Sidney Crosby Becomes 86th NHL Player to Score 1,000 Points

Pittsburgh Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby became 86^th player in National Hockey League history to reach the 1,000-point milestone on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets at PPG Paints Arena. 

Crosby recorded point number 1,000 as he set up Chris Kunitz at the 6:28 mark of the opening period of the matchup with the Jets. In reaching the milestone in his 757^th game, he became the 12^th fastest player in the history of the league to accomplish the feat. 

The ‘Great One,’ Wayne Gretzky, 424 games and former Penguin, Mario Lemieux, 513 games accomplished are number one and two on the list of fastest to 1,000. Crosby also became the third player this season to hit the 1,000-point plateau, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals did it on January 11 and Henrik Sedin, of the Vancouver Canuks scored his on January 20.

After scoring his 998^th point on February 7, Crosby went without a point in consecutive games, before getting number 999 on Tuesday night against the Canuks. He picked up points number 1,001 and 1,002, as he picked up the helper on Phil Kessel’s tying goal in the third period and after he found the back of the net in overtime to pick up the victory for the Penguins. 

Crosby said, “I have been hovering around it for a while, so it is nice to get it and nice to get a win. You get that early and you want to make sure you win the game. We hung in there and found a way to get it.”  

After 50 games, Crosby leads the NHL in goals with 31 and is tied for the lead in points with Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, with 64 points. He missed the first six games of the season with a concussion. 

The number one overall selection in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft has scored 100 points in a season, five times in his career (2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2008-2009, 2009-2010 & 2013-2014). He helped the Penguins capture the Stanley Cup last season as they defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games.

He also helped lead them to a Stanley Cup Championship in 2009 over the Detroit Red Wings. Crosby has won the Hart Trophy for league Most Valuable Player and Art Ross Trophy as the scoring leader in 2007 and 2014. 

He added, “I think you just reflect on all of the teams you have been a part of and all of the guys you have played with and how quickly it goes by. I think the number itself is a nice number, but I think I probably tend to think of all the guys that I have played with and all the teams that I have played on. I probably tend to think about that a little bit more.”  

Crosby just barely clipped, the “Ageless One,” Jaromir Jagr, by six games to become the 12^th fastest to reach the 1,000-point mark. Jagr, by the way hit another milestone, of his own on Wednesday night against the Sharks, as he scored his 1,900^th point on his 45^th birthday. 

The 11 players who scored 1,000 points faster than Crosby were Gretzky (424 games), Lemieux (513), Mike Bossy (656), Peter Stastny (682), Jari Kurri (716), Guy Lafleur (720), Bryan Trottier (726) Denis Savard (727), Steve Yzerman (737), Marcel Dionne (740) and Phil Esposito (745).