Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have been linked together since both No. 1 overall picks entered the league in 2005-06.
So while Washington Capitals star Ovechkin is chasing down Wayne Gretzky’s career goal record, Pittsburgh Penguins star Crosby passed The Great One in another category on Thursday night.
Crosby guaranteed that he will record his 20th season of averaging at least one point a game, breaking the record of 19 he had shared with Gretzky. Crosby, who’s missed two games this season, needed to reach 80 points and he accomplished that by scoring a first-period goal against the Buffalo Sabres.
Crosby’s accomplishment is impressive because he missed significant time early in his career with concussion issues. He had 66 points in 41 games, including a 25-game point streak, in 2010-11 before a season-ending injury in January. He was limited to 22 games the following season but scored 37 points.
Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time leading scorer, averaged 1.92 points a game to Crosby’s 1.25, but Gretzky had 62 points in 70 games in his 20th and final season in 1998-99. Crosby recently passed Gretzky for fourth place in most points with a single franchise.
Crosby, who signed a two-year extension in September, has won three Stanley Cup titles, two playoff MVPs, two Hart Trophies (MVP to his team) and two goal-scoring and two points titles during his 20-season career.