PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby scored to reach 600 goals in the NHL on Saturday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins center achieved the milestone against the Utah Hockey Club at PPG Paints Arena.
The 37-year-old is the 21st player to hit the mark and second active player to do so, after Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, who has 868 goals. Crosby joined Mario Lemieux (690) as the only players to score 600 for the Penguins.
"It's just another one of those milestones that speaks for itself, I think,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said beforehand. “He's in elite company now with every milestone that he achieves at this point. He's in very elite company. He's amongst the greatest players of all time. I think that's what that number suggests.”
Crosby got No. 600 at 3:11 of the second period during a 5-on-3 power play. He pulled Pittsburgh within 2-1 with a one-timer from a sharp angle along the right side off a pass from Erik Karlsson.
Crosby’s 1,295 games played are the most in Penguins history. He is second with 1,617 points and 1,017 assists, behind Lemieux (1,723 points, 1,033 assists).
In his 20th NHL season, all with Pittsburgh, Crosby has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in 23 games. He averaged at least a point per game in each of his first 19 seasons, tied with Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
"It's just special, what he does to this day,” said Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel, who played eight seasons with Crosby before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7. “He's done it his whole career. You might think of him as a pass-first guy, but he can still score at a high level.”
Gretzky also averaged at least a point per game in his first 19 seasons before having 62 points (nine goals, 53 assists) in 70 games for the New York Rangers during his 20th and final season in 1998-99.
Crosby has twice won the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL goals leader, first when he scored an NHL career-high 51 in 2009-10, sharing the award with Steven Stamkos, and again with 44 goals in 2016-17.
“When people think of Sidney Crosby, I don't think that the first thing that goes through their mind is scoring goals or being a goal-scorer,” Karlsson said leading up to the game. “He's coming up on 600, which is very impressive and very few players get to that mark. I've played with a lot of good goal-scorers in the day and they haven't even been close to touching 600.”
Crosby had one goal in his first 11 games this season, including a six-game goal drought from Oct. 18-29 coinciding with an 0-5-1 stretch for the Penguins, who were 7-11-4 entering Saturday. He scored twice in each of the next two games, a 2-1 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 31 and a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 2, before scoring No. 598 in a 4-3 shootout loss at the New York Islanders on Nov. 5.
He ended a five-game goal drought by scoring No. 599 in a 4-3 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 16 but did not score in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Lightning on Tuesday or a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
"I think you're always looking to improve,” Crosby said Monday. "I think there's been more chances at different points. So just hoping that [if you] stay with it, more will go in. But it's just a matter of executing. As a whole, I don't think I want to try to force it. I think I want to just play the right way and trust the chances will come, and when they do, that they'll go in."
On Oct. 16, Crosby became the 10th player in NHL history with at least 1,600 points when he had a goal and two assists in a 6-5 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Since being selected No. 1 by Pittsburgh in the 2005 NHL Draft, Crosby has won the Hart Trophy as League MVP and Art Ross Trophy as points leader twice. He won each with 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists) in 2006-07, his second season, and again with 104 points (36 goals, 68 assists) in 2013-14.
In 2010-11, Crosby missed 41 games because of concussion-related symptoms. They carried into the following season, keeping him out another 60 games before he fully returned with 56 points (15 goals, 41 assists) in 36 games during a shortened 2012-13 season.
“His game is not only scoring goals,” Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang said. “He plays against the top line. He plays in all situations. He carries the momentum of our team most of the time. So it’s not because he’s not scoring goals that he’s not doing his thing. Like, he creates so much for everybody else.
“When you have a Crosby on the ice, everybody kind of focuses on him. It opens so many other guys.”
Named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in January 2017, Crosby 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. He then won 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, recognizing people across all sectors of society who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions.
“His perseverance, his resilience, his passion for the game, but his overall complete game, he's got such a mature game,” Sullivan said. “He's not a one-dimensional player.”
