The Penguins’ captain tied Hall of Famer Joe Sakic at 1,641 points with an assist on Bryan Rust‘s first-period goal. Crosby then moved past Sakic with an assist on Drew O’Connor‘s sixth goal of the season later in the period as the Penguins raced to a 4-1 advantage.
Crosby’s 12th goal 5:42 into the second put the Penguins up 5-1, providing some welcome wiggle room for a team that has struggled to hold multiple-goal leads this season.
The next name ahead of Crosby on the career scoring list is none other than Penguins icon Mario Lemieux, who had 1,723 points.
“I’m running out of superlatives [about Crosby],” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the game. “What he’s accomplishing, first of all, his body of work in the league, his legacy that has been built to this point, speaks for itself. He’s the consummate pro. He just represents our sport, the league, the Pittsburgh Penguins in such a great way.
“He just carries himself with so much grace and humility and integrity. And he’s a fierce competitor on the ice.”
Rust also had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh, which snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Oilers for the first time since Dec. 20, 2019.
“For us, that was our goal — to be on our toes, be all over them, be on top of them, because they’re very fast, a skilled team,” Rust told reporters after the game. “I think just a result of that was us being able to get some offense.”
McDavid finished with three assists. Leon Draisaitl scored twice to boost his season total to an NHL-best 31, but the Penguins beat Stuart Skinner four times in the first 14 minutes. Skinner settled down to finish with 21 saves but it wasn’t enough as the Penguins ended Edmonton’s four-game winning streak.
TAKEAWAYS
Oilers: Their attention to detail in the first period was shaky. Though Skinner wasn’t at his best, the Penguins also had little trouble generating chances.
Penguins: Pittsburgh remains a work in progress at midseason but showed it can compete with the league’s best.
UP NEXT
Edmonton finishes a four-game trip at Chicago on Saturday. The Penguins continue a five-game homestand Saturday against Ottawa.
CLEVELAND — Slade Cecconi took a bid to end Cleveland‘s long no-hitter drought into the eighth inning, and the Guardians rolled to a 10-2 win over Kansas City on Monday night and leapfrogged the Royals in the AL wild-card race.
Cecconi (6-6) was six outs from the first no-hitter in the majors this season — and Cleveland’s first since Len Barker’s perfect game in 1981 — when Kansas City’s Michael Massey singled leading off the eighth.
On Cecconi’s 95th pitch, Massey lined a 2-1 fastball into left-center. The right-hander received a nice ovation from the crowd in Progressive Field before Cecconi got Carter Jensen to hit into a double play.
Cleveland (73-70) won its fourth straight game and moved past the Royals (73-71) into second place in the AL Central. Cleveland entered the four-game series 2½ games behind Seattle for the third and final wild-card spot.
The Guardians tagged Ryan Bergert (2-2) for four doubles and six runs in the fourth inning while opening an 8-0 lead. C.J. Kayfus, Brayan Rocchio, Schneemann and Jones hit the doubles.
Royals All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was not in the starting lineup for the third straight game due to back spasms. Manager Matt Quatraro said Witt ran and did some fielding before the game without any issues and was a possibility to see “game action.”
Witt didn’t get in but is expected to play Tuesday.
PHILADELPHIA — Phillies star shortstop Trea Turner was placed on the 10-day injured list with a Grade 1 strained right hamstring but is expected back by the postseason.
Manager Rob Thomson said before Monday’s game against the New York Mets the MRI results were “better than expected” and that Turner’s injury wasn’t as severe as the strained left hamstring that sidelined him for six weeks last season.
Turner left Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning because of the injury.
Turner hit a solo homer in the sixth to narrow Philadelphia’s deficit to 4-2. When his turn came again in the seventh, Turner legged out a grounder and reached on a throwing error by Miami shortstop Otto Lopez.
“It was just kind of grabbing on me. It didn’t feel good,” Turner said Sunday. “I felt if I could have kept going, I would have.”
The 32-year-old leads the National League in both batting average (.305) and hits (179) this season.
Without Turner at the top of lineup against the Mets, two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper was batting leadoff for the first time since 2022.
The Phillies also placed 2024 All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm on the 10-day IL with a left shoulder injury.
“He’s been grinding with this left shoulder for a while now, fighting through it. It’s probably been 10 days,” Thomson said of Bohm. “He could feel it every once in a while in a swing. Yesterday he felt it on every swing, so we decided to shut this thing down.”
The Phillies recalled infielder/outfielder Otto Kemp and infielder Donovan Walton from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to fill Turner’s and Bohm’s spots on the roster.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Christian Yelich returned to the lineup for the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night after their designated hitter missed five games because of lower back soreness.
Yelich batted fourth as the Brewers opened a three-game series at the playoff-chasing Texas Rangers.
The 33-year-old Yelich had played in 132 of Milwaukee’s 144 games this season before the opener in Texas, and was hitting .268 with team highs of 27 home runs and 92 RBIs. He played in only 73 games last year before season-ending back surgery that August.
“Feels good, wants to play. It’s an amazing thing that he’s played so many games,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Coming off back surgery, we just didn’t know what we were going to get, but the surgeon has assured him this is going to happen, but it’s amazing that it hadn’t happened yet, so we have to be thankful.”
Yelich was a late scratch last Wednesday before a 6-3 win over Philadelphia, and Murphy said then that Yelich had started experiencing some pain during a series against Arizona late last month. He still appeared in 22 consecutive games before coming out of the lineup last week.
“He came to me today and said, ‘I’m in there, right?’,” Murphy said. “He wants to play. That’s a good thing when your leader wants to get in there as soon as possible.”
Yelich made his 112th start at DH on Monday, and has also started 18 games in left field this season. Murphy said while “there’s a reason” to get Yelich a couple of games in the outfield before the end of the regular season, the manager said that’s not a priority.
In other injury news, right-hander Grant Anderson came off the injured list to boost the Brewers’ bullpen.
Right-hander Craig Yoho was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.
Anderson last pitched for Milwaukee on Aug. 23 before going on the injured list with tendinitis in his right ankle. The 28-year-old owns a 2-5 record and 2.87 earned run average in 57 appearances. He has struck out 66 over 62⅔ innings.
The Brewers still have All-Star closer Trevor Megill (right flexor), left-hander DL Hall (right oblique) and right-handers Nick Mears (back) and Shelby Miller (right elbow) on the injured list.
Murphy said Megill is scheduled to throw a simulated game Tuesday, and then would likely throw another one before being able to pitch again.