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Get your game notes: Pens at Bruins

Boston Bruins v Pittsburgh Penguins

Boston Bruins v Pittsburgh Penguins

NHLI via Getty Images

Tonight on NBCSN, it’s the Boston Bruins hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. ET. Following are some game notes, as compiled by the NHL on NBC research team:

• PIT enters with the NHL’s top offense, scoring 3.53 goals/game - over a full goal/game more than the 20th-ranked Bruins (2.50).

• The Bruins have also scored just 9 goals in their past 6 games (1.50/gm) & are 1-for-12 on the PP in that stretch (3-3-0 record).

• No Bruin has scored more than 5 goals through the team’s first 22 games this season, while Pittsburgh is tied for the NHL lead with 6 such players (SJ also has 6 players with at least 6 goals).

• In fact, no other NHL team has a leading goal-scorer with as few goals as Boston this season (4 Bruins are tied with 5).

• Before this past weekend, PIT was the hottest team in the NHL, having won 10 of 11 games entering its weekend home-and-home against NYI. However, PIT was swept in those games (lost 5-4 SO at home and 4-1 at NYI), and are now tied with NYI atop the Metro Div.

• PIT has not lost consecutive regulation games this season, and it last lost 3 straight games from Mar. 23 to Mar. 27 of last season.

• The Penguins are still 10-2-1 in their last 13 games.

• PIT also leads the NHL in power play efficiency at 33.3%, but the Penguins are just 1-for-10 on the PP over their last 6 games.

• C Sidney Crosby leads PIT with 26 points, tied with DAL C Tyler Seguin for 2nd-most points in the NHL behind PHI RW Jakub Voracek (29). However, Crosby has not scored a point in the Penguins’ last two games.

• The last time Crosby went three or more games without scoring a point was from Oct. 31 2009 – Nov. 10, 2009, when he went five straight games without a point. That season, he scored a career-high 51 goals.

• BOS has won 8 of its past 11 games (8-3-0), but only one of those wins (2-0 last Tues. vs. STL) was against a team currently in the playoff picture in the East or West. The Bruins are coming off a 2-0 loss to MTL on Sat., a game in which they played without multiple top forwards and defensemen:

• Top C David Krejci (undisclosed) has missed 8 of the team’s 10 games this month. Krejci, Boston’s leading scorer last season with 69 points, has 3 goals and 7 assists in 11 games this season.

• Captain D Zdeno Chara (knee) tore his PCL at the end of last month and has missed the last 13 games. Chara has 2 goals and 1 assists in 9 games this season.

• LW Brad Marchand is on IR (undisclosed) and has missed the past 3 games for BOS. He is tied for the team lead in goals (5) and T-3rd on the team in points (11).

• D Adam McQuaid (broken thumb) was injured in last Tuesday’s win over STL and was expected to miss 6-8 weeks. McQuaid has 1 goal and 1 assist in 20 games this season.

• C Chris Kelly (undisclosed) was scratched before the game against MTL. Kelly had played in all 21 games to that point, with 2 goals and 8 points this season.

STANDOUT STATS

• PIT: LW Blake Comeau has 5 goals in 18 games this season. He had 5 all of last season for CBJ in 61 games.

• BOS: Entering tonight, the Bruins have sold out 226 consecutive games at TD Garden, including playoffs.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

• PIT: C Sidney Crosby has 10G-25A in 25 career games vs. BOS, including 1G-2A in 3 games last season.

• PIT: G Marc-Andre Fleury is 11-6-3 with a 2.31 GAA, .922 SV%, and 2 SO in 21 career games vs. BOS.

• BOS: C Patrice Bergeron has 24 points in 31 career games vs. PIT, including 1G-2A in 3 GP last season.

• BOS: RW Reilly Smith has 2G-1A in 3 career games (all last season) vs. PIT.

PITTSBURGH TEAM/PLAYER NOTES

• C Evgeni Malkin is T-2nd on the Penguins with 23 points this season and his 5 power-play goals are T-3rd in the NHL. The three-time Russian Olympian enters tonight on a 4-game point streak (2G-4A).

• RW Patric Hornqvist also has 23 points through 19 games. He leads PIT in goals (10), and he also enters tonight on a 4-game point streak (1G-4A).

• Last week, RW Pascal Dupuis was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung and will miss at least the next 6 months. Dupuis, 35, also had a blood clot issue last season. Dupuis had 6G-11A in 16 GP this season.

• D Olli Maatta was sidelined for just two weeks after missing time to remove a cancerous growth in his thyroid gland. In the 3 games since his return, Maatta has 1 assist (Fri. vs. NYI) and a +1 rating.

• G Marc-Andre Fleury allowed 4 goals on 35 shots in Friday’s 5-4 SO loss to NYI. Backup G Thomas Greiss started in PIT’s 4-1 loss to NYI the next day.

• Fleury has not lost consecutive games this season, and he carries an 11-3-1, 2.10 GAA, .926 SV%, 4 SO stat line into tonight’s game. His 4 SO are tied with NYR G Henrik Lundqvist for the NHL lead.

BOSTON TEAM/PLAYER NOTES

• C Patrice Bergeron has carried the load offensively for BOS in November with 10 points (4G-6A) in 10 games. The only two games in which he did not record a point both came against MTL – last Saturday and Nov. 13 in a 5-1 Bruins loss.

• D Dougie Hamilton leads all BOS defensemen with 11 points (4G-7A) this season, but he has gone 4 straight games without a point entering tonight.

• C Carl Soderberg and LW Loui Eriksson are other key offensive players struggling for the Bruins.

• Soderberg is tied for the team lead in goals (5) and is second on the team in points (14), but he has just 1 assist in his last 6 games.

• Eriksson has 11 points in 22 games this season, but just 2 assists in his last 7 games.

• G Tuukka Rask stopped 21 of 23 shots in the Bruins’ loss to MTL, but Rask has given up just 3 goals in his past 3 starts. In that stretch, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner is 2-1-0 with a 1.01 GAA, .967 SV% and 1 SO.

• Rask hasn’t lost 2 straight starts since his 2nd and 3rd games of the season (Oct. 9, Oct. 11) – a span of 13 games.

• Overall this season, Rask is 10-6-0 with a 2.36 GAA and a .915 SV%.