Sidney Crosby on Thursday completed his march to 1,000 career points in typically unselfish fashion. The Pittsburgh star then wasted little time before starting his quest for the next thousand.
He fed Chris Kunitz for a first-period goal against Winnipeg, becoming the 86th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points, added an assist on Phil Kessel’s game-tying goal in the third and put the winner past Connor Hellebuyck with 21 seconds left in overtime as his side escaped with a 4-3 victory.
Crosby finished with three points to push his total 1,002. Evgeni Malkin also scored for Pittsburgh, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 44 shots for the Penguins, who improved to 6-0-2 since the All-Star break.
Patrik Laine scored his 27th for Winnipeg. Paul Postma collected his first and Dustin Byfuglien his eighth for the Jets. Hellebuyck made 35 saves, but could not get a handle on Crosby’s 31st of the season and 369th goal of his career.
In other results, it was:
‧ Islanders 4, Rangers 2
‧ Wild 3, Stars 1
‧ Oilers 6, Flyers 3
‧ Blues 4, Canucks 3
‧ Senators 3, Devils 0
‧ Sabres 2, Avalanche 0
‧ Coyotes 5, Kings 3
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
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