Evgeni Malkin hit a special milestone in Tuesday’s rivalry game against Washington.
The Penguins center became the 88th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points, the cherry on top of a 5-3 victory over the Capitals that snapped Washington’s seven-game winning streak.
Malkin, who notched his 1,000th point on Phil Kessel’s power play in the third period, is the fifth active player to reach 1,000 points, joining Joe Thornton (1,468), Sidney Crosby (1,206), Alex Ovechkin (1,200) and Patrick Marleau (1,164). Malkin’s 848 games to get to 1,000 is also the second fastest among active players in the league.
Congratulations to Evgeni Malkin on becoming the 88th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points. What an incredible career accomplishment. #Ma1Kin pic.twitter.com/5ntZ6CQC56
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 13, 2019
“It’s one of the best nights of my life. It’s a special day for my family, my friends. I played hockey all my life… It’s a special day.”#Ma1Kin discusses his milestone: https://t.co/VpukDndN2m pic.twitter.com/PdrZJNq3C1
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 13, 2019
“I never thought about the NHL, never thought I [would] make 1,000 points (laughs), win three Cups already,” Malkin said. “It’s like, I still can’t believe what’s going on right now. One thousand points, it’s a great number. I play with a good team, we win three Cups, it’s an amazing 13 years already.”
Golden Knights goaltender Marc-André Fleury congratulated Malkin on Twitter while also taking a jab at his former teammate.
You hear that, Geno? pic.twitter.com/SUdZ0xsnDE
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 13, 2019
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby also chimed in with his praise of Malkin.
“There was a lot of talk about him,” Crosby said. “I remember playing my first year here and everyone talking about him and his highlights and all of that stuff. You expect it to take a little bit of time to adjust with the different size ice and a new league, but he just came in and dominated right away. It was so fun.
“We were a pretty young team so we had a lot of younger guys kind of thrown in right away, and I just remember having a lot of fun just watching him do his thing out there.”
Malkin, 32, has 21 goals and 49 assists through 64 games this season.
At 1.18 points per game, Malkin ranks as the second most prolific point scorer of this generation behind only Crosby (1.29).
