Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (87) scored two goals and added an assist to become the only active player with 1,500 career points during Saturday’s win in Detroit.
Paul Sancya | AP photo
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Oilers center Connor McDavid is capping off a career-best season after becoming the first player since 1996 to hit the 150-point mark on Saturday.
Godofredo A. Vásquez | AP photo
DETROIT — Penguins captain Sidney Crosby become the 15th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 career points, scoring two goals and adding an assist in Pittsburgh’s crucial 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
“This is a team sport — that’s what we signed up for and that’s why we love this game,” Crosby said. “Maybe you get certain milestones that get you to reflect a little more, but right now I’m just thinking about our situation and what we still need to do. I’m happy to have been a part of all of this, but my mentality has always been to try to be my best and take what happens from there.”
The Penguins are in danger of seeing their run of 16 straight Stanley Cup playoff berths snapped. It’s the longest active streak among the major North American sports leagues.
Crosby has 550 goals and 950 assists and is the sixth-fastest player to hit the 1,500-point milestone, accomplishing it in his 1,188th game. The milestone came on a power-play goal at 3:01 of the third period, with Kris Letang and Jake Guentzel assisting.
“This is something only 15 players have ever done, and he’s the sixth fastest of all of them,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think that company speaks to this milestone and to the impact he’s had on the game. Not only is he one of the greatest players of his generation, he’s one of the greatest players in history.”
David Perron, who played parts of two seasons with Crosby from 2014-16, has seen it before.
“Incredibly impressive type of performance that he puts up at the right time,” Perron said. “That’s what he does. I’ve seen it on the other bench. He’s just a great guy, keeps working on his game. I ran into him at the All-Star break, we were at the same hotel. I got to spend some time with him. He just keeps working at it. He wants to keep getting better.”
Crosby became the 12th player in league history to reach 90 points in his age 35 season or older.
Alex Nylander, Danton Heinen and Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins, who are fighting for one of the last playoff berths in the Eastern Conference with less than a week left in the regular season.
“Why I like these type of games, that’s a team fighting for their playoff lives and they played a really good game,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “We just had flashes of being good today but just some of our egregious mistakes ended up on the wrong players’ sticks and in the back of our net.”
Goaltender Tristan Jarry had 19 saves and improved to 3-0-0 in his career against the Red Wings.
Pius Suter scored for the Red Wings in the second period, his 14th of the season and one shy of his career best set last season. Detroit goalie Ville Husso finished with 23 saves.
Nylander, who was recalled from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday, opened the scoring at 9:25 of the first period. It was his first goal since scoring for the Chicago Blackhawks against the San Jose Sharks in March 2020.
OILERS 6, SHARKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Connor McDavid became the first player in 27 years to reach 150 points in a season when he had two goals and an assist in Edmonton’s victory over San Jose.
McDavid set up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins early in the first period for his 87th assist and scored with 1:44 left in the first period for his 63rd goal to reach the milestone last achieved by Mario Lemieux when he scored 161 points in 1995-96.
McDavid added another goal late in the third period to give him 64 goals and 151 points with two games remaining in the regular season.
McDavid became just the sixth player ever to record 150 points in a season, joining Wayne Gretzky (nine times), Lemieux (four times), Phil Esposito, Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nichols.
STARS 2, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1
DALLAS — Roope Hintz scored the only goal in the shootout to give Dallas a win over Vegas and first place in the Central Division after the matchup of playoff-bound division leaders.
Dallas has 102 points with three games left in the regular season. The Stars began the day tied with defending champion Colorado, which played Saturday night and still had three games left after that.
Pacific Division-leading Vegas did clinch home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs by getting the point. The Golden Knights have 107 points, two ahead of Edmonton.
SABRES 4, HURRICANES 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tage Thompson scored the go-ahead goal 6:15 into the third period, Rasmus Dahlin had a goal, two assists and a key blocked shot and Buffalo kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a win over Carolina.
Casey Mittelstadt scored twice and Buffalo improved to 6-1-1 in its past eight, with the win guaranteeing the Sabres remaining in contention through their game at the New York Rangers on Monday. A regulation loss, otherwise, would have put 10th-place Buffalo in position to be eliminated later in the day and extend its NHL-worst playoff drought for a 12th consecutive season.
NBA
JAZZ 118, NUGGETS 114
SALT LAKE CITY — Ochai Agbaji scored 28 points to lead Utah to a victory over Denver.
Luka Samanic finished with a career-high 23 points and eight rebounds for Utah. Kris Dunn chipped in 19 points, a season-high 14 assists and eight rebounds. Simone Fontecchio added 15 points.
The Jazz snapped a four-game losing streak and won for just the second time in 10 games.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a season-high 21 points for the Nuggets. Jamal Murray added 20 points and five assists. Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. chipped in 15 points apiece. Nikola Jokic tallied 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Denver lost for the fifth time in six games.
T-WOLVES 151, SPURS 131
AUSTIN — Anthony Edwards had 33 points in 25 minutes and Minnesota routed San Antonio, the most points allowed in regulation under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points, Mike Conley had 20 points and Rudy Gobert had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota.
The Timberwolves shot 56% on 3-pointers in winning for the sixth time in nine games. Minnesota will finish no lower than ninth in the Western Conference but still have a chance of passing New Orleans for eighth.
Julian Champagnie had 24 points to lead San Antonio, which will finish with one of the league’s three worst records. Keita Bates-Diop added 22 points and Tre Jones had 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
CLIPPERS 136, BLAZERS 125
LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points, Norman Powell added 23 and Los Angeles solidified its hopes of avoiding the play-in game with a victory over Portland.
Russell Westbrook had 20 points for the Clippers, who have won four of their last six and hold the fifth spot in the Western Conference.
Wins by LA and Minnesota on Saturday ensured the Clippers can finish no lower than seventh. Their best hope of avoiding the play-in game though is beating Phoenix on Sunday in what could be a preview of a first-round series.
Kevin Knox II had 30 points, Shaedon Sharpe 26 and Trendon Watford 24 for the Trail Blazers, who have dropped three straight and eight of their last nine.