Crosby praised by coaches, teammates after passing Lemieux on Penguins point list

Sidney Crosby's latest great moment isn't so much about the record he set, it's about whose mark he broke.

"Any time you are passing Mario in anything for all he did in the 'Burgh, it's absolutely incredible," Eddie Olczyk told NHL.com.

Crosby passed Mario Lemieux as the leading scorer in Pittsburgh Penguins history when he had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 shootout win against the Montreal Canadiens at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

He has 1,724 points (645 goals, 1,079 assists) in 1,387 games. Lemieux had 1,723 in 915 games in a legendary NHL career cut short because of injuries and illness.

"I was there when he walked into the facility in the Igloo for the first time, and the expectations, to be able to quite frankly exceed them, it's actually not surprising," Olczyk said. "I say that with all due respect. We know with Mario and the health issues and the injuries and the lack of games, you know that he would have probably another 800 points, that's just the reality of it. But to think about what Sid has been able to accomplish both on and off the ice and the winning and the individual accolades and still doing it to this day, I mean for a guy that was there to save the franchise to then become one of the faces, he has exceeded and then some the expectations."

By breaking Lemieux's Penguins record, Crosby also moved past him into eighth place on the NHL's all-time scoring list. He is 31 points behind Steve Yzerman, 47 behind Marcel Dionne, and 74 behind another former Penguins forward, Ron Francis, who is fifth.

"When I was there it just seemed like he was racking up milestone after milestone and it got to the point where it didn't surprise any of us with all the milestones that he's racking up," said New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan, who coached the Penguins from 2015-25. "This one here is just one more of those milestones that suggests he's one of the greatest players of all time. What's most impressive about Sid is his longevity, his durability, his ability to sustain elite play well into his late 30s. I mean it's remarkable what he's doing the last couple of years and continues to do right now. And I don't think that's by accident. He's one of the hardest working athletes that I've ever witnessed."

Crosby is still going strong at 38 years old.

He leads the Penguins with 37 points (20 goals, 17 assists) this season.

"It's just unbelievable, but that's what you get when you're a pro," Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier told NHL.com. "He's a consummate pro. He does the right things on and off the ice. He trains. He's dedicated. He gives himself a chance to be successful later in his career because of the way he takes care of himself and the way he's dedicated to the training that is required to play at this level. It's not easy when you get older. The NHL is a young man's league. It just is. We've seen it with the greatest players that it eventually catches up to you, but you can compete later into your career if you're conditioned and you're willing to put the work in. It's just unbelievable what he's doing. … He's an example of what a pro means and what a pro looks like."

Olczyk saw it right away. He was the Penguins coach in 2005-06 when Crosby came into the League as a rookie, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft. Lemieux came back following the 2004-05 NHL work stoppage just to play with Crosby.

Lemieux had 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 26 games that season. It was his last.

Crosby had 102 points (39 goals, 63 assists) in 81 games that season. It was the first of his six 100-point seasons.

"From the first day he jumped on the ice you just knew this guy was just a little different," Olczyk said. "He has put himself into a category of he will go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the game, let alone in Pittsburgh."

Crosby has battled his own injury issues along the way, missing time earlier in his career because of concussions. He was limited to 41 games in 2010-11 and 22 in 2011-12, and another 12 games in 2012-13 because of a mouth injury.

But Crosby has played 917 of 980 games since the start of the 2013-14 season, missing 28 in 2019-20 because of a sports hernia and 12 at the start of the 2021-22 season because of wrist surgery shortly before the start of training camp.

He has missed only two games since the start of the 2022-23 season.

"From his rookie year to year 20, every year he just plays the game hard, intelligently, and winning hockey," said Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, who was a Penguins assistant for three seasons. "If you look at other players over the years, they dip, and he never dips.

"I respect Sid's longevity. It is incredible."

Penguins coach Dan Muse is getting the full Crosby experience as a first-year head coach. What he has seen has erased any questions he may have had about why or how Crosby has been able to maintain his elite level.

"I think when you see the day to day, you understand why he's doing what he's doing at such a high level right now, and how he's been doing it for so long," Muse said. "The day to day is incredible. The preparation, just the way he doesn't take a second off of anything that he does. You see even from afar what he does on the ice, what he does on game nights, the competitor that he is, but then you understand it a lot more I think when you get an opportunity to see it every single day."

It doesn't seem like he's close to being finished either.

He has Lemieux's Penguins' points record. Last season, he passed him for most assists in franchise history, and now he's 45 goals away from tying Lemieux's franchise-record goals record of 690.

That's next.

"It just tells you how dedicated he is to be the best player year after year," said Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who is in his 20th season as Crosby's teammate in Pittsburgh. "And he keeps improving, even if he is at an older age. But it just proves what type of player and what he's been doing in this league. What he's accomplished in this league is just phenomenal."