Sidney Crosby became the new all-time points leader for the Pittsburgh Penguins after notching two points (1g, 1a) against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.

Crosby got the milestone out of the way early, recording both points within the first 12:40 of the first period.

Crosby’s first point, a goal, came 7:58 into the game as he deflected an Erik Karlsson point drive by Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes. The tally was Crosby’s 1,723rd point of his career, tying Lemieux’s franchise record.

Four minutes and 42 seconds later, Crosby recorded an assist on a Rickard Rakell power-play goal, giving him sole possession of the franchise mark with 1,724 points (645g, 1,079a). Crosby stepped into a slap shot that Bryan Rust deflected. The puck went right onto Rakell’s tape for an easy tap-in. The entire Penguins bench spilled out onto the ice to celebrate with their captain.

Lemieux, now a part-owner of the Penguins, recorded a congratulatory video for Crosby, his former teammate for one season. The Penguins posted the video to their social media channels.

“Hey, Sid, congratulations on passing me with 1,724 points,” Lemieux said. “I knew when we played together in 2005 that you were going to be a very special player and accomplish a lot of great things in your career. Here we are 20 years later. You are now one of the best to ever play the game.

“You’ve been a great ambassador for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the National Hockey League, and the hockey world. I just would like to wish you all the best the rest of the way. And again, congratulations. Well done, my friend.”

Crosby, who had his parents in attendance, was named the First Star of the game and posed with his milestone puck after the win.

“It’s kinda mixed emotions, I guess, because that number, I’ve been kinda hanging around, and the hockey gods made me earn it the last few games,” Crosby said postgame. “Just to get the win in a shootout, it all kinda lined up well tonight.

“It’s really special, you’re trying to stay in the game, but enjoy the moment, too. It’s hard to balance that sometimes. As you get older, you tend to look at things a little bit differently. Seeing the crowd go quiet when Mario’s message came on was pretty special. If you don’t understand the impact he’s had here, and you were here tonight, I think you understand it a little bit better now.”

The achievement also moved Crosby past Lemieux for the eighth-most points in NHL history. Lemieux now sits ninth in the league, with Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin trailing him in 10th by just 69 points.

Ovechkin passed Lemieux’s all-time goals mark of 690 on January 18, 2020, with a goal against the New York Islanders. He has since gone on to pass everyone else in the previous all-time top 10, including the former record holder, Wayne Gretzky, with his 895th career goal against the Islanders on April 6, 2025.

However, unlike with Crosby’s latest achievement, Lemieux never publicly congratulated Ovechkin for the goal-scoring feat. He is the only player in that previous top 10, outside of the late Gordie Howe, never to do so, as Ovechkin received messages from Steve Yzerman, Mark Messier, Mike Gartner, Phil Esposito, Marcel Dionne, Brett Hull, Jaromir Jagr, and, of course, Gretzky.

While Howe was obviously unable to deliver a personal congratulations, his son, Mark Howe, did so on his behalf in 2022. Even players just outside of that legendary group, like Teemu Selanne and Luc Robitaille, filmed videos for Ovechkin along his goal-scoring journey.

Despite being one of Ovechkin’s favorite players growing up, Lemieux was also not among the many star athletes who delivered the Capitals star a message after he passed Gretzky this past April. While the star-studded video included congrats from legendary names in other sports like Michael Phelps, Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Roger Federer, the clips also contained words from those in the hockey world like Messier, Crosby, Jeremy Roenick, Doc Emrick, Marie-Philip Poulin, Martin Brodeur, Hilary Knight, Sergei Fedorov, and PK Subban.

Crosby and fellow Penguins great, Evgeni Malkin, have gone out of their way several times to recognize Ovechkin’s achievements. The two Pens forwards combined to gift Ovechkin a Rolex watch for topping Gretzky last season, and Malkin recently did a jersey swap with Ovechkin after the latter scored his 900th career goal in November.

Lemieux must either be busy in retirement, or the Capitals-Penguins rivalry is still alive and well inside him.