Penguins' Sidney Crosby ties Wayne Gretzky's record with 19th ...

Pittsburgh Penguins star center Sidney Crosby recorded three points in a win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday to tie Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of averaging a point per game in 19 consecutive seasons. Crosby, with 82 points in 74 games, is on pace to score 90 points for the eighth time.

Crosby made history with an empty-net goal late in the Penguins’ 5-2 victory over the Rangers.

“Obviously (that record is) something I didn’t want to talk about. I knew it was getting closer,” Crosby said, smiling to acknowledge his famous superstitious side. “Any time you can be in that company, it’s pretty cool.”

Though his offensive prowess continues to stand out, Crosby has emerged as one of the league’s better two-way forwards over the past five seasons. He is used in all crucial situations by coach Mike Sullivan, who regularly deploys Crosby when opposing nets are empty.

This is in part because Crosby has become one of the all-time greats at faceoffs, and also because — as he showed with this empty-net goal — Crosby’s threat offensively can turn a disadvantage into an advantage for Pittsburgh.

What’s next for Crosby?

Crosby is three assists away from becoming only the 14th player with at least 1,000.

His assist on Bryan Rust’s opening goal for the Penguins against New York was his 997th in the league. Next season, if healthy, Crosby is likely to move into the top 10 and has an outside chance at supplanting his boyhood idol Steve Yzerman, who is ninth with 1,063 assists.

He might not stop at just hitting that helper’s plateau.

Crosby is within six points of pulling even with Phil Esposito for 10th on the all-time scoring list. Crosby has 1,584 points. Esposito is in the 10-spot with 1,590.

Will Crosby lead the Penguins into the playoffs?

There’s always a chance. Sort of.

With 77 points, Pittsburgh pulled within five of the Washington Capitals and six of the Philadelphia Flyers for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot and third place in the Metropolitan Division, respectively. They have played in one more game than the Capitals, whom the Penguins will play in Washington on Thursday night.

Pittsburgh’s biggest wild-card disadvantage is the number of teams it’d need to jump to qualify (three), and it also needs to hold off a couple of opponents in the chase — including the New Jersey Devils, whom it faces at Prudential Center on Tuesday night.

By beating the Rangers on Monday night, the Penguins positioned themselves to make up ground on the Capitals while building space between them and the Devils. Doing so would require regulation wins in New Jersey and Washington. But if Pittsburgh pulled it off, it’d go into the first weekend of April with a more realistic hope of scratching its way into a postseason berth than anybody outside its dressing room would have predicted.

Required reading Sidney Crosby’s most interesting future is shaping Penguins’ next great team The Penguins aren’t tanking — and that’s OK Why the Penguins won’t trade Sidney Crosby

(Photo: Danny Wild / USA Today)