Sidney Crosby nears Mario Lemieux’s Penguins points record with 2 goals against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Sidney Crosby says, no, of course he has not heard from Mario Lemieux recently as the current Penguins captain moves closer to taking another franchise record from his mentor.

Crosby is seven shy of Lemieux for the most regular-season points with the Penguins. He already holds the team record for regular and postseason points combined.

Heck, play Philadelphia a few more times each season, and Crosby could have shattered the record years ago.

Crosby scored his 58th and 59th career goals against the Flyers on Monday night. His continued excellence in the cross-state rivalry helped lead the Penguins to a 5-1 win.

Crosby, who has 18 goals this season, has dominated the Flyers like no other visiting player has done in Philadelphia’s franchise history. Crosby has 59 goals and 137 points in 92 games against Philadelphia, the most in both categories any opponent has ever put up on the Flyers.

The 38-year-old Crosby has 1,716 career points, close to eclipsing Lemieux’s 1,723 for most in franchise history. Lemieux owned the team when Crosby captained the Penguins to championships in 2009, 2016 and 2017.

Lemieux seems to be saving his well-wishes for when the record ultimately falls.

“I’m sure he knows me well enough to know that’s not something I really want to talk about it,” Crosby said. “Just go out there and play. If it happens, it happens.”

It will happen. Soon.

Crosby is in the thick of the hunt for the NHL goals lead. Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon and Boston’s Morgan Geekie each have 20.

The Flyers promoted the game all night as a Keystone Rivalry game but the series – even as fans voraciously booed Crosby with each touch – has never been much of a rivalry. Crosby has won three Stanley Cup titles while the Flyers have won only two in franchise history, in 1974 and 1975. Crosby wasn’t even born until 1987.

“It’s always been a rivalry, long before I played here,” Crosby said. “These games, you always know there’s a little more intensity, a little more to them. You just try to prepare accordingly. I just tried to get ready like everyone else.”

Crosby has never played like everyone else. He did enough damage to snap the Flyers’ modest three-game winning streak – and help Pittsburgh rebound after a 7-2 loss to Toronto.

“When you have a game like that, you just want to respond, regardless of who you’re playing,” Crosby said.

Crosby scored to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead – his 60th career road game-opening goal – and added a wrist shot through traffic on the power play for a 2-1 lead in the second period.

The Penguins were one of the early surprises of the NHL season until a stretch of seven losses in nine games in November. The team considered a long shot to reach the playoffs when the season began – only Chicago and San Jose faced slimmer odds of hoisting the Stanley Cup than Pittsburgh – has since tumbled from the top spot in the Metropolitan Division it held a month into the season.

The perpetually rebuilding Flyers and Penguins are tied with 31 points apiece.

Crosby at least gives Penguins and NHL fans a reason to watch – his No. 87 jersey was spotted around the concourse more than any Flyer – and chasing Lemieux can spice up an otherwise dead zone in the schedule. Even his teammates, who watch him practice and play on the daily, remain in awe of Crosby.

“It shows you what kind of exceptional player and person that he is, to never be satisfied with anything,” said Bryan Rust, who had a goal and two assists in the victory over the Flyers. “Everything he’s done at a team level, at an individual level, on and off the ice. It’d be easy to kind of start to pull back the reins a little bit, but I think it’s almost like it’s almost fueling him a little bit more to get more and more.”