Red Wings at Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins try to extend their point streak to 10 games and improve their NHL-best 24-3-3 home record when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. Pittsburgh is 6-0-3 in its last nine contests after Friday's 2-1 overtime loss in Columbus, leaving the defending Stanley Cup champion five points behind first-place Washington and one ahead of third-place Columbus in the Metropolitan Division.
Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said he isn't concerned about their position in the standings - "it's about what happens in April,'' he told reporters - and said he thinks the best is yet to come. "All of our players have played well at different times,'' Rutherford said. "But as a team unit, we’ve probably had only a handful of games where our team has played at the level we are capable of. ... I see a team capable of taking it up a couple of notches down the stretch and into the playoffs.” Detroit snapped a five-game slide (0-4-1) Saturday with a 3-2 shootout victory over Washington, which hadn't played in a week. The Red Wings, who are last in the Eastern Conference, halted a four-game losing streak to Pittsburgh with a 6-3 victory Jan. 14 behind a goal and two assists from Gustav Nyquist, who won't play Sunday as he serves the third contest of a six-game suspension for high-sticking Minnesota's Jared Spurgeon on Jan. 12.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, NBC
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (23-25-10): With the death of longtime owner Mike Ilitch on Feb. 10 and the prospect of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1990, Saturday's victory on captain Henrik Zetterberg's shootout goal provided a much-needed lift. Frans Nielsen (11 goals, 27 points) scored for the first time in nine games Saturday while Tomas Tatar (13, 27) recorded his first tally in eight February contests. Zetterberg added a pair of assists Saturday, giving him team highs of 43 points and 30 assists while Anthony Mantha (13 goals, 30 points) recorded an assist and improved his club-best plus-minus rating to plus-15.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (36-13-8): Evgeni Malkin recorded his 500th career assist and team-leading 35th of the season Friday, and his 59 points are second on the team to Sidney Crosby (NHL-high 31 goals, 64 points), who recorded his 1,000th career point Thursday. Pittsburgh's depth on defense will be tested after a pair of blue-liners were injured Thursday as Olli Maatta (plus-17 rating) is expected to miss six weeks with a hand injury and Justin Schultz (39 points, team-high plus-31) is out indefinitely with a concussion. Forward Carl Hagelin returned Friday after missing five games with a concussion and recorded five shots on goal while playing on a line with Malkin and Patric Hornqvist.
OVERTIME
1. The Penguins boasted the fifth-best power play in the NHL entering Saturday at 22.1 percent despite converting 2-for-19 over the last seven games.
2. The Red Wings, who won all seven of their shootouts this season, are 2-4-4 in their last 10 games versus the Eastern Conference.
3. Pittsburgh outscored Detroit 26-16 in the last five meetings.