Tons of Malkin, Crosby, and Ovechkin stats, plus random items after a memorable night

The Penguins always do a cool job of getting videos (Chris Chelios recently being a pretty deep cut and nice touch to welcome Matt Cullen as the only other American member of the 1,500 NHL games club), and it was no different for the occasion of Evgeni Malkin’s 1,000th point.

Pretty cool to see Max Talbot — in full Russian mountain man mode — check in from overseas and even display some of his new found Russian to congratulate his buddy.

Then an opposing goalie had the gall to mock Malkin, on this the day of his 1,000th point. The nerve!

In reality, Kris Letang probably Google’d his name and Geno’s, and this picture came up and he quickly posted it without a second thought. In a more fun head canon, he sought it out and knew this would be a perfect picture to use to needle the guy sitting on the bench in the left side of the frame...

A bunch of “blast from the past” type of names here in the different teammates who have factored in on Malkin’s 1,000 points over the years. Tag your favorite obscure Penguin. Remember when Mike Comrie happened?

Or how about this, the Pens’ 2006 second round draft pick Carl Sneep played one career NHL game. One! In that game in 2011-12, Sneep passed a puck that Malkin eventually scored a goal on, giving Sneep a perfect point/game rate in the NHL. The Boston College grad has been out of organized hockey since playing for Idaho of the ECHL in 2013-14, but they can’t take that one away from him. What a crazy story he’ll have for his grand kids and a just a wonderfully obscure item in Pens and Malkin history, scoring a goal to get a guy a point in what would be his one an only NHL game.

It’s always good to see Mr. and Mrs. Malkin over the years in the crowd at these key moments. You can always sense just how proud of their son they are, as well as how happy they are to be in Pittsburgh!

How cool is this image on the right?

The warrior helmet for a win was an easy call for Matt Murray to pass along.

“It’s one of the best nights of my life. It’s a special day for my family, my friends. I played hockey all my life... It’s a special day.” Aw...

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It was also a nice and classy scene at the end of the game when Sidney Crosby sought out rival Alex Ovechkin to offer a word of congratulations. Ovechkin recorded his 1,200th NHL point last night against the Penguins. He likes the milestones against Pittsburgh since his 1,000th also came at PPG Paints Arena.

Crosby recently hit the 1,200 mark as well. His two goals last night boosted Sid up to 1,206 career points and counting.

Josh Yohe put out a wonderful look ($) into Crosby’s mindset with his relationship with Ovechkin and how it has evolved over the years. Certainly both men are in unique positions, but also it’s a position that only each other can relate to, in a weird way as being not only the “face of a franchise,” but also being such key players in the league for so very long. And each has had such remarkable staying power. Ovechkin remains the league’s best goal scorer, and Crosby is still regarded as the best all-around player; the same way it’s been for practically the last 15 years.

They’re both cordial, yet super-competitive. There’s a mutual respect, but also an edge of being rivals that will probably never truly go away, at least as long as both are active players and always gunning for Stanley Cups and Olympic Gold Medals that only one can win.

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Here’s some other fun random tidbits, courtesy Jason Seidling of the Penguins:

• Malkin became the fifth active player with 1,000 points, joining: Joe Thornton (1,468); Sidney Crosby (1,206); Alex Ovechkin (1,200); and Patrick Marleau (1,164).
• Malkin and Ovechkin became just the fourth pair of players drafted No. 1 and 2 in the same year (2004 NHL Draft) to hit 1,000 points, joining: 1997 (Thornton and Marleau); 1987 (Pierre Turgeon, 1,327 & Brendan Shanahan, 1,354); and 1971 (Guy Lafleur, 1,353 & Marcel Dionne, 1,771).
• The Pens joined the Detroit Red Wings as the only franchises to have four players record 1,000 points entirely with their franchise (Pittsburgh: Mario Lemieux, 1,723; Crosby, 1,206; Jaromir Jagr, 1,079; and Malkin & Detroit: Gordie Howe, 1,809; Steve Yzerman, 1,755; Alex Delvecchio, 1,281; & Nick Lidstrom, 1,142)
• Malkin has points in 13 of his last 16 meetings against the Capitals (10G-14A-24PTS).

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Crosby is also up to 90 points on the season, his sixth career 90-plus point season to lead active players. (Though, Ovechkin lurks and with 12-plus points in the last 12 games of the season, he could join Sid here with a sixth 90-plus point season).

This is the most points Crosby has recorded in a season since 2013-14, when his 104 led the league.

Sid has a really good shot for his sixth 100-plus point season with 10 more points in the Penguins’ last 12 games. If he does, that will be six seasons there, and Ovechkin only has four 100-point seasons and is unlikely to get one this year. That would be a little space for Crosby to put on his peer in a fairly obscure trivia category.