Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby scores 500th NHL goal

Zach Laing
Zach Laing
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby scores 500th NHL goal
Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Hard to call him a Kid anymore.

Sidney Crosby scored his 500th NHL goal Tuesday night in fitting fashion against the Pittsburgh Penguins’ rival, the Philadelphia Flyers.

It came late in the first period on the powerplay. Crosby, 34, positioned himself aside from the Flyers net, ripping a shot past netminder Carter Hart.

While it was the 500th of his career, it also was the 50th goal Crosby scored against the Flyers 5☺ a team he’s been a thorn in the side of since he was drafted. Since being drafted 1st overall in 2005, Crosby has appeared in 78 games coming into tonight scoring 49 goals and 117 points in 78 games.

The tally also brought Crosby within one goal for the most goals scored by a Penguin against the Flyers with the most belonging to Mario Lemieux, who has 51.

Crosby joins a prestigious, 46-man class of NHL players who have scored over 500 goals. Of those players, only eight haven’t been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame: Peter Bondra, Jeremy Roenick, Pierre Turgeon, Pat Verbeek, Keith Tkachuk, Jaromir Jagr, Patrick Marleau and Alex Ovechkin. The latter two, of course, have yet to retire. Jagr, meanwhile, will surely be added to the Hall.

For Crosby? There’s no doubt his name will be called to the Hall. Three Stanley Cups, two Art Ross Trophies, two Hart Trophies, three Lester B. Pearson trophies, two Rocket Richards, two Conn Smythe’s, eight all-star appearances, a World Junior Championship, two Olympic Golds, a World Championship, a World Cup gold medal all mark an incredibly impressive resume. On top of it all? Crosby is a member of the highly exclusive Triple Gold Club — a group of 29 players and one coach who have won an Olympic Games gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, and the Stanley Cup.

His full, 17-year career has been played with the Penguins where he’s scored 500 goals, and 1370 points.

On Twitter, the Penguins PR team shared this graphic highlighting all the players who assisted on Crosby’s goals over his career.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.

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