In Wednesday's 6-5 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena, Sidney Crosby scored three points, including the game-winning overtime goal, to reach 1,600 NHL points.
With a secondary assist on the power-play goal by
Bryan Rust, who tapped in a rebound off a shot from Evgeni Malkin, Crosby, who started the game needing one point, reached the milestone at 11:01 of the first period. At 3:26 of the third period, he added a second assist as Malkin scored his 500th goal in his career. At 1:38 of overtime, he finished a back-and-forth game with the winner on a 4-on-3 power play.
Since Jaromir Jagr's assist for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on October 6, 2011, the 37-year-old Penguins captain is the first NHL player to reach the milestone. Crosby joins Wayne Gretzky (2,857), Jagr (1,921), Mark Messier (1,887), Gordie Howe (1,850), Ron Francis (1,798), Marcel Dionne (1,771), Steve Yzerman (1,755), Mario Lemieux (1,723), and Joe Sakic (1,641) as the tenth skater in NHL history with 1,600 points.
In 1,277 games, Crosby has the most points among active players with 1,602 (593 goals, 1,009 assists), ranking 10th in NHL history.
"First of all, score two goals,» Malkin said Sept. 19, one day after Pittsburgh opened training camp. «Next two games. Not preseason, regular season. My goal all the time [is], like, four points every game. Team wins every game.»
After Crosby and Mario Lemieux (690), Malkin is ranked third on the Penguins' goal list. With 1,307 points (Lemieux, 1,723; Crosby, 1,602) and 807 assists (Lemieux, 1,033; Crosby, 1,009), he is ranked third as well.
Crosby and Malkin have won the Stanley Cup three times, the first in 2009 when Geno was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They won back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017.