The Pittsburgh Penguins have been nearly unbeatable following their longest losing streak of the season.
Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets also have fared pretty well of late.
The surging Penguins eye a season-high fifth consecutive victory Sunday against the host Blue Jackets, who have won four of their last five.
Pittsburgh dropped eight in a row from Dec. 7-20 but has won five of the last six. The Penguins scored at least four goals in the five victories, and they outscored their opponents 20-8 during the four-game winning stretch.
“We’re scoring a lot of goals, playing amazingly,” said Pittsburgh goaltender Stuart Skinner, who stopped 11 of 12 shots during Saturday’s 4-1 victory at Detroit.
“I feel like the team’s got a really solid amount of chemistry right now.”
Four different Penguins scored Saturday, Sidney Crosby recorded two assists and all but five players recorded at least one shot.
“We’re using everybody, every guy’s going, playing their game and playing their role,” Skinner said. “It’s really fun to watch.”
With a goal at Detroit, Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust has four with four assists during a six-game point streak. Meanwhile, Yegor Chinakhov scored his first goal with the Penguins after being acquired from Columbus on Monday, in exchange for veteran forward Danton Heinen and a pair of draft picks.
Rust has two goals while Pittsburgh earned three of a possible four points from two games versus Columbus this season.
The Blue Jackets snapped Buffalo’s 10-game winning streak with Saturday’s 5-1 home victory. Columbus defenseman Denton Mateychuk had a goal with an assist while star blueliner Zach Werenski returned from a four-game injury absence to record two helpers. Jet Greaves made 32 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have allowed eight goals during their current 4-1-0 stretch.
“You just have to meet it head on,” Werenski said. “We just went out there and wanted to play our game and play confidently. Play with some swagger.
“When we play like that, we can beat anyone,” he added.
While Werenski is among the NHL’s top offensive defenseman with 42 points on the season, Mateychuk has posted two goals and five assists in the last six contests.
Werenski totaled a goal and an assist during the host Blue Jackets’ 4-3 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Nov. 28.
Greaves has allowed just eight goals while starting each of the last five games. However, Elvis Merzlikins, who has lost three straight starts and owns a hefty 4.04 goals-against average, could be in the Columbus net for this back-to-back scenario.
Skinner has stopped 38 of 40 shots while winning his last two outings after giving up 12 goals in losing his previous three starts — two since Pittsburgh acquired him from Edmonton last month. However, teammate Arturs Silovs, who has won his last three starts despite allowing three goals in each of those games, could be in the Penguins net Sunday.
Crosby, Pittsburgh’s leader with 45 points on the campaign, scored twice at Columbus in November. That came after he was blanked during the Penguins’ 5-4 home shootout loss to the Blue Jackets on Oct. 25.
–Field Level Media
