Sidney Crosby up to 20th in all-time NHL scoring

Almost lost in the shuffle of last night’s fun 6-2 win over Arizona was that the three points Penguins captain Sidney Crosby recorded pushed him above Dale Hawerchuk and Alex Ovechkin in the NHL’s career points list. It also puts Crosby into the top-20 for all-time scoring in the league.

Here’s the up to date look at the list.

Crosby is two points away from tying Doug Gilmour in continuing the climb up the list.

This season, Crosby’s sights are set on Gilmour, Adam Oates, Bryan Trottier, Teemu Selanne and Stan Mikita within immediate reach. Then it will be a wait for a while to get to the next level of the scoring leaders in Coffey, Recchi and Thornton.

The fast start of a three-point game on opening night also gets Sid on his way towards what could be an 18th straight season of recording 1+ points in every game played. Currently Crosby and Gordie Howe share having 17 seasons with at least a point in every game, with the record being held by Wayne Gretzky (ever heard of him?) at 19 seasons.

Crosby is also now 312 career points away from passing Mario Lemieux’s franchise record with the Pens, a mark that is looking attainable given that Sid had hinted over the summer with health that he might play three more seasons beyond the three he currently has left on his contract. That could mean as many as 491 potential career games left, which opens Crosby up to the possibility of finishing as high as second all-time, should he actually be able to play that many games and to the high level that he remains at.

But that will be a long time away, and the journey to the top is a slow march with every point being a step forward. Lately for Crosby, those steps are taking him past the career totals of some icons of the sport.