PITTSBURGH — Captain Sidney Crosby scored his 600th NHL goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night during his team’s 6-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
Crosby is the 21st player in NHL history to reach the milestone. He landed at 600 with 10 seconds left on a 5-on-3 power play, giving him seven goals in his past 12 games. Crosby finished a one-timer from the right side of the net, set up on a pass from Erik Karlsson at 3:11 of the second period.
“It’s hard to say. There’s lots of time to think about that, when I’m done playing,” Crosby said on the game broadcast when asked where No. 600 ranked on his list of career accomplishments. “But it’s nice to get it. I’ve been hovering right around it.”
According to ESPN Research, Crosby, the No. 1 pick by the Penguins in the 2005 NHL draft, is the seventh player in league history to score 600 goals for a single franchise and the second to do so with Pittsburgh, after Mario Lemieux finished his career with 690 goals.
“It means a lot,” Crosby said when asked how special the accomplishment is to have done so entirely for Pittsburgh. “Obviously, I’ve been here for a long time. And to be able to do it at home and have another memory, it’s special, and happy to see it go in.”
After the goal was announced, the crowd gave Crosby a standing ovation. The Penguins captain acknowledged the fans and raised his stick in the air. His parents, Troy and Trina Crosby, were in attendance for the moment.
After the game, however, his thoughts had already turned to his team and its struggles this season.
“It’s not enjoyable, obviously,” Crosby said after Pittsburgh lost for the 14th time in 18 games. “It was a nice reception and a cool moment. I thought we got some momentum and we were doing some good things, and [Utah] got one shortly after. Even with that, we were still in the game, but it got away from us.”
Dylan Guenther scored twice for Utah, while Nick Bjugstad, Jack McBain, Mikhail Sergachev and Alexander Kerfoot also scored. Karel Vejmelka stopped 27 shots for Utah.
Karlsson surpassed Borje Salming for 15th place on the NHL’s career assists list among defensemen. And Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for Pittsburgh.
Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are the only active players with at least 600 NHL goals.
Pittsburgh is the second team in NHL history with multiple 600-goal scorers, joining the Detroit Red Wings‘ Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
