Penguins V. Lightning Preview: Crosby On Verge Of NHL History
Jan 12, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) handles the puck against Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) during the first period at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)After blowing a two-goal lead to the Florida Panthers en route to a 4-3 shootout loss Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins will look to rebound against the other team residing in the sunshine state.
On Tuesday, the Penguins will take on ex-Penguin Jake Guentzel and the Tampa Bay Lightning, who took the first two games of their season series. And Pittsburgh's captain has a chance to make NHL history.
Captain Sidney Crosby is just two points shy of Wayne Gretzky's point-per-game seasons record, which is currently set at 19. Clinching the record at 20 seems perfect for Crosby, who is, arguably, the most consistently dominant player in NHL history.
"It's so impressive to be doing it for, what, 20 times?" forward Rickard Rakell said. "He's one of the best to have ever played this game, so... he shows why. I mean, it's such a hard game, and for him to do it every year, it's pretty nuts."
Mar 13, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rickard Rakell (67) and center Sidney Crosby (87) celebrate a goal by Rakell against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)While Crosby chases the NHL record books, the Penguins will be chasing two points, as they are now in desperation mode in terms of the NHL playoff picture. They currently sit six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and Montreal has three games in hand.
They are aware of the hill that they would need to climb, as they only have 10 games remaining. But they're going to fight for every inch of ice they can get.
And that's always tough against a goaltender like Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has been one of the best goaltenders in hockey for the last decade.
"He's been, obviously, one of the elite goaltenders in the league ever since [2016]," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's one of the premiere goaltenders in the league. The workload that he's been able to endure season-in and season-out... these guys have played a lot of hockey. They've gone deep into the playoffs, they've had a number of playoff runs, and he's played hard hockey. In a lot of ways, there aren't a lot of goaltenders that carry the workload he carries in today's game."
Mar 20, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) waits for play to resume against the Dallas Stars during the second period at the American Airlines Center. (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)Vasilevskiy will be opposed by Tristan Jarry, who is red-hot for the Penguins. Jarry has a .924 save percentage in his six starts since returning to the Penguins from the AHL on Mar. 3, and - including Tuesday's game - will have started seven of the last eight for Pittsburgh.
As for the lineup, forward Evgeni Malkin will miss Tuesday's game with an upper-body injury. Forward Emil Bemstrom will slot back in.
Here are the lines and pairings for the game, which features Erik Karlsson on the left side next to Conor Timmins on the second defensive pairing:
Tampa Bay currently occupies the third spot in the Atlantic Division. They have lost two consecutive games and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has two goals and six points in the last five games.
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