DENVER — Sidney Crosby wasn’t even aware of reaching yet another milestone. He’s simply locked in on helping the Pittsburgh Penguins make a 17th straight postseason appearance.
Jeff Carter had a pair of goals, Crosby scored on a nifty backhand shot in the second period to reach the 30-goal mark for an 11th season and the Penguins beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Crosby moved into a tie with Hall of Fame center Mario Lemieux for the most 30-goal seasons in Penguins history. Another milestone reached — it came as news to him.
“I think the most important thing for me is just try to be consistent, and if that reflects that, great,” said Crosby, who turns 36 in August.
Even more, Crosby is the first player in league history to post a 30-goal campaign at 18 years old and again when he was 35-plus, according to NHL Stats.
“It means I’ve been in the league for a while,” Crosby cracked. “That’s been the thing that’s driven me since since I got into the league — in your first year, you want to prove that you belong. Even at 35, I still think you want to prove you belong, because it is a younger league.”
Jake Guentzel also scored and Bryan Rust added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who snapped a four-game slide and moved back into a wild-card spot in the East.
“It’s definitely a big one for us, for sure,” Guentzel said. “Defending champs, coming to their building, you know how good they are. Top to bottom, we defended hard, and that’s what we have to do at this time of the year.”
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped 28 shots in improving to 11-4 this season against teams from the Western Conference.
J.T. Compher and Devon Toews had goals for the Avalanche, whose six-game winning streak was halted. Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his home points streak to 18 games.
It was a missed opportunity for Colorado, which could have pulled into a three-way tie with Dallas and Minnesota in the Central Division with a victory.
“We knew they were going to play with urgency,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “But I didn’t feel like there was any reason why we couldn’t, either. … We didn’t get it done. Hopefully we get another one.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 40 saves, including several critical ones in a second period controlled by the Penguins, who outshot the Avalanche by a 21-9 margin. It could have been more than a 3-1 deficit heading into the third period.
Toews’ power-play goal made it 3-2 with 9:32 remaining. But Carter wrapped up the win with his first multigoal game in the regular season since Jan. 11, 2022.
“I’m thrilled for him. We’re all thrilled,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Carter. “He cares about the Penguins. He wants to win, and he wants to contribute in helping us win so we couldn’t be happier for him.”