Crosby shines in Pens' victory
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby had a milestone night — three times over.
Crosby had his 100th career NHL goal and his 200th assist to surpass the 300-point plateau in leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Playing on a line with fellow young star Evgeni Malkin for the first time during an entire game this season, the 21-year-old Crosby had a goal and three assists to give him 100 goals and 202 assists for 302 points in 219 career games.
"(Milestones) are nice," Crosby said. "It's not what you play for, but they're great accomplishments."
Crosby doubled his season output through five games. He had no goals and only four assists coming in to the contest.
"I don't expect four-point nights, but I definitely wanted to score," he said. "I felt like I was doing some good things, but the puck just wasn't going in."
Malkin assisted on all four Penguins goals to give him 201 points in 166 NHL games.
Pascal Dupuis, Miroslav Satan and Petr Sykora also had goals for Pittsburgh.
"(Crosby) is the best player in the league," said Dupuis, a linemate. "It's always good to play with a guy like that."
Nik Antropov scored for Toronto, which has only nine goals in five games (1-2-2). The Maple Leafs lost 1-0 in a shootout at the New York Rangers on Friday night.
Crosby's first goal of the season came 12:15 into the third period. He carried the puck into the zone and eluded diving goalie Curtis Joseph, who was trying to poke the puck away from Crosby as he skated through the right circle.
