Penguins at Stars
Captain Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are showing their championship form heading into the final day of February while the Dallas Stars are limping into the home stretch. With goals in each of his last three contests and four of his last five, the two-time Hart Trophy winner looks to keep the Penguins humming along on Tuesday when they open a two-game road trip against the skidding Stars.
Crosby (NHL-best 34 goals) resides just two goals shy of last season's total despite playing in 26 fewer games. The 29-year-old traditionally has dismantled Dallas, scoring a goal and setting up two others in Pittsburgh's 6-2 win on Dec. 1 to give him 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 11 career encounters. While the Penguins' sizzling 8-1-3 mark in their last 12 contests has them just five points away from Metropolitan Division-leading Washington, Dallas has dropped eight of 11 in February to essentially remove itself as a contender for the final wild-card spot in the West. The Stars are yielding an NHL second-worst 3.2 goals per game, a number that increased after a 6-3 shellacking by Boston on Sunday raised the goal total to 41 tallies this month.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Pittsburgh), FSN Southwest (Dallas), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (38-14-8): Matt Murray owns a 23-7-3 mark to reside one victory shy of matching the single-season franchise record by a rookie goaltender, set by Gary Inness in 1974-75. While Murray is expected to get the nod on Tuesday, veteran Marc-Andre Fleury and general manager Jim Rutherford continue to play the waiting game on whether the franchise goaltender will remain in Pittsburgh or be dealt at the trade deadline on Wednesday. "We've been talking and we'll keep talking through Wednesday. We'll see what happens," said Fleury, who has a limited-trade clause built into his contract.
ABOUT THE STARS (24-28-10): Tyler Seguin recorded his fourth multi-point performance in six outings with his team-leading 22nd goal and 39th assist on Sunday, increasing his total to 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in that stretch. The 25-year-old also netted a power-play goal in the first encounter versus Pittsburgh, giving him nine on the season for a team that has tallied 13 times with the man advantage over the last 15 games. Fellow forward Jason Spezza has been quiet of late with just two assists and a minus-3 rating in his last six contests, but set up a goal in the first meeting with the Penguins to give him 48 points (17 goals, 38 assists) in 41 career games.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas traded Jordie Benn to Montreal on Monday for fellow D Greg Pateryn and a fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft.
2. Penguins D Kris Letang (undisclosed) and F Conor Sheary (upper body) participated in Monday's practice while wearing yellow "no contact" jerseys.
3. Stars G Antti Niemi is expected to receive his first start in two weeks versus Pittsburgh, against which he owns a 6-2-1 career mark with one shutout.