Crosby passes 1,600 NHL points for Penguins in game against Sabres

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby passed 1,600 NHL points with a goal and two assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old center reached the milestone at 11:01 of the first period with the secondary assist on a power-play goal from Bryan Rust set up by Evgeni Malkin. He then set up Malkin's 500th NHL goal at 3:26 of the third period and scored 1:38 into overtime of a 6-5 win.

In his 20th NHL season, Crosby is the 10th player and the only one active with at least 1,600 points.

"I think it's just an honor to be part of that group," Crosby said after practice Sunday. "To be honest, I don't think about it a whole lot. Hopefully there's a lot of time to reflect after the fact. But it's just a huge honor to be in that group of guys."

Crosby joined Wayne Gretzky (2,857), Jaromir 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). At 1,277 games, he is the fifth-fastest to get there, behind Gretzky (667), Lemieux (812), Dionne (1,164) and Jagr (1,274), and the first since Jagr had an assist for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-1 win at the Boston Bruins on Oct. 6, 2011.

After the game, the Penguins captain chose not to discuss his milestone, highlighting Malkin instead.

“I think whether it’s moments like tonight or things we’ve shared, good and bad, it’s been pretty incredible to be part of the team and play with him over this amount of time,” said Crosby, Malkin’s teammate of 19 seasons. “I think we just care a lot about the team. We want to win. We expect a lot of each other. But I think there’s a lot of respect there too.

“Obviously, we might not have the same personality. But I think there’s a lot of respect.”

Crosby is second in Penguins history in points (1,602), goals (593) and assists (1,009), trailing Lemieux in each (1,723 points; 690 goals; 1,033 assists). Malkin is third with 1,307 points, 500 goals and 807 assists.

“I’m glad he score, like, 1,600 points,” Malkin said. “He deserves every point. He’s the leader, captain. He works, like, every practice. ... He deserves, like, overtime goal and each point.”

Selected No. 1 in the 2005 NHL Draft, Crosby signed a two-year, $17.4 million contract ($8.7 million average annual value) on Sept. 16, 2024, keeping him with the Penguins through the 2026-27 season.

“You look at the guys and the people that have been in this organization over the time that we’ve been here, so that helps a lot too,” Crosby said. “You can go right through all the players, management, everyone that’s been part of this organization. Ownership. We’ve been pretty fortunate to be here.”

Crosby, named to the 100 Greatest NHL Players in January 2017, has won the Stanley Cup three times. At age 21, he became the youngest captain of a championship team when Pittsburgh defeated the Detroit Red Wings in seven games of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final before winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2016 and 2017.

The native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, earned recognition on Dec. 29, 2022, as an Officer of the Order of Canada "for being one of the greatest hockey players of all time and for supporting community service initiatives for youth." The Order of Canada is one of the country's highest honors that recognizes people across all sectors of society who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions.

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report