Milestones for Sidney Crosby, a few others as Penguins crush Canucks

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Oct 21, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — There were milestones galore Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena as the Penguins pulled away from the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1, and extended their winning streak to three.

Tommy Novak scored his first goal in black and gold. Goalie Arturs Silovs earned a sliver of revenge against his previous team. Kris Letang had a pair of assists, giving him 600 during his exceptional career. And Sidney Crosby passed Mario Lemieux to become the all-time leading scorer in team history when including playoff games.

Phew.

First ...

It was shades of 2024-25 when the Penguins let in the first shot of the game. Conor Garland scored it for the Canucks just 1:18 in. Silovs and the Penguins rebounded well and tied it up on a Connor Dewar deflection midway through the first period.

It was all Penguins from there.

Crosby eclipsed Lemieux as the Penguins took over the game in the second period.

Including playoffs, Crosby has tallied 1,896 points with Pittsburgh. Lemieux remains their record-holder in regular season with 1,723 points compared to 1,695 for Sid.

The Penguins pulled ahead, 2-1, in the second with a power-play tally from Novak. He got his first goal for Pittsburgh on a sneaky wrister from the right circle.

They quickly pumped two more pucks past Kevin Lankinen to blow the game open. Crosby got the next score. Anthony Mantha made it three goals in the span of 3:08.

Letang notched his 600th assist when Justin Brazeau made it 5-1 in the third period.

It was over when ...

Mantha crashed the crease to make it 4-1, Penguins, with 2:31 left in the second period. Evgeni Malkin took the initial shot. Mantha barreled into the blue paint to poke the rebound over the line. He celebrated by shoving Vancouver’s Max Sasson.

Stat of the game

12-3 — the Penguins’ scoring differential during their three-game winning streak

Around the boards

— Silovs got the start in goal as coach Dan Muse continues to rotate his two goalies with good success. Silovs made 23 saves. His most important one came on an early breakaway. Had Evander Kane scored there, the Canucks would have went up, 2-0.

— Crosby’s goal came off a faceoff win by Rickard Rakell. Rakell had to take that draw because Crosby got kicked out of the circle. It ended up working out for Crosby.

— Brazeau’s goal in the third period was his team-leading fifth score of the season. He had three points on the night. That gives him eight in his first seven games.

— Mantha, another free-agent pickup, has scored three goals in the last four games.

— The scratches for the Penguins were again defensemen Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba and winger Philip Tomasino. Clifton and Dumba have been healthy scratches for three games in a row. Meanwhile, Tomasino sat out his second game in a row.

— The Canucks had three former Penguins in their lineup. They were Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson. One other former Penguins player, Teddy Blueger, missed the game due to injury. For O’Connor and Pettersson, it was their first time back in Pittsburgh since they were traded to Vancouver on Jan. 31.

— TV play-by-play man Josh Getzoff returned to the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast.

Coming up next

The Penguins will practice Wednesday in Cranberry, Pa., before flying down to Florida to face the defending champion Florida Panthers on Thursday. It’s a one-game trip.

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