Quick Hits
1) Forward Blake Lizotte spent the first six seasons of his professional career with the Los Angeles Kings organization from 2018-24. With the Kings, Lizotte appeared in 320 regular-season games, recording 106 points (37G-69A).
2) The Penguins enter today’s game ranked first in the NHL in power-play percentage (35.9%). No one in the NHL has more power-play goals than Sidney Crosby (6).
3) Sidney Crosby leads the NHL in goals (11) and is riding an active four-game point streak (3G-2A).
4) Pittsburgh’s penalty kill has allowed just one power-play goal against over its last eight games (21-for-22, 95.5%).
5) Anthony Mantha enters today’s game with nine points (6G-3A) in his last 11 games.
Rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov enters today’s game looking to make his NHL debut in the second half of back-to-back games for the Penguins. Murashov has played in seven games with WBS this season with a 5-2-0 record, 1.73 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage with one shutout. Murashov’s 1.73 goals-against average is fifth in the AHL. The netminder was recently named the AHL Goaltender of the Month for October.
Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game one multi-point effort shy of becoming just the sixth player in NHL history with 500 or more multi-point games.
Erik Karlsson enters tonight’s game three points shy of tying Peter Forsberg for the eighth-most points by a Swedish-born player in NHL history.
Karlsson is also two assists shy of tying Brad Park for the 12th most assists by a defenseman in NHL history.
Karlsson has 11 assists (11A) over his last 12 games dating back to Oct. 16. In that span, only Connor McDavid has more assists than him. Karlsson ranks fourth in the NHL in assists among defensemen.
In 38 career games against the Los Angeles Kings, Erik Karlsson has notched four goals, 31 assists and 35 points. He enters tonight’s game ranked third among all active defensemen in points against Los Angeles.
Rookie forward Ben Kindel has gotten off to a hot start with the Penguins and has seen action on Pittsburgh’s top line with veterans Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust. Kindel (5G-2A) leads Pittsburgh’s rookies in goals and points and he also paces all NHL rookies in goals.
Evgeni Malkin has points in four of his last five games, and has a team-leading 20 (3G-17A) points on the year. Malkin has picked up points in all but three games this season (13/16, 81.3%) and has recorded multiple points in over a third of his games played (6/16, 37.5%).
Kris Letang enters tonight’s game one point from surpassing Hall-of-Famer Doug Wilson for the ninth-most points by a defenseman with one team in NHL history.
