Game Notes
Pittsburgh has points in 10-straight games (9-0-1) against the Blue Jackets dating back to Dec. 12, 2019.
The Penguins enter tonight’s game with points in 10-consecutive games against the Columbus Blue Jackets (9-0-1) dating back to Dec. 12, 2019. In this span, Pittsburgh has outscored Columbus by a 41-22 margin, and has scored three or more goals in eight of the 10 games. Sidney Crosby has led the way, suiting up for nine of the games and leading the Penguins with 22 points (11G-11A) over this stretch. The team’s 10-game point streak is its longest active point streak against one opponent.
Here at home, the Penguins have an active 13-game winning streak against the Blue Jackets (13-0-0) dating back to Dec. 21, 2015. It’s tied for the eighth-longest home winning streak against one opponent in franchise history, and is the longest such active streak.
The Penguins have scored three or more goals in 17 of their last 21 games against the Blue Jackets, while 14 of those 21 games have been four-plus goal efforts.
Since Feb. 25, Valtteri Puustinen ranks second on Pittsburgh in assists (3A) behind Sidney Crosby (6).
Tristan Jarry is 7-1-1 in his career versus Columbus with a 2.32 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
Lars Eller has been successful in the faceoff circle this season, posting the second-highest faceoff win percentage among Pittsburgh skaters at 54.1%.
The Penguins own an overall record of 382-87-45 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
The Penguins enter tonight’s game with points in three-consecutive home games (2-0-1) and have points in eight of their last 10 home games overall (5-2-3).
Sidney Crosby (582) enters tonight’s game one goal shy of tying Wayne Gretzky (583) for the seventh-most goals with a single franchise in NHL history.
Crosby has notched 57 points (20G-37A) in 39 career games versus the Blue Jackets. With a point tonight, Crosby can claim sole possession of fourth place on the NHL’s all-time points list against Columbus.
Crosby’s 1.46 points-per-game average versus the Blue Jackets ranks fourth in NHL history (min. 15 GP) behind Connor McDavid (15GP, 1.93), Artemi Panarin (18GP, 1.50), and Auston Matthews (15GP, 1.47).
Tonight, forward Emil Bemstrom is set to face the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first time in his career. Drafted by Columbus in the fourth round (117th overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft, Pittsburgh acquired Bemstrom on Feb. 22 in exchange for forward Alex Nylander and a conditional 2026 sixth-round draft pick.
Bemstrom spent parts of five seasons with the Blue Jackets from 2019.24. In 204 career regular-season games with them, he picked up 31 goals, 38 assists, and 69 points. His best season came in 2022.23 where he set career highs in assists (15) and points (22) in 55 games.
This season, Bemstrom has notched 12 points (6G-6A) in 37 games, split between Pittsburgh and the Blue Jackets. He scored in his Penguins debut on Feb. 25 against Philadelphia.
Reilly Smith enters tonight’s game with 499 career points (210G-289A), and is one point away from 500 in his career. Drafted in the third round (69th overall) by Dallas in the 2009 NHL Draft, Smith is looking to become the 10th member of his draft class to tally 500 career points.
Marcus Pettersson is quietly putting together the best campaign of his career. Pettersson (3G-21A) is one point shy of tying his singleseason high in points of 25 (2G-23A) set in 84 games in 2018.19. The defenseman is also three assists short of setting a single-season high in assists.
Over his past nine games, Pettersson has tallied five points (1G-4A). His seven multi-point outings on the this season rank second among team defensemen behind only Erik Karlsson (9).
Erik Karlsson (5A) and Valtteri Puustinen (1G-3A) are each riding active four-game home points streaks.
