At age 19, Sidney Crosby claimed the NHL scoring title and guided the Penguins into the playoffs in only his second season. Mario Lemieux won his first scoring title in his fourth year and led the Pens to the playoffs in his fifth campaign.

PITTSBURGH — Mario Lemieux didn't win a scoring title until his fourth NHL season and, despite his enormous talent and on-ice presence, couldn't lead the Pittsburgh Penguins into the playoffs until his fifth season.

Sidney Crosby did both in his second season. At age 19.

The NHL hasn't seen anything like this since a 19-year-old Wayne Gretzky's first NHL season with the Edmonton Oilers in 1979-80 — a teenager being greatly responsible for carrying his team into the postseason.

Crosby did exactly that with his 120-point season, one that left him six points ahead of San Jose's Joe Thornton and secured his first Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring leader. There aren't many in the NHL predicting it will be his last.

"It's a nice accomplishment, and I didn't come into this season expecting it," Crosby said after setting up both Pittsburgh goals in a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night. "I tried to have the best season possible, and I was lucky enough to get it."

Crosby is the first teenager to win the Ross. Gretzky equaled Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings with 137 points in 1979-80, but Dionne won the trophy because he had more goals.

The Penguins' 105 points were the second most in franchise history, and bettered the point totals of their Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1991 and 1992. The 47-point improvement from a season ago, when they had a 22-46-14 record, and was the fourth best in NHL history. Their 47 victories were two more than they had in their previous two seasons combined.

"The goal (when the season started) was just to get into the playoffs and, all of a sudden, we were fighting for home ice the whole second half," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "So I don't think anyone can say anything less than it was a great season."

Now, the question going into the Penguins' first playoff series in six years, or since Lemieux's comeback season in 2000-01, is how could good it will be. The fifth-seeded Penguins open the playoffs Wednesday night in Ottawa against a team they've never met in the postseason.

The series continues with Game 2 on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, then moves to Pittsburgh for Game 3 on Sunday.