Penguins' Sidney Crosby joins exclusive club with latest milestone

Crosby hit the milestone early in the third period on the power play. After sending the puck to Kris Letang along the blueline to move the puck around and spread out the penalty killers, Letang sent him a return feed, which he promptly sniped to give the Penguins a 4-1 lead.

While that was the milestone point, it wasn’t his only of the game to get him to 1,500. He also had an additional goal and an assist for three points on the night in what was a crucial 5-1 win for the Penguins with their playoff lives on the line.

Crosby becomes the 15th player in NHL history to hit the 1,500-point milestone, joining Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, Gordie Howe, Ron Francis, Marcel Dionne, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic, Phil Esposito, Ray Bourque, Joe Thornton, Mark Recchi and Paul Coffey. He’s the only active NHLer on the list. Although, Jagr is currently still playing hockey in the Czech league, while Thornton isn’t officially retired.

Crosby also becomes the second player to hit the milestone solely with the Penguins along with Lemieux, but Jagr, Francis, Recchi and Coffey all contributed to their totals as a Penguin. Crosby sits 223 points back of Lemieux for the all-time Penguins scoring record, something still realistically obtainable for the 35-year-old barring any injury problems.

Crosby’s been having another fantastic year even as he gets older, as he has 33 goals, 54 assists and 91 points in 80 games at the time of hitting the milestone. While that only puts him in 14th in scoring this season, he is tied for sixth in even-strength points this season.