Crosby, Malkin climb NHL leaderboards in win over Capitals
Crosby assisted and Malkin scored the go-ahead goal in the win.
Sidney Crosby may remain two goals away from No. 600, but he still managed to climb the NHL’s all-time leaderboards in Friday’s 4-2 road win over the Washington Capitals.
Crosby registered a secondary assist on Erik Karlsson’s opening goal three minutes into the first period to mark the 1,014th helper of his career, leaving him two assists shy of tying Joe Sakic for No. 13 on the NHL’s all-time leaderboard.
Karlsson ripped this one home from right between the circles pic.twitter.com/R3pirJei2F
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 9, 2024
The assist also marked the 280th time in Crosby’s career that the Penguins captain has registered a point on a game-opening goal, passing Ron Francis for the fifth most in NHL history.
Sidney Crosby factored on the @penguins' game-opening goal and moved within two of tying Joe Sakic (1,016) for 13th on the NHL's all-time assists list.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 9, 2024
Will he climb the list tonight? Watch now on @ESPNPlus, Hulu, @Sportsnet & @TVASports.#NHLStats: https://t.co/9E5nowtn0N pic.twitter.com/F6E4NOSj02
Two periods later, Malkin scored his fifth of the season to put the Penguins back in front after Rasmus Sandin and Andrew Mangiapane had tied things up for the Caps.
It's Malk-IN the net! pic.twitter.com/4QDdtgsekt
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 9, 2024
The tally marked the 84th game-winning goal of Malkin’s career, leaving him one shy of the Nashville Predators’ Steven Stamkos for third among active players.
Evgeni Malkin's go-ahead goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation was the 84th game winner of his career, one back of Steven Stamkos (85) for the third most among active players. Alex Ovechkin (130) and Sidney Crosby (93) top the list.#NHLStats: https://t.co/9E5nowtn0N pic.twitter.com/HlaIkk4TOe
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 9, 2024
Malkin’s tally also marked the 32nd time he has scored a go-ahead goal in the third period, the most in Penguins franchise history. Jaromir Jagr ranks just behind with 30 go-ahead tallies in the final 20 minutes, per NHL Stats.
Friday night’s game was already destined to make NHL history. This is the 20th season in a row in which Crosby and Ovechkin faced off against one another, and only four other forward pairs can say the same, NHL Stats noted.
This time, it was Crosby coming out on top of the rivalry matchup thanks to a redemption game from Erik Karlsson and strong goaltending from Joel Blomqvist. But with Tristan Jarry due to return from his AHL conditioning stint and one of the most intimidating opponents of the season so far coming to Pittsburgh next week, the Pens have plenty of questions left to answer while preparing to take on the Dallas Stars on Monday.