Penguins captain Sidney Crosby extended his NHL record for consecutive point-per-game seasons with a goal and a pair of assists in Sunday’s 5-2 win over Florida. He’s now at 72 points on the year; he can play a maximum of 70 games after missing 12 over the past several weeks with an MCL sprain and a subsequently unrelated lower-body issue. That gives him 21 seasons in a row above a point per game, two clear of Wayne Gretzky‘s previous record of 19. Crosby has never finished at or below a point per game in his career. The closest he ever got was a Cup-winning season for the Penguins in 2015-16, when his 36-49–85 scoring line in 80 games worked out to a career-low 1.06 mark. Among players with at least 750 career appearances, Crosby’s 1.24 points per game sits eighth all-time and third among active players behind Connor McDavid‘s 1.53 and Nikita Kucherov‘s 1.28.
More from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Hurricanes were without two-thirds of their main checking line in yesterday’s loss to the Senators, as Jordan Martinook and Jordan Staal were unable to go. Both were late scratches due to undisclosed injuries, the team announced. They each missed three-game stretches earlier in the year with a lower-body injury and an illness, respectively, but have otherwise been durable. With the Metropolitan Division title all but locked up with now just five games left in the season, it’s likely a case of extremely precautionary rest ahead of the playoffs. Martinook has 26 points and a +5 rating in his 73 appearances this year, while Staal has 33 points and a +3.
- After clinching a playoff berth earlier in the day thanks to some outside help, the Canadiens were quiet at home last night in a 3-0 loss to the Devils. They did so without the services of depth winter Alexandre Texier, who has now missed a seventh straight game with a lower-body injury, per Eric Engels of Sportsnet. He remains listed as day-to-day but has only played eight times since Jan. 29 due to injuries and a string of healthy scratches. He’s still been an efficiently productive find for Montreal this season after he opted to walk away from his contract with the Blues in November, recording an 8-11–19 scoring line in 38 games since his pickup.