Malkin, Crosby share another milestone night together in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have shared many milestones and memories throughout the last two decades as icons with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

They both enjoyed milestones on Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres when Malkin became the 48th player in NHL history to score 500 career goals and Crosby became the 10th player in NHL history with 1,600 regular-season points in a career.

Crosby’s overtime goal capped a 6-5 victory against Buffalo.

“I really wanted to score (the 500th goal) last year,” Malkin said. “All summer, I was probably thinking too much about it. It was a long way to 500 and I’m glad to finally do it.”

When Crosby scored his 500th NHL goal in 2022, Malkin provided the assist. Crosby returned the favor at 3:26 of the third period on Wednesday.

Crosby sent a between-the-legs pass from behind the net in front to Malkin, who was sitting on the ice when he flipped the puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The entire bench emptied to congratulate Malkin and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

“It was a pretty awesome goal,” Crosby said. “I had a front-row seat watching him do that. I’ll have a great memory of that one.”

Malkin, who has the third-most goals in Penguins’ history with 500 in 1,150 games, is the 20th player in NHL history to score 500 goals with one team. The Penguins selected the 38-year-old Malkin No. 2 overall in the 2004 Draft and he’s teamed with Crosby to bring three Stanley Cup championships to Pittsburgh.

“When you look at the championships the Penguins have won while they’ve been here, their fingerprints are all over it,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “When you win Stanley Cups, it has a way of galvanizing relationships.”

Malkin joined Crosby (592), Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (853) and Nashville’s Steven Stamkos (555) as the only active players with 500 goals. Stamkos achieved it with Tampa Bay. Malkin also joins Ovechkin as the only Russian-born players in NHL history to reach the mark.

Pittsburgh is the second team in NHL history, behind Montreal, with three 500-goal scorers.

The Penguins’ superstars combined for a seven-point night against Buffalo. Crosby had a goal and two assists. Malkin, with a goal and three assists, has 11 points in five games and shows no signs of slowing down.

“I think (Malkin) has had a really strong start to the season,” Sullivan said. “When he’s at his best, the puck seems to follow him around and that’s what he’s doing right now.”

Crosby recorded his 1,600th regular-season point with the secondary assist on Bryan Rust’s power-play goal at 11:01 of the first period. The 37-year-old Crosby is the first player to reach the milestone since Jaromir Jagr on Oct. 6, 2011.

Crosby needed 1,277 games to reach 1,600 points, the fifth-fewest to reach the milestone. Crosby, who is in his 20th NHL season, is seven goals shy of reaching 600. He’s 39 points short of tying Hall of Famer Joe Sakic for ninth place in NHL history.

Crosby, selected No. 1 overall by Pittsburgh in the 2005 Draft, is 121 points behind Hall of Famer and Penguins’ legend Mario Lemieux for eighth place in league history. Lemieux’s 1,723 points is also the franchise record.

For one more night, Malkin and Crosby took center stage.

“We probably deserved to share this night together,” Malkin said. “It’s a great story.”