After going 10 games without a goal, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby finally broke his slump on Feb. 11th with a pair of them in a 4-1 road win over the S. Louis Blues. They were just his fourth and fifth markers in the past 23 games, but were milestone tallies as they were the centre’s 400th and 401st goals of his illustrious career. Crosby notched his 400th at the 3:31 mark of the second period and then added another at the 17:12 mark of the third with an empty netter to seal the victory. With the goals, Crosby became the 95thplayer to score at least 400 times in NHL history and he’s also the seventh active player to reach the milestone.
Crosby said he was just happy to finally score a goal after his 10-game drought and it was a bonus since it was a milestone marker and his father was in the stands to witness it. He added that it seemed like he hadn’t scored forever and he was relieved when he saw the puck trickle over the goal line. Crosby now has 18 goals on the season and will undoubtedly reach the 20-goal mark again. He scored at least 20 times in 10 of his first 12 NHL campaigns, but his output is down considerably this year considering he led the league last season with 44 goals. His best goal-scoring output in the NHL has been 51 goals in the 2009/10 season.
As far as the other current 400-goal scorers go, Jaromir Jagr is leading the way for active players with 766. However, he recently left the Calgary Flames to join HC Kladno in his native Czech Republic. Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is next with 591 followed by Patrick Marleau of the Toronto Maple Leafs who has 526. The Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa has 525 goals, but is sitting out this season due to a skin condition. Rick Nash of the New York Rangers has netted 433 goals while Marian Gaborik of the Los Angeles Kings is the other active 400-goal scorer at 403.
Crosby’s 400th goal came in his 839thregular-season game. He now has 401 goals along with 688 assists for 1,089 points. However, he’s still quite a way behind Mario Lemieux as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer as Lemieux racked up 1,723 points during his career. Crosby was drafted first overall by Pittsburgh in 2005 and it’s interesting to note that he’s 190 goals behind Ovechkin, who was the top draft pick a year earlier. Ovechkin has 1,095 career points in 976 games, so he’s scores at a lower point-per-game rate and is yet to win a Stanley Cup while Crosby has three of them under his belt.
Still, both Crosby and Ovechkin have been a credit to the game and are surefire Hall of Famer’s as soon as they’re eligible. Crosby currently ranked sixth in scoring for active players as of Feb. 12Th, 2018 as Jagr was tops with 1,921 points followed by the injured Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks with 1,427. Hossa was next at 1,134 followed by Marleau with 1,111 and Ovechkin at 1,095.