There are still slivers of good things happening with the Penguins this year among a large swath of blah. One of those good things happened last night to one of the best and most deserving people in hockey. Sidney Crosby scored his 600th NHL goal with a strike on the power play in the most appropriate spot on the ice, #SidDownLow.
Add another historic chapter to Sidney's story 👠pic.twitter.com/Caqsu78wK3
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 24, 2024
Born to play hockey 🏒
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 24, 2024
Sidney Crosby is the seventh player in NHL history to score 600 goals with a single franchise. pic.twitter.com/XQYJcUU7dA
"To be able to do it at home with family here, it’s special.…
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) November 24, 2024
After scoring No. 600 Sidney Crosby let @DanPotashTV know how special it was to be able to do it at home. pic.twitter.com/BUFBNGH7e3
When you score as many goals as Sid has there are a lot of cool facts to sift through. Here’s an aggregate of a chunk of them:
With his 600th NHL goal, Sidney Crosby has joined Wayne Gretzky in a highly exclusive club! 👀 pic.twitter.com/NRIQaIoM61
— NHL (@NHL) November 24, 2024
Mario🤝Sid
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) November 24, 2024
The @penguins are the second team in NHL history - and first non-Original Six team - to have two 600-goal scorers. pic.twitter.com/Vfc0rvQ8Cn
Talk about consistency: of Sid’s 6 100-goal segments, 4 of them have been accomplished in basically the same timeframe:
#0-100, 219 games
#200-300, 227 games
#300-400, 217 games
#500-600, 218 games
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 8:16 PM
Gretzky also scored his 600th career goal on Nov. 23, this in 1988 v. Detroit.
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 8:15 PM
Sid goals:
Home (323)
Road (277)
1st (187)
2nd (193)
3rd (198)
OT (22)
Unassisted (28)
ENG (35)
First goals (116)
Backhand (87)
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 8:18 PM
Sid, most goals against one goaltender:
Lundqvist (24)
Halak (14)
Brodeur (12)
Elliott (12)
Miller (11)
Niittymaki (11)
Biron (10)
Holtby (10)
Lehtonen (10)
Luongo (10)
Pavelec (10)
Price (10)
Vokoun (10)
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 8:21 PM
As for the big picture, Sidney Crosby signed up for this. When he signed his extension there is no way in hell he was blindsided about how things were going to play out. He is a smart guy and signed a two-year extension knowing the situation at hand. While this does suck for him he had the ability to hit unrestricted free agency this summer and declined the opportunity. He also had complete control over what an in-season trade would look like as a pending UFA. He chose to stay.
Here’s what you can do for him and for the fans in the 2024-25 season, staple Evgeni Malkin to his line and let these legends rack up some goals and points while people sift through the rest of this garbage roster. Let the losses pile up and collect a lottery pick. Most of the bums on this roster aren’t going to be around when the roster transition takes place.
For now, congratulations to Sidney Crosby on a well-deserved achievement. He saved hockey in Pittsburgh, almost lost his career to a cheap shot, and all these years later he is committed as ever to the team who drafted while him picking up these impressive milestones. Here are to many more for somebody who deserves them all.
Thanks for reading!