Penguins News: Kris Letang put on an all-time great performance

The Pittsburgh Penguins, as a whole, are not as good as they should be with all of the talent that they have on their roster. Their talent is aging but they are still really good.

One of those veteran stars had an all-time great single-game performance on Wednesday night when the Penguins took on the New York Islanders.

The Pens defeated the Isles 7-0. Kris Letang had six assists in the game. That is tied for the most assists a defenseman has ever had in a single game.

Letang assisted on two goals scored by Jake Guentzel, two scored by Evgeni Malkin, one scored by Radim Zohorna, and one scored by Valtteri Puustinen. All of these guys were made better by Letang in this one.

Kris Letang's magical night powered the Pittsburgh Penguins to a big win.

Five of those six assists came in the first period. No defenseman has ever had five assists in one period before. That is pretty impressive knowing the league's history with defensemen over the last 106 years. It is far from a small sample size.

Letang can be argued as a Hall of Fame defenseman. He has had some injuries and health issues throughout his career that may keep him from reaching 1000 points but he has been elite every year he's been on the ice.

In 1038 games, he has 159 goals and 555 assists for 714 points. He is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, a Masterton Trophy winner, and a two-time All-Star. He has never won the Norris Trophy but he has had 7 top-ten finishes including a nomination (3rd place) in 2013.

After this big win, the Penguins are 16-13-4 which is good for 36 standings points. They are in 7th place of the Metropolitan Division but second place has 41 points. A good or bad week seperates second and seventh place. It is the tightest division in the league.

If Kris Letang can keep making an impact like this, along with the other outstanding stars on the team, they will be able to stay in the race all season long.

It was very fun to watch him have a night like this. Letang has been through a lot in his career so we can only hope that he continues to have success until he calls it quits.