Game preview: 3/12/24 vs. Florida Panthers

* Pittsburgh duo Sidney Crosby (29G-35A-64PTS) and Evgeni Malkin (17G-31A-48PTS) rank third and fifth among all active skaters in points against the Panthers. The Penguins have four of the top 13 scorers against Florida among active players.

* Erik Karlsson (11G-25A) is tied for third and Kris Letang (11G-24A) is tied for sixth among all-time defensemen against the Panthers.

* Since the 2015/16 season, Sidney Crosby (15 G in 21 GP) is tied for first in the NHL with Kirill Kaprizov (5 G in 7 GP) and Yegor Sharangovich (5 G in 7 GP), averaging 0, 71 goals per game against Florida (min. 5). family doctor).

* Matt Nieto has seven goals and 10 points (7G-3A) in 15 career games against the Panthers. His seven goals against them are his most against any team.

* Pittsburgh has scored points in eight of 10 games when Blake Lizotte is in the lineup (6-2-2).

* Michael Bunting has nine points (5G-4A) in his last 13 games after scoring just one point (1A) in his first 12 games. Only Sidney Crosby (11) has more points on Pittsburgh during that span.

* Newly signed forward Philip Tomasino scored his second goal in as many games with the Penguins on Saturday night. The goal was also his second game-winning goal in a row. He became only the second player in franchise history to score two game-winning goals in his first three games with the Penguins, joining Chuck Kobasew, who scored two game-winning goals in his first three games of the 2013–14 season.

With a goal tonight, Tomasino can reach his first three-game scoring streak in his career. Since joining the Penguins, only Rickard Rakell (3) has scored more goals than Tomasino and he leads the Penguins in shots on goal.

* Rickard Rakell scored again on Saturday evening and extended his goal streak to three (drawn) games this season (3G). That tally makes Rakell the first Penguins to reach the 10-goal mark this season, and with a goal tonight he could have just his fourth goal streak in four or more games.

* Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang combined to score 305 goals in their careers. They are just one goal behind Boston’s Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr, who combined for the second-most goals by a forward-defensemen duo in NHL history.

* Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game on a four-game point streak (1G-4A) and has scored points in eight of his last nine games (2G-7A). Crosby has recorded 1,021 assists in his illustrious career, which is just two shy of Gordie Howe for the fifth-most assists with a franchise in NHL history.

Crosby is also several points behind Steve Yzerman (477) for seventh place on the all-time list of NHL multi-point games…and just one even-strength goal behind Teemu Selanne for 12th-best goals in of NHL history.

* Evgeni Malkin enters tonight’s game having just one even-strength goal to tie Jaromir Jagr for third place on the Penguins’ all-time even-scoring list.

* Bryan Rust enters tonight’s game one point behind Mark Recchi for 16th place on the franchise’s all-time points list. Nine (5G-4A) of Rust’s 12 points this season came at home. His home average of 0.90 points per game is second in Pittsburgh.

* Pittsburgh scored a season-high three power-play goals as the Penguins beat the Flames 6-2 on Saturday night. Pittsburgh has scored a power-play goal in five of its last six games (7 of 20, 35.0%), and since that stretch began on Nov. 19, only three teams have scored more power-play goals than the Penguins.