Game preview: 11/01/25 vs. Ottawa Senators

* The Penguins are 11-5-4 since Nov. 27, and only the Columbus Blue Jackets have scored more goals than the Penguins during that span.

* The Penguins’ power play has been going well of late, and they have gone 11-for-24 (45.8%) on the man advantage in seven of their last eight games dating back to Dec. 23.

Additionally, the Penguins have scored 19 power play goals in their last 18 games since November 30th. During that period, the Penguins led the league with 35.2 power play percentage and 19 goals.

* Captain Sidney Crosby recorded his team-leading 11th multi-point effort of the season (1G-2A) on Thursday night against Edmonton. It was also his 184th career three-point game, surpassing Phil Esposito and Mark Messier and ranking fifth in NHL history.

* Rickard Rakell continued his winning streak on Thursday, scoring another goal, giving him his team-leading 21st goal of the season. This season, only William Nylander (24) has scored more NHL goals among Swedish-born players, and he is one of just 13 NHL players with 20 or more goals this year. Since being left out of the Swedish team’s Four Nations squad on December 4, Rakell leads all Swedish players with 11 goals and 20 points.

Of Rakell’s 21 goals, 17 came at even strength, tied for fourth in the league.

Since November 27th, only Leon Draisaitl has scored more goals than Rakell, who had 24 points (14G-10A) in 20 games during that span.

* Kevin Hayes scored against Edmonton on Thursday night, giving him two goals in four games since returning to the lineup. Since being reinstated to the lineup on January 3rd, only Rickard Rakell has scored more goals for the Penguins than Hayes.

* On Thursday night against Edmonton, Drew O’Connor (1G-1A) recorded his 200th multi-point game of the season^Th Career game. He became only the sixth undrafted player in the Crosby era (2005-present) to appear in 200 or more games for Pittsburgh.

* Defenseman Erik Karlsson enters this game with 12 points (2G-10A) in his last 11 games. Moving forward, Karlsson has 19 points (2G-17A) in his last 20 games, and only two NHL blueliners have scored more points during that span.

Karlsson has a three-game active point streak (1G-4A), which is tied for the sixth-longest active point streak among NHL defensemen.

* Winger Bryan Rust played some of the best hockey of his career against the Ottawa Senators. In 21 career games against them, Rust has nine goals, 10 assists, 19 points and is plus-12. Rust’s 19 points against the Senators are his fourth-highest points against another team. Two of Rust’s six career hat tricks came against the Senators (December 5, 2016 and March 3, 2020).

Rust recorded its fourth three-plus point game on Thursday, with all three points coming in the first period. This marked the third time in his career that he scored three points in a single period (2G-1A in the 1st period, January 2, 2022; 3A in the 3rd period, November 27, 2019).

* Sidney Crosby is one goal away from tying Hall of Famer Bobby Hull for the sixth-most goals with a franchise in NHL history. He’s also just one assist behind Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne, who has the 11th most assists in NHL history.

QUICK CONCLUSIONS

1) Today the Penguins begin their ninth series of consecutive games. So far, the team is 7-9-0 in back-to-back games (1-7-0 on the first night and 6-2-0 on the second night).

2) Sidney Crosby (57) is one point away from passing Jaromir Jagr (57) for the most points in franchise history against the Ottawa Senators.

3) Matt Grzelcyk is 22-23 assists, just one assist away from matching his career high of assists (22) in 75 games for Boston.

4) Michael Bunting has seven points (5G-2A) in 12 career games against Ottawa, including three goals in his last five games against Ottawa.

5) The Penguins have an overall record of 398-90-49 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin score a point in a game.