Game Notes
Pittsburgh went 3-0-1 against the Blue Jackets last season, and are 2-0-0 against them this year. Since the Metropolitan Division was formed for the 2012.13 season, Pittsburgh has dropped the season series with Columbus just once (2014.15).
The Penguins have scored three or more goals in 18 of their last 22 games against the Blue Jackets, while 15 of those 22 games have been four-plus goal efforts.
The Penguins enter tonight’s game with points in 11-consecutive games against the Columbus Blue Jackets (10-0-1) dating back to Dec. 12, 2019. In this span, Pittsburgh has outscored Columbus by a 46-25 margin, and has scored three or more goals in nine of the 11 games. Sidney Crosby has led the way, suiting up for 10 of the games and leading the Penguins with 22 points (11G-11A) over this stretch. The team’s 11-game point streak is its longest active point streak against one opponent.
Here at home, the Penguins have an active 14-game winning streak against the Blue Jackets (14-0-0) dating back to Dec. 21, 2015. It’s the second-longest home winning streak against one opponent in franchise history (18-game home win streak vs. Atlanta/Winnipeg from Mar. 24, 2007-Jan. 4, 2019), and is the longest such active streak in the NHL.
The Penguins have gotten eight goals and 24 points of production from their rookies this season. It’s the most that they’ve gotten from a class of rookies since the 2019.20 campaign (14 goals and 42 points).
Pittsburgh’s offense has been consistently producing over the past seven games, averaging 4.00 goals per game.
Tristan Jarry is 8-1-1 in his career versus Columbus with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.
Jesse Puljujarvi has goals in back-to-back games (2G) for the first time this season. With a goal tonight, he would tie his career-long streak of three accomplished twice before, most recently from Nov. 3-9, 2021 (4G).
The Penguins own an overall record of 384-87-45 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.
Evgeni Malkin enters tonight’s game one goal shy of hitting the 20-goal plateau. It would mark the 15th time in his career that Malkin has scored 20 or more goals in a season, and he’s looking to become just the 31st player in NHL history, and fourth active player, with 15 20-goal seasons.
Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game just four points shy of his 13th 80-point campaign. Crosby’s 12 80-point seasons are currently tied for fifth in NHL history, and when he reaches 80 points this year, only Wayne Gretzky will have more such seasons.
Crosby has been red hot as of late, notching three points (1G-2A) in Pittsburgh’s win on Tuesday against Carolina. It gives Crosby seven points (2G-5A) over his last two games, and since Mar. 24, no player in the league has more assists (5) or points (7) than Crosby. Crosby has points in six of his last seven games overall, accumulating 12 points total (3G-9A) in that span.
Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have combined on 305 goals in their careers, which is one such effort shy of tying Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr for the second-most goals combined on by a forward-defenseman duo in NHL history.
Crosby has notched 57 points (20G-37A) in 40 career games against 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 1.43 points-per-game average versus the Blue Jackets ranks fifth in NHL history (min. 15 GP) behind Connor McDavid (16GP, 1.88), Artemi Panarin (18GP, 1.50), Auston Matthews (15GP, 1.47) and Joe Sakic (24GP, 1.46).
Bryan Rust has seven goals (7G-3A) over his last 10 games, and 12 goals (12G-4A) over his last 18 games. Since this stretch began on Feb. 6, Rust’s 12 goals lead the Penguins and only Sidney Crosby (26) has more points than his 16.
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