Sunday afternoon, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby took the ice for the 1,387th time in black and gold.
He entered the game against the Montreal Canadiens with 644 goals and 1,079 assists.
Crosby added a tally in both columns to move past NHL Hall of Famer and Pittsburgh royalty Mario Lemieux and become the Penguins’ all-time points leader.
His record-tying goal came just seven minutes into the first period when he got his stick on an Erik Karlsson slapshot.
Just 38 seconds later, “The Kid” had his power-play slapshot deflected out front and then finished by Rickard Rakell to give Crosby his 1,724th point.
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“That’s it! That’s history!” Penguins play-by-play announcer Josh Getzoff said on the call. “‘The Kid’ is now the king!”
Crosby was swarmed by his teammates in a bench-clearing celebration.
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It was a moment, he said, he did his best to embrace.
“It’s really special. You’re trying to stay in the game, but also, just try to enjoy the moment, too,” Crosby said. “It’s hard to balance that sometimes, especially as you get older. You tend to look at things a little bit differently.”
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Crosby reiterated several times during his postgame interviews how thankful he was to be mentioned in the same conversation as the all-time great Lemieux. But for him, there is a clear number one.
“It’s really special,” Crosby said. “You know, to be here as long as I have been, so many guys have contributed to that, so many different teams and groups. I obviously have a ton of respect for Mario and everything that he’s done for this team, and for hockey in general. It’s pretty special.”
“I don’t think you can put a stat line or a number on what he means to this team and to hockey. In my mind, he’s still No. 1.”
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Featured image via Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images