Crosby passes Lemieux in playoff points, 'nice to be in the company'

PHILADELPHIA — With his goal Wednesday night, Sidney Crosby broke two things. Don’t worry. No bones were involved.

In Game 4, he broke the Flyers’ will, scoring the Penguins’ fourth goal in what ended up a 5-0 win that gave his team an almost insurmountable 3-1 series lead. And in the process Crosby broke one of the more significant records in franchise history.

With his second-period goal Crosby surpassed Mario Lemieux as the franchise’s all-time leading playoff scorer. It was point No. 173 for Crosby in playoff game No. 152. 

"It wasn’t really on my mind, to be honest with you,” Crosby said afterward. “I was focused more on the game, but (Lemieux’s) done a lot and accomplished so much over the course of his career. A lot of his records won’t be touched. It’s nice to be in the company, but it’s not something I focused on a lot. Fortunate to play in some playoffs over the years and that’s the way I look at it.”

Though Crosby tried to downplay his accomplishment, it's remarkable nevertheless.

Lemieux scored 172 points in just 107 games but in a far different, far more offensive era.

Crosby ranks second to only Lemieux in nearly every offensive category in the franchise’s record book, including games played (915 to 864), assists (1,033-705) and points (1,723-1,116).

With continued good health, there’s no reason to think that Crosby can’t surpass Lemieux in every category with the notable exception of goals. With 411, Crosby ranks a distant third behind Lemieux (690) — who is 10th all-time — and Jaromir Jagr (439).

But as the only player to captain the Penguins to three Stanley Cup championships, it’s only fitting that Crosby would hold the franchise’s playoff scoring record. 

More than just statistics, Crosby has come to be defined by championships, and performances like Wednesday’s in Game 4 are further reminder that he might still have another coming.

First, Crosby assisted on Evgeni Malkin’s power play goal just 4:33 into the first period to tie Lemieux’s points mark:

Then at 10:56 of the second, he broke it.

Crosby beat Shayne Gostisbehere to a loose puck behind the Philadelphia net, sending a one-handed pass to Jake Guentzel, who, sensing Ivan Provorov bearing down on him, kicked the puck back to the captain.

Michal Neuvirth, who replaced starting goalie Brian Elliott only minutes earlier, looked to his right where he expected Guentzel to emerge with the puck. Bad idea. Crosby took the puck to the right side and stuffed it in on a wraparound:

“It’s a fortunate bounce, but we’ll take it,” said Crosby. “It was good to get that one.”

With two more points Wednesday, he has nine points this postseason, tied with Boston’s David Pastrnak and Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov for the league lead.  That it would come against the Flyers, the Penguins' cross-state rivals, makes it a little sweeter but hardly surprising. In four regular-season games against the Flyers, all wins, Crosby had nine points, seven of them assists.

Malkin, who also had two points in Game 4, now has 162 points to rank third all-time on the team's postseason scoring list. Here, the Russian speaks about what Crosby has meant to him:

Mike Sullivan, who played against Lemieux and has coached Crosby the last three seasons, put what the captain's mark meant into greater perspective.

"I think he’s in elite company," Sullivan said. "Mario’s one of the greatest players of all time. I think the fact that Sid has accomplished it at this point puts him in very elite company with Mario. I think that’s a testament to Sid’s talent level, but also to his work ethic. I think he’s played in a lot of playoff games. He’s led this team to a lot of playoff success and that’s the player and the person that I’ve really come to respect.

"The fact that he’s been able to accomplish that and be in the same company as Mario just speaks volumes of how good a player he is and how competitive a player he is."

Crosby was not the only Penguin to reach a milestone on Wednesday though.

• With 26 saves, Matt Murray earned his 25th career playoff win in his 36th game. That makes him the fastest goalie to reach that milestone. Hall of Famers Terry Sawchuk, Patrick Roy, Grant Fuhr, Gerry Cheevers and Bill Durnan had been fastest at 37 games.

• With his second-period goal, Kris Letang tied Larry Murphy for the most playoff points by a Penguins defenseman with 72. Letang now has four points in the first round. 

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY