Naslund for the ninth-most points by a Swedishborn player.
RAK CITY
Rickard Rakell has been a goal scoring machine this year as his 33 goals leads the team, and is only one tally shy of his career high set during the 2017-18 season.
Rakell is having one of the best seasons by a winger in the Sidney Crosby Era (2005-Present), as only four players in that span not named Crosby or Evgeni Malkin have had more goals in a single season on Pittsburgh than Rakell’s 33.
Quick Hits
1) Today, the Penguins conclude their 14th and final set of back-to-back games. This season, Pittsburgh is 10-16-1 in back to backs (4-10-0 on the first night and 6-6-1 on the second night).
2) Noel Acciari is one blocked shot shy of his second season with 100 or more blocked shots (2019-20, 103).
3) Bryan Rust has seven goals and nine points (7G-2A) in 11 career games against Chicago. On the road at the United Center, he has registered five points (4G-1A) in five games.
4) Erik Karlsson has points in four of his last six games against Chicago (2G-4A) and has 17 points (2G-17A) in 23 career games against the Blackhawks.
5) Blake Lizotte has reached the 10-goal plateau for the third time in his career this season. The forward is currently one goal shy of surpassing his career high of 11 goals, set during the 2022-23 season.
