Sidney Crosby reached the 1,700-point plateau with a goal and two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-3 Monday night.
Crosby, who added two assists, became the ninth player in NHL history to score at least 1,700 points.
Bryan Rust had a goal and two assists and Evgeni Malkin had a goal and assist for the Penguins, who won for the fifth time in six games (5-0-1). Anthony Mantha and Parker Wotherspoon also scored.
Erik Karlsson had three assists, Justin Brazeau chipped in two assists and Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for Pittsburgh.
Nick Bjugstad had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who have lost four straight games (0-3-1). Jordan Kyrou and Mathieu Joseph also scored for St. Louis and Joel Hofer made 19 saves.
Pittsburgh needed just 55 seconds to take a 2-0 lead. Rust scored the first goal 39 seconds in by snapping a shot from the right wing.
Malkin set up Mantha’s goal 16 seconds later. Malkin carried the puck in on the right wing, then sliced to the left side and passed the puck to Mantha at the right post.
The Blues cut the lead to 2-1 less than four minutes later. Nathan Walker fired a cross-ice pass to Bjugstad breaking to the net.
St. Louis pulled even at 2-2 when Kyrou broke toward the right post to convert Brayden Schenn’s pass from the left wing.
The Penguins moved ahead 3-2 while playing 6-on-5 with a penalty pending against the Blues in the second. With Jarry off the ice for an extra attacker, Wotherspoon scored from the left faceoff dot from Crosby’s seam pass.
Pittsburgh increased its lead to 4-2 early in the opening minute of the third with Rust’s redirection of Karlsson’s point shot.
About four minutes later, Joseph cut the Blues’ deficit to 4-3 by converting 2-on-1 rush with a shot off left wing. But Crosby scored on a breakaway for his 1,701st career point at 16:39 and Malkin added an empty-net goal 20 seconds later.
