With Sidney Crosby’s 500th goal in the books, the focus will be on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ attempt to win their fifth consecutive game Thursday night when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Crosby scored his 500th career goal and added an assist Tuesday night when the Penguins defeated the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in overtime.
Pittsburgh tied the game with two third-period goals before Kris Letang won it 31 seconds into overtime.
“Just happy and excited. I’ve kind of been hovering around it here for a few games,” Crosby said. “So it was a lot of fun to be able to do it at home with all the guys coming on the ice like that. That’s something I’ll definitely always remember.”
No. 500 was Crosby’s 14th goal of the season and came on a power play at 16:34 of the first period. The Penguins bench cleared to join in the celebration.
“I think it was perfect,” Letang said. “I think he wanted to remember that goal with everybody around him on the ice. So, I think it was organic. Even the coaches were like, ‘everybody get out there.'”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Crosby belongs “in very elite company, and he’s so deserving.”
Crosby becomes the 46th player in NHL history with 500 or more goals, and he did it in 1,077 career games, sixth fastest, behind only Hall of Famers Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux, Maurice Richard, Joe Mullen and Bobby Hull.
“His legacy, I think, speaks for itself,” Sullivan said. “But to see the reaction, just the raw emotion on the bench — it gives you goosebumps when you’re watching it up close, like we were as a coaching staff. It was just really a cool experience.”
Toronto is coming off a 6-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Monday, salvaging one victory from a three-game trip.
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe called the win “a good game to finish the road trip off the right way.”
Keefe wasn’t all smiles, though.
“We made good on the chances that we got in around the net and there’s lots in the game that I didn’t like,” he said. “And then I thought Seattle did a good job against us. I liked a lot about the third period, especially the last half of it.”
Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists.
“That is how we want to finish out games,” he said, “being relentless on pucks, on our toes, be on the forecheck and not give them a lot,”
Marner has 11 goals and 11 assists in the past 11 games. His goal in the second period gave him 400 career points and he finished with 401.
“I’ve had more shots on net the last few games,” Marner said. “We’ve had chances on our line (with Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting) that haven’t gone in, so it’s nice to be rewarded. For our line, just the forechecking we did to get the puck in our hands, we were happy with that.”
Matthews had two assists Monday to extend his points streak to eight games (seven goals, nine assists). He also blocked three shots.
Toronto’s Jack Campbell was steadier in goal Monday than he had been in some recent games and made 23 saves.
“Obviously, that second (goal) squeaks by him in the third, but there were a lot of perimeter shots coming at him that he handled really well, very calmly,” Keefe said.
–Field Level Media