Game Preview: 01.17.25 at Buffalo Sabres

*The Penguins begin their season-long seven-game road trip spanning a total of 15 days. It’s the longest road trip for Pittsburgh since their eight-game road swing nearly 30 years ago from Oct. 14-28, 1997 (NYR-MTL-TBL-FLA-SJS-EDM-VAN-CGY).

* The Penguins are 11-8-4 dating back to Nov. 27 and in this span, only two teams have scored more goals than Pittsburgh.

*Goaltender Joel Blomqvist was called up from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on January 16. In 12 games this season with WBS, Blomqvist has gone 6-4-2 with a 2.93 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and one shutout.

The Finnish goaltender appeared in eight NHL games this season with Pittsburgh, going 3-5-0 with a 3.60 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. He recorded his first career win in his NHL debut at Detroit on October 10. Blomqvist recorded 46 saves at Edmonton on October 25, which were tied for the sixth most by a rookie goaltender in franchise history.

* Sidney Crosby, who’s picked up points in six of his last nine contests (2G-5A), enters this game two points shy of the 50-point plateau. Crosby has 17 seasons with 50 or more points in his career and is looking to become just the 11th player in NHL history with 18 or more such seasons.

He is just one goal shy of surpassing Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull for the sixth-most goals with one franchise in NHL history, and one assist shy of surpassing Hall-of-Famer Marcel Dionne for the 11th-most assists in NHL history.

The Penguins captain has points in 21 of his last 27 games (14G-21A) versus Buffalo. He has recorded at least one point in 50 of 60 career games played against them, while his 85 points (29G-56A) are the most he’s tallied against any non-Metropolitan Division opponent. Crosby enters the game with the sixth-highest career points-per-game average versus the Sabres (min. 20 GP).

Crosby is one of 11 players in NHL history to record 50 assists against Buffalo and is four points shy of tying Daniel Alfredsson (89) for the sixth-most points against the Sabres in NHL history.

In his last 24 games against the Sabres, Evgeni Malkin has been held off the scoresheet just twice (10G-26A).

* Rickard Rakell has been Pittsburgh’s hottest player as of late, picking up 12 points (7G-5A) over his last 11 games. Rakell leads the Penguins with 22 goals and this season, only William Nylander (24) has more goals in the NHL among Swedish-born players, and he is 10th in the NHL in goals overall.

Of Rakell’s 22 goals, 18 of them have come at even strength, which is tied for fourth in the league.

Dating back to Nov. 27, no NHL player has more goals than Rakell, who’s notched 26 points (15G-11A) in 23 games in that span.

* Erik Karlsson comes into tonight with 13 points (2G-11A) over his last 14 games. Going back further, Karlsson has recorded 20 points (2G-18A) over his last 23 games and in that span, only three NHL blueliners have recorded more points.

Quick Hits

1) The Penguins begin their 10th set of back-to-back games. Thus far, the team is 7-11-0 in back-to-backs (1-8-0 on the first night and 6-3-0 on the second night).

2) Noel Acciari is four hits shy of his third-straight, and six season overall, with 100 or more hits. He leads all Pittsburgh skaters with 96 hits.

3) Matt Grzelcyk is one assist shy of tying his career high of assists (22) set in 75 games with Boston in 22-23.

4) Erik Karlsson’s 41 points (14G-27A) and Kris Letang’s 33 points (6G-27A) against the Sabres rank first and second, respectively, among active defensemen.

5) The Penguins own an overall record of 398-90-49 when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin record a point in a game.