Sidney Crosby of Penguins reaches 1,000 points

CROSBY BECOMES FASTEST ACTIVE PLAYER TO REACH 1,000 POINTS

* Crosby became the eighth active player with 1,000 career points and the third to hit the mark this season, following Alex Ovechkin on Jan. 11 and Henrik Sedin on Jan. 20. He also became the third player with 1,000 career points with the Penguins, joining Mario Lemieux (690-1,033-1,723) and Jagr (439-640-1,079).
* Crosby, who had at least three points for the 118th time in his career, has averaged 1.32 points per game since beginning his career in 2005-06. Four players in NHL history scored at a higher rate (min. 500 GP): Wayne Gretzky (1.92), Mario Lemieux (1.88), Mike Bossy (1.50) and Bobby Orr (1.39), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
* Elias notes that Crosby (29 years, 193 days) became the second-youngest active player at the time of his 1,000th career point, behind Jagr (28 years, 319 days) on Dec. 30, 2000.

THURSDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps
NY ISLANDERS 4, NY Rangers 2
Ottawa 3, NEW JERSEY 0
PITTSBURGH 4, Winnipeg 3 (OT)
BUFFALO 2, Colorado 0
ST. LOUIS 4, Vancouver 3
MINNESOTA 3, Dallas 1
EDMONTON 6, Philadelphia 3
Arizona 5, LOS ANGELES 3

McDAVID PICKS UP THREE POINTS, MAINTAINS SCORING LEAD

Connor McDavid (1-2-3) had his 20th multipoint game of the season to help the Edmonton Oilers (31-19-8, 70 points) move into a tie in terms of points with the Anaheim Ducks (30-18-10, 70 points) for second place in the Pacific Division.
* With his performance, McDavid (19-47-66) maintained a two point lead on Sidney Crosby (31-33-64) in the Art Ross Trophy race. McDavid also leads the League with eight three-point games this season.
* The Oilers, who finished with the fewest points in the Western Conference in 2015-16, tied their win (31) and point (70) totals from last season in their 58th game this season.

HOT STREAKS CONTINUE

The St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild all won to continue long stretches of success:
* Vladimir Tarasenko (1-1-2) scored his 27th goal of the season and Kevin Shattenkirk had three assists to power the Blues (31-22-5, 67 points) to their season-high sixth straight victory. The Blues are 7-1-0 under coach Mike Yeo to open a five-point lead on the Nashville Predators (27-21-8, 62 points) for third place in the Central Division.
* Andrew Ladd scored twice as the Islanders (26-20-10, 62 points) improved to 8-0-2 in their past 10 home games. Elias notes that the Islanders have points in 10 consecutive home games within a season for the first time since a 9-0-1 run from Dec. 16, 1989 - Jan. 28, 1990. They are one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs (26-18-11, 63 points) for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference.
* Erik Haula scored his third game-winning goal of the season to help the Western Conference-leading Wild (38-13-6, 82 points) improve to 8-2-1 in their past 11 games. It was the Wild's 38th victory of the season to match their total from 2015-16 (38-33-11, 87 points). They are second in the NHL standings, two points behind the Washington Capitals (39-11-6, 84 points); The Capitals, however, hold a game in hand.

CONDON, SENATORS NARROW GAP IN ATLANTIC

Mike Condon made 21 saves for his fifth shutout of the season as the Ottawa Senators (30-19-6, 66 points) moved within four points of the Montreal Canadiens (31-19-8, 70 points) for first place in the Atlantic Division (with three games in hand). Condon, who had one shutout in his first 57 NHL games, has five shutouts in 31 games since joining the Senators in November. Patrick Lalime is the only Senators goaltender to post more shutouts in a single season (seven in 2000-01, 2001-02; eight in 2002-03).

LOOSE PUCKS

Patrik Laine scored his 27th goal of the season to move into a tie with Auston Matthews for the rookie lead. … Buffalo Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season. … Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (0-6-6). … Kris Letang had three assists in his 600th NHL game. … Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe, the 29th pick of the 2014 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut. … Ducks forward Antoine Vermette was automatically
suspended for 10 games
, without pay, for violating Rule 40.3 (Physical Abuse of Officials). … Stanley Cup champion
Alex Tanguay has joined NHL Network
as an on-air analyst. … The Sabres
held a screening
of "Soul On Ice" as part of Hockey Is For Everyone month. … L.A. Galaxy player Robbie Rogers dropped the ceremonial puck as part of the Kings'

.

SNEAK PEEK AT FRIDAY'S ACTION

All Times Eastern
Pittsburgh @ Columbus, 7 p.m., SN, TVAS, FS-O, ROOT, NHLN, NHL.TV
Colorado @ Carolina, 7:30 p.m., FS-CR, ALT, NHL.TV
Florida @ Anaheim, 10 p.m., SN1, PRIME, FS-F, NHL.TV