Inside Scoop: Pens-Jets
* The Penguins are playing their final game of the first half of the season tonight, and they enter the contest on quite the run. They have won 7 straight - which is tied with Tampa Bay for the longest active streak in the NHL. Overall, the Penguins are 9-1 in their past 10 and 12-2-1 in their last 15, and have come a long way since that stretch in November where they dropped nine of 10.
Five of those last seven wins have come on the road, with the team coming off a perfect 3-0 road trip through St. Louis, Minnesota and New York. Now that the Penguins are back in Pittsburgh for a stretch of three games in five days, the question from the local media was basically what's been working throughout this stretch?
"I think we're playing solid, not making a ton of mistakes, and when we do make mistakes we're getting some big plays," Sidney Crosby said. "Our goalies have been really good, and I think that's a big part of that. We might make mistakes but not ones that'll change the game or big ones that have a big impact, and when we do make them, our goalies have been there. So those are probably the two biggest things. Special teams has been good as well."
* Matt Murray is 6-0 since returning from a lower-body injury that forced him to miss about a month, posting a 1.48 goals-against average and .955 save percentage over that stretch.
He is one victory shy of equaling his career-long seven-game winning streak from Oct. 7-26, 2017, and he'll get the chance to go for it tonight as he was the first goalie off following morning skate.
* It appears Jamie Oleksiak will be in for Juuso Riikola on defense. Oleksiak was partnered with Olli Maatta during line rushes, while Riikola skated with forward Derek Grant on the fourth pair.
Oleksiak suffered a concussion in a fight with Washington's Tom Wilson on Dec. 19 and missed the next three games. Oleksiak was cleared to play ahead of Pittsburgh's game against St. Louis on Dec. 29, but has been a healthy scratch since then with how the team was playing. And while it's been tough for him to sit and watch, he understands the situation.
"I think that's just part of being a professional, is just staying ready," he said. "The team's been playing well. So for me, it's about making sure I'm getting my skating legs under me and putting in the work off the ice to make sure coming in that you can step in pretty seamlessly. It's nice seeing the team win. You want to be a part of it."
It looks like he'll get that chance tonight against a Jets team that's built their identity on being a tough, fearless, physical team. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan acknowledged that an opponent like that does factor into his lineup decisions.
"I think it certainly has something to do with it, for sure," Sullivan said. "Jamie is a guy that brings a lot of size and strength and grit to our blue line. He's hard to play against and when we play against bigger, stronger teams, he's a guy that can be effective for us."
Oleksiak certainly made his presence known physically in the last matchup with Winnipeg, a 4-3 Pittsburgh victory on Nov. 27. He was part of a big collision with Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who sustained a concussion on the play.
"That one was one of those situations where it was the PK and the puck was kind of in an awkward spot, and it was kind of like, okay, you've got to get it down," Oleksiak said
"I saw someone coming from out of the corner of my eye and I didn't know it was Byfuglien, to be honest with you, but I figured I was going to take a hit. It surprised me how much momentum went into me and I found out later it was Buff. That was not the most fun thing, ever."
* A story involving Crosby went viral on social media following the Penguins' 7-2 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
That night, Rangers fan Nick Lipeika delivered some epic chirps to the Penguins captain while he sat in the penalty box during the first period. Crosby was so impressed with Lipeika's ribbing that he had assistant equipment manager Jon Taglianetti deliver a signed stick to him after the game that read, "Good Chirps, Take It Easy On Me Next Time!" (
The full story can be found here
).
"He had me laughing a bit," Crosby said. "I've been in that situation before. Guys can kind of cross the line or take it a little far sometimes. I thought he did everything in pretty good taste. He had the section laughing and had me and one of the officials in the box laughing. So it
was all in good fun and not one of those things that happen very often."
AT&T SportsNet's Dan Potash joked to Crosby that this might have set a precedent for other fans trying to do the same thing at other arenas in hopes of getting a signed stick. Crosby just laughed.
"Yeah, it's not a competition," he said with a smile. "It's one of those unique things and I had fun with it, but it's not always the case."
