Crosby passes Lemieux to become Penguins’ all-time points leader

Crosby broke Lemieux’s franchise scoring record with a goal and an assist in the first period of the Penguins’ 4-3 shootout win against the Canadiens on Sunday night.

As far as Sidney Crosby is concerned, Mario Lemieux is still No. 1 in his book.

But after Sunday night, Lemieux is now officially No. 2.

Crosby broke Lemieux’s franchise scoring record with a goal and an assist in the first period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-3 shootout win against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.

“I don’t think you can put a stat line or a number on what he means to this team and to hockey, so yeah, in my mind, he’s still No. 1,” Crosby said.

Crosby, who began the night one point behind Lemieux, now has 645 goals and 1,079 assists for 1,724 points in 1,387 games. It also moved him past Lemieux for the eighth-most points in NHL history.

Crosby tipped Erik Karlsson’s point shot at 7:58 of the first period for a goal to tie the record. He then broke the mark with 7:20 left in the period when his shot on a power play hit Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell tapped the rebound behind Jakub Dobes.

Crosby, Rust and Rakell embraced behind the net after the goal and the Penguins spilled over the bench to congratulate their captain. Later in the period, a 30-second video message recorded by Lemieux congratulating Crosby on the accomplishment was played.

“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,” Lemieux said in the message. “Here we are 20 years later, you’re now one of the best to ever play the game.”