Evgeni Malkin became the 48th player in NHL history to score 500 career goals during the third period against the Buffalo Sabres.
Sidney Crosby passed the puck between his legs from behind the net to Malkin, who was on the ice. Malkin then flipped the puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. After he scored, the entire bench rushed to congratulate him, and the hometown fans gave him a standing ovation.
Earlier in the game, Crosby reached a milestone himself, becoming the 10th player in NHL history to record 1,600 regular-season points in his career.
Malkin, who has the third-most goals in Penguins’ history with 500 in 1,150 games, is also the 20th player in NHL history to score 500 goals for just one team. The Penguins chose the 38-year-old Malkin as the second overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft.
He now joins Crosby (592), Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (853), and Nashville’s Steven Stamkos (555) as the only active players with 500 goals, with Stamkos achieving this with Tampa Bay. Malkin also joins Ovechkin as the only Russian-born players in NHL history to reach this milestone.
Pittsburgh is the second team in NHL history, after Montreal, to have three players who have scored 500 goals.
