By Jonathan Bombulie
April 18, 2018
Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his goal with teammates on the bench in the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 18, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA — When Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux's franchise record for most playoff points in a career Wednesday night, there was no announcement made over the public address system to commemorate the occasion.
That was probably a good idea.
A partisan crowd at Wells Fargo Center wasn't in much of a mood to help Crosby celebrate.
Crosby broke the record as he ruined yet another night for the Philadelphia faithful, recording a goal and an assist in a 5-0 Penguins victory in Game 4 of a first-round playoff series.
Crosby has 173 career playoff points on 62 goals and 111 assists in 152 games. Lemieux had 76 goals and 96 assists for 172 points in 107 playoff games.
"A lot of his records aren't going to be touched,' Crosby said. "The fact that I can be close to him and around that one, I've been fortunate enough to play in a number of playoff games, which helps a lot, but yeah, it's nice to be a part of that."
Crosby tied the record with a first-period assist. He made a cross-crease pass to set up Evgeni Malkin for a power-play goal that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at the 4:33 mark.
"You want to have a good start here, especially on the road. Build off the game before," Crosby said. "We knew special teams are important and we got a big power-play goal there to start and give us some momentum. I thought the first in general, even without the power play, we were on our toes there for the first 10 minutes and generated a lot of chances."
Crosby broke the record with a second-period goal that made it 4-0.
He collected a puck from defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere on the forecheck in the right-wing corner and shuffled it to Jake Guentzel behind the net. Guentzel passed back to Crosby, who tucked a puck inside the right post before goalie Michal Neuvirth could react.
"I was lucky that the puck just kind of laid there on the other side of the net," Crosby said. "Most of the guys thought it had gone the other way. It was a fortunate bounce, but we'll take it. It was good to get that one."
The Flyers have used three goalies in the first four games of the series. Crosby has scored on all three.
He has five goals and four assists in the series, which has moved him into a tie with Boston's David Pastrnak for the league playoff scoring lead as well as breaking Lemieux's team record.
"I think he's in elite company," coach Mike Sullivan said. "Mario is one of the greatest players of all time. I think the fact that Sid has accomplished that at this point puts him in very elite company with Mario.
"I think that's a testament to Sid's talent level, but also his work ethic. He's played in a lot of playoff games. He's led this team to a lot of playoff success. That's the player and the person that I've really grown to respect. The fact that he's been able to accomplish that and be in the same company with Mario just speaks volumes of how good a player he is and how competitive a player he is."
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