Sidney Crosby (AP Photo / Gene J. Puskar)

On Tuesday evening, Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins opened the scoring as the Pens hosted the Vancouver Canucks at PPG Paints Center in Pittsburgh.  The next Pens goal, Sidney Crosby picked up an assist to reach point number 999.

On Thursday evening as the Pens hosted the Winnipeg Jets, in similar fashion, Crosby became the 86th player in NHL history to reach the impressive 1,000 point milestone, at just 6:28 into the first period.  Crosby accomplished this feat in just 757 games, the fastest among active players and the 12th-quickest in NHL history.  Sidney Crosby’s parents were in-house to witness the wonderful accomplishment; his emotional father was spotted staring proudly onto the ice as his son hit the milestone.

But Sidney Crosby wasn’t done.  He would pick up the secondary assist on the game-tying third goal, scored by Phil Kessel, to send the game into overtime.  In OT, none other than Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal with just 21 seconds to go.  Sid finished the night with 1,002-career NHL points.

Drafted first-overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2005 NHL Draft, “Sid the Kid” wasted no time meeting the expectations of being the next generational superstar.  Crosby was runner-up for the Calder Memorial Trophy (Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin having won it instead, but not by much).  Crosby would be the subject of further disappointments as well, including losing in the Stanley Cup Finals in his first appearance there in 2008, and multiple injuries.  But despite his (limited) shortcomings and several concussions throughout his career, Sidney Crosby has accomplished so much already.  Sid is a three-time Ted Lindsay Award Winner (best player as selected by the players).  He is a two-time: Art Ross Winner (most points in the regular season – 103) and Hart Memorial Trophy Winner (League MVP for the regular season).  Crosby scored the most goals in the 2009-10 regular season with 51, a personal best, earning him the Rocket Richard Trophy.  He appeared in the 2007 All-Star Game, but did not appear in three others in which he was selected.

Sidney Crosby has captured gold at the Winter Olympics twice (2010 and 2014), scoring the “Golden Goal” at the 2010 Olympics.  He has also won gold at the IIHF World Championships in 2015 and most recently at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, where he was named tournament MVP.

But most important to Sidney Crosby, he has hoisted the Stanley Cup twice so far in his career, in 2009 and in 2016.  He received the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2016 as the postseason’s MVP.  His winning the Stanley Cup in 2016 is especially meaningful.  The 2015-16 season was Connor McDavid’s rookie season.  McDavid, being drafted first-overall in 2015 by the Edmonton Oilers, was touted as the next “Great One”, or at the very least, the next Sidney Crosby.  Crosby got to show McDavid how it’s done.

At 29-years old, and over a decade in the NHL already, Sidney Crosby is showing no signs of slowing down.  He proves night-in and night-out that he is not going anywhere.  With his incredible on-ice vision, anticipation, puck-handling skills, and overall hockey sense, Crosby has shown an incredible level of resilience, perseverance, and determination to be the best in the world.  It has become abundantly clear that Crosby is not quite ready to willingly “pass the torch,” so to say, whether it be to McDavid, Matthews, Laine, or anyone else.  But for Crosby’s sake, he needs to avoid any further serious injuries, especially concussions, if he wants to continue to stay on top of the hockey world.

Sidney Crosby accomplishing the feat comes just one day after the legendary Jaromir Jagr reached 1,900 points on his 45th birthday in the Florida Panthers’ 6-5 OT victory over the San Jose Sharks.  Crosby’s milestone also arrives just 27 days after Vancouver Canucks’ Captain Henrik Sedin hit 1,000 and 36 days after Ovechkin did the same.  Henrik’s twin-brother, teammate, and linemate Daniel is the closest active player to reach the feat.  Daniel sits at 974 after recording an assist on his brother’s goal in the Canucks’ 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues Thursday.  The point puts Daniel in sole possession of 90th on the all-time points list, surpassing the late, great Andy Bathgate.

Congratulations, Sid!  Here’s to 1,000 more…