Sidney Crosby, Penguins ride hot streaks into matchup with Jackets

Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are so hot that the superstar doesn't even have time to consider the numbers he continues to pile up and the names that he equals and surpasses. Crosby has nine points (five goals and four assists) during a five-game point streak for the Penguins, who have won four straight as they prepare to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. The 38-year-old center, in his 21st season, is two points away from becoming the ninth player in NHL history to reach 1,700 points. He would join Detroit Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman and Pittsburgh icon Mario Lemieux as the only players to achieve that milestone while playing their entire career with one team. Crosby recently passed Lemieux to become the Penguins' all-time overall points leader (regular season and playoffs). "So many stats, I don't really think about that," Crosby said after Pittsburgh's 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla. "It is great to be in that company and this is a big two points (against) a tough team." Crosby also has a four-game goal streak after logging two goals and an assist vs. the Panthers. Rickard Rakell added a goal and an assist and Ben Kindel and Connor Dewar also scored for the Penguins. Erik Karlsson and Evgeni Malkin each had two assists, and Tristan Jarry made 34 saves. "We want to be seeing contributions from throughout the lineup, and we have seen that in a lot of games," first-year Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. Penguins defenseman Caleb Jones left the game in the third period at Florida after going into the boards feet first. His status for the Saturday game was unknown. The Blue Jackets lost 5-1 to the visiting Washington Capitals on Friday after winning their previous two games. The game was a scoreless tie for the first 38 minutes before Columbus allowed three goals in a span of less than five minutes on a goal late in the second period and two early in the third. Denton Mateychuk got the Blue Jackets' only goal, despite the team having 35 shots, and Jet Greaves made 25 saves. "We'll take a ton of positivity out of this hockey game," Columbus coach Dean Evason said. "The players know how hard they played. They know how well they played and they know they just need to keep doing that and that will get rewarded." Mateychuk's goal came 10:20 into the third period and made it 3-1 on the Blue Jackets' 11th shot of the period. Columbus had just two more shots on target the rest of the game. "I mean it's tough, especially (when) they got a goal late there in the second when we were really pushing," Mateychuk said. "But that's hockey. We have to be able to come out in the third and be a resilient group and go out there and get that next one." Columbus had a 22-14 shots advantage over the first two periods. One positive for the Blue Jackets on Friday was the return of Erik Gudbranson. After an upper-body injury caused him to sit out four games, the veteran defenseman saw more than 17 minutes of ice time and finished with a minus-1 rating. –Field Level Media

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