Penguins at Wild
Pittsburgh's Phil Kessel summed up the play of Penguins goaltender Matt Murray in the simplest terms, telling reporters: “He’s played well for us. Whenever you have a goalie that lets in one goal a night, you know you should win most of them.” Pittsburgh begins a five-game road trip Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, and hopes its red-hot netminder can help improve the Penguins' 3-3-0 record away from home.
Murray (7-0-1) has won his last seven starts, posting a .936 save percentage during span, after allowing 11 goals in his first two games - an overtime loss and a relief appearance. “I’m just trying to improve every night and feel a little bit better every night,” Murray told reporters. “I think I’ve been doing that.” Kessel became the 18th American player to reach 300 goals in Thursday's 2-1 overtime victory over Winnipeg - the second consecutive 2-1 game he scored in the extra period. Minnesota improved to 1-1-0 on its six-game homestand with a 6-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday as a pair of players - Luke Kunin and Zack Mitchell - scored their first NHL goals.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (7-3-1): Kessel's back-to-back overtime goals vaulted him into the team lead in points (11) with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Conor Sheary scored Thursday to match Crosby for the team lead in goals with five while Bryan Rust and Malkin pace the club with eight assists apiece. Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (one assist, eight games) is the only Pittsburgh player with a plus rating (plus-1) as Crosby and Malkin are each minus-5, which is tied for the second-worst rating on the team to defenseman Kris Letang (minus-10).
ABOUT THE WILD (3-3-2): Eric Staal scored his 18th career short-handed goal Thursday, giving him four tallies and three assists in his last seven games. Kunin, a 19-year-old center who was the 15th overall pick in the 2016 draft, became the first Wild player in team history to score his first career goal short-handed. Jason Zucker scored Thursday and has three goals and four assists in his last seven games.
OVERTIME
1. Jonas Brodin on Thursday became the third Minnesota defenseman to score this season.
2. The Penguins are 1-for-11 on the power play in their last three games while the Wild have killed 13-of-14 penalties during that span.
3. Minnesota swept the two-game season series by a combined 10-4 in 2016-17 with Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter scoring three goals apiece. Coyle is out with a broken leg and Niederreiter (high ankle sprain) isn't expected to return until Tuesday.