December 27th remains a good night for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Coming off of the holiday break the Penguins and very specifically Kris Letang poured it on and defeated the New York Islanders by a score of 7-0. It was a game of multiple milestones with two of them being of the historical variety.
The most points by a defenseman in a single period in NHL history: Kris Letang
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 28, 2023
Sole posession of second-place in goals all-time among Russian skaters: Evgeni Malkin
First NHL goal: Valtteri Puustinen
There were a LOT of milestones tonight! pic.twitter.com/f8omKJY55Y
Let’s start with Kris Letang. He had five assists in a single period of play. A new record among NHL defensemen. His six assists ties the all-time record for one game by a defenseman. You love to see this. Kris Letang has been an integral part of the success of this era of hockey in Pittsburgh. It isn’t easy being in the shadow of both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and a lot of times he doesn’t get the accolades he deserves. There’s no ignoring a night like this. A well-deserved honor for one of the hardest working players in the league year in and year out.
There are only two players in team history who put up more points in a game than Letang and by the time February 18th is over they’ll both have their numbers retired
Pens w/ more points in a GP than Letang tonight (0-6-6):
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) December 28, 2023
Mario, 2-6-8 v StL, 10/15/88
Mario, 5-3-8 v NJ, 12/31/88
Mario, 2-5-7 @ Edm, 1/21/89
Mario, 2-5-7 v Tor, 12/26/91
Mario, 1-6-7 @ SJ, 12/5/92
Mario, 1-6-7 v TB, 11/1/95
Mario, 5-2-7 v StL, 3/26/96
Jagr, 3-4-7 v NYI, 12/30/99
It was the single best performance per game score since the stat has been tracked
Kris Letang scored a 10.02 Game Score tonight, which is the highest ever since I began tracking during the 17/18 season.
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) December 28, 2023
This includes preseason and playoffs. @domluszczyszyn
Top single-game performances in the NHL this season, ranked by gamescore from @hockeystatcards:
— Danny Shirey (@DannyShireyPGH) December 28, 2023
1) Kris Letang — 10.02 (tonight)
2) Marcus Pettersson — 7.78 (tonight)
3) Nikita Kucherov — 7.31 (11/24)
4) Ryan Hartman — 6.88 (10/24)
5) Brayden Point — 6.74 (11/24)
Making history 😎
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) December 28, 2023
Last night, Kris Letang tied the NHL record for assists in a game by a defenseman, and became the first to achieve the feat in over 37 years. pic.twitter.com/0kvgRxaFdn
This is how his historic night looked
Kris Letang (PIT58) had a historic performance last night.
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 28, 2023
He scored 6 assists including 5 in the second period which set an NHL record among defencemen. He also had an 81% xGF% at 5v5.
Here are his most notable plays and puck touches from last night. #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/gfL3DMGoWG
Some more context
Per NHL, Letang became the fourth active player to record at least five points in a period, following Tage Thompson (4-1—5 in P1 on Dec. 7, 2022 w/ BUF), Mika Zibanejad (3-3—6 in P2 on March 17, 2021 w/ NYR) and Sam Gagner (3-2—5 in P3 on Feb. 2, 2012 w/ EDM).
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) December 28, 2023
Congratulations to Kris Letang. Awesome to see.
On most nights Evgeni Malkin’s two goal performance would be the primary focal point. These were a very significant two goals. He is now second all-time among Russian born players in league history in goal scoring. He passed the legendary Sergei Fedorov.
With his second tally of the night, Evgeni Malkin now has the second-most goals among Russian-born skaters in NHL history with 484, passing Sergei Federov (483)!
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) December 28, 2023
His career accomplishments are starting to stack up
Among Russian players in NHL history:
— Ryan Mance (@Mance_22) December 28, 2023
2nd all time in points
2nd all time in goals
1st all time in assists
He is criminally underrated https://t.co/moSDYBR3Iq
Big congratulations to Evgeni Malkin
Another milestone was Valtteri Puustinen’s first career goal. I think you might have a good guess on who had the primary assist on this night
First NHL goal for Valtteri Puustinen! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/77YJAKsMpH
— NHL (@NHL) December 28, 2023
Puustinen has done a decent job with his opportunity after being called up. The goal sure looked like something that could be very useful in a power play setting.
Last night marked Puustinen's second multi-point game (1G-1A). Only three players in @penguins history have recorded more multi-point games in their first nine career games:
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) December 28, 2023
Evgeni Malkin - 4
Mario Lemieux - 3
Sidney Crosby - 3
That's pretty good company 🤩 https://t.co/OPBpxRQ3iX
Lastly, we have a Tristan Jarry shutout.
Tristan Jarry recorded his league-leading fourth shutout tonight in his 23rd game of the season.
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) December 28, 2023
Only two goaltenders in @penguins history have recorded four shutouts in less games in one season:
Johan Hedberg: 4 SO in 19GP in 2001-02
Marc-Andre Fleury: 4 SO in 16GP in 2014-15 pic.twitter.com/YINZiFzsbO
Easy to ignore the goaltending in a 7-0 game, but they can only stop the shots they face. Jarry is leading the league in shutouts with four.
The Penguins will have a few days to feel good about themselves. They don’t play again until Saturday night when they host the St. Louis Blues. It is a chance to make one of their early season disappointing losses right.
Thanks for reading!