Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists in the Penguins’ 6-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes yesterday in the team’s season opener at PPG Paints Arena. He has now officially skated in his 18th NHL season, which passes Mario Lemieux for the most seasons with the Penguins.
Crosby is currently in second for the most seasons played with a Pittsburgh Franchise, with Willie Stargell leading the charge. Stargell spent 21 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB). He is also tied for second for the longest to captain an NHL team with Joe Sakic, who captained the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise for 16 seasons. Steve Yzerman is the leader who captained the Detroit Red Wings for 19 seasons. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have skated in their 17th season for the Pens. This trio has been together for 17 seasons, tied for the North American professional sports record. New York Yankees superstars Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera played 17 seasons together.
Malkin had a goal, and Letang had two assists for the Pens. The Penguins have now won nine straight against the Yotes. Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust each had a goal and an assist. Tristian Jarry made 26 saves for the win. Nick Ritchie scored both goals, and goalie Karel Vejmalka made 47 saves for the Yotes.
The Penguins would score on three of their first seven shots in the game and outshot the Yotes 16-4 in the first period.
Sidney Crosby would bury home a wrist shot to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the first minute and 22 seconds into the Penguins’ season. It was the first time he had ever scored the first goal of a Penguins season. Jason Zucker would bury home a one-timer to make it 2-0 just over four minutes in. Just over five minutes in, the Penguins, early into a power-play, would make it 3-0 off a rebound that was put home by Jake Guentzel. Nick Richie made it 3-1 with 3:50 left in the second. Then with 49 seconds left, Evgeni Malkin got on the board with a backhand shot to extend the Penguins’ lead to 4-1. 4:46 into the third period, Ritchie would add his second goal of the game to cut the lead in half to 4-2. With just under five minutes left in the game, Bryan Rust would extend the Penguins’ lead to 5-2. With 2:23 left in the game, Kasperi Kapanen would score off a pass from Danton Heinen to make it 6-2.
The Penguins scored the fastest first three goals in a season since 2005 when the Los Angeles Kings scored three goals in the first 4:18 of their home opener.
Crosby would also pass Alex Ovechkin for the most points among active NHL players, with 1,412. Ovechkin is now second with 1,410.
Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz would leave the game with an upper-body injury in the first period. The team didn’t have an update on him but just confirmed that he will be out against the Boston Bruins tomorrow.
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