Sidney Crosby 9th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 even-strength points

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby picked up two assists, including his 1,000th even-strength point, in a 4-3 overtime win over the hometown Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

The native of Cole Harbour, N.S., became the ninth player in NHL history to get 1,000 even-strength points (408 goals, 592 assists). He is also the fourth fastest to reach the mark (1,246 games), behind only Wayne Gretzky (608 games), Marcel Dionne (1,143) and Jaromir Jagr (1,165).

Crosby, 36, has a goal and seven points during a three-game point streak and 62 points in 56 contests this season.

“He’s had a remarkable career to this point and he’s shown zero signs of slowing down,” said Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, adding he’s “run out of superlatives” for describing the forward’s performance.

“He’s the heartbeat of our team and he’s playing an inspiring game for us and so when he reaches these milestones, it doesn’t at this point surprise us because there’s a lot of them, but I think it just speaks volumes for how consistently well he’s played for so long.”

Down 2-0 entering the second period, Rickard Rakell scored twice in just over seven minutes to tie the game.

The first came 2:13 into the frame, as he dangled his way through the defence and buried it past Demko off an assist from Crosby. The helper was Crosby’s 1,000th career even-strength point.

Rakell scored his second at 9:36 with a 5-on-3 advantage, with Crosby finding him wide open in front to score into a gaping net.

“It was great pass from [Crosby] and I had a wide-open net,” said Rakell.

Erik Karlsson scored the winning goal at 1:42 of OT to lift Pittsburgh to its consecutive victory.