PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored a goal and added three assists to tie Mario Lemieux’s franchise record for most assists in team history and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-3 on Monday night.
Crosby scored a third-period empty-net goal and assisted on three of Pittsburgh’s four first-period goals as the Penguins jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Crosby and Lemieux both have 1,033 assists, which ranks 12th in NHL history. Only three players in league history have more assists with a single team than Lemieux and Crosby.
“I didn’t ever think I’d be close to that, and I played a lot of games,” Crosby said. “He played a lot less than I did. It’s what happens when you play long enough.”
Philip Tomasino finished Crosby’s backhand pass for a power-play goal at 17:44 of the first period to equal Lemieux’s mark. Crosby also assisted on goals by Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust in the first period. It’s Crosby’s 183rd three-point night, tying Mark Messier and Phil Esposito for the fifth-most such games in NHL history.
According to ESPN Research, the performance also marked Crosby’s 25th career game with a goal and three assists, tying Bobby Orr and Jaromír Jágr for the fifth most in NHL history. The only players ahead of him on the list are Wayne Gretzky (109), Lemieux (62), Steve Yzerman (30) and Esposito (29).
“It’s one more piece of evidence to suggest that Sid is one of the very best players of all time and, as we know, Mario is as well,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Their legacy continues to grow.”
Sullivan went on to call it “an incredible privilege” for the Penguins organization to be blessed with two generational players in Crosby and Lemieux over the past three decades.
“It’s elite company — Mario is one of the greatest players of all time, as is Sid,” he said. “The milestones that these guys have reached, there’s very few players in the history of the game that have reached these milestones that Mario and Sid and some of our guys have reached here most recently.”
Crosby has two goals and 12 points in his past six games. He has two goals and 18 points in his past 13 games. Crosby now has 56 goals and 133 points in 88 career games against Philadelphia, most in NHL history against the Flyers.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
