Penguins' Sidney Crosby Closing In on 1,000 Career Points

Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Sidney Crosby enters Tuesday's matchup against the Calgary Flames three points short of 1,000 for his career, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Should he reach the mark Tuesday, he would do so in 753 games, the fastest among all active players. Jaromir Jagr currently holds the quickest-to-1,000 points banner among active players, doing so in 763 contests, per Matthew Williams of ESPN.com.

Crosby has done much of his damage in bunches. Since debuting in 2005-06, he owns the most multipoint games (295), three-point games (117) and four-point games (30) despite missing significant portions of multiple seasons due to injuries and concussion problems.

The star center has set a blistering pace again in 2016-17, owning 59 points and a league-high 30 goals through 45 games played. Only 20-year-old star Connor McDavid—who's drawn comparisons to Crosby—has more points (60) thus far.

Crosby is no stranger to the playoffs either. The Penguins have earned a playoff bid in each season of his career other than his rookie 2005-06 campaign. He's made the Stanley Cup Final in four of his 11 completed campaigns, winning two of the four appearances.

Pittsburgh currently sits in a tie with the Columbus Blue Jackets for second place in the Metropolitan Division, but both trail the Washington Capitals by seven points. However, the first overall seed isn't a must. The Penguins were the second seed in the east in both of the seasons they hoisted the Cup.

Despite recently losing Conor Sheary for four to six weeks due to an upper-body injury, the team remains in relatively good health and will likely regain the services of Evgeni Malkin (knee) in the near future.

If the team can get on a roll heading into the playoffs again, it possesses the right combination of players to challenge for another championship this season.