Helping hands
Should history ever come into play with Michel Therrien's
decision on who to stick on Sidney Crosby's line this season (and we're certainly not suggesting it should),
we would advise teaming an English-challenged dynamo from Magnitogorsk, Russia
and a balding native of Kamloops, B.C. with the Penguins captain.
That's because players fitting those descriptions have benefited the most from Crosby's ability to generate offense.
Evgeni Malkin (31) and Mark Recchi (24) own the distinction of scoring the most goals off the 195 assists Crosby has doled out in his career. Amazingly, the player or individual Crosby is most often connected with as a Penguin, Mario Lemieux, only scored one goal that Crosby helped on.
We took a look at Crosby's entire game-by-game career and tallied every single player who scored a regular season goal on which Crosby recorded an assist and what percentage of they account for among Crosby's career assists:
| Player | Goals from Crosby |
Percent |
| Evgeni Malkin | 31 | 15.9 |
| Mark Recchi | 24 | 12.3 |
| Ryan Malone | 21 | 10.8 |
| Colby Armstrong | 18 | 9.2 |
| Sergei Gonchar | 17 | 8.7 |
| Ryan Whitney | 14 | 7.2 |
| Michel Ouellet | 9 | 4.6 |
| Tomas Surovy | 6 | 3.1 |
| Gary Roberts | 5 | 2.6 |
| Petr Sykora | 5 | 2.6 |
| Erik Christensen | 4 | 2.1 |
| Nils Eckman | 4 | 2.1 |
| Kris Letang | 4 | 2.1 |
| Zigmund Palffy | 4 | 2.1 |
| Jordan Staal | 4 | 2.1 |
| Andy Hilbert | 3 | 1.5 |
| John LeClair | 2 | 1.0 |
| Josef Melichar | 2 | 1.0 |
| Brooks Orpik | 2 | 1.0 |
| Maxime Talbot | 2 | 1.0 |
| Dick Tarnstrom | 2 | 1.0 |
| Eric Cairns | 1 | 0.5 |
| Marian Hossa | 1 | 0.5 |
| Ric Jackman | 1 | 0.5 |
| Georges Laraque | 1 | 0.5 |
| Mario Lemieux | 1 | 0.5 |
| Dominic Moore | 1 | 0.5 |
| Alain Nasreddine | 1 | 0.5 |
| Andre Roy | 1 | 0.5 |
| Jarkko Ruutu | 1 | 0.5 |
| Rob Scuderi | 1 | 0.5 |
| Chris Thorburn | 1 | 0.5 |
| Noah Welch | 1 | 0.5 |
A few observations:
-The bulk of Armstrong's goals in this list occurred during the 2005-06 season when he scored nine with Crosby.
-Armstrong also holds the distinction of scoring the only goal off a Crosby assist that occurred outdoors.
-While Hossa only scored one regular season goal with Crosby, he punched in eight on which Crosby assisted on in the 2008 postseason.
-Lemieux's only goal on which Crosby assisted, was a power-play score in a 7-5 defeat of the Thrashers Oct. 27, 2005 at Mellon Arena. Lemieux had two goals and three assists that night. It was the last time Lemieux would record more than three points in a game.
-Recchi record the first goal off a Crosby assist in 5-1 loss in New Jersey, Oct. 5, 2005. That was also Crosby's first career point in the NHL.
-Crosby's 100th career assist came on a power-play goal scored by Malkin in a 4-1 loss at home to the Blues, Dec. 19, 2006.
-The only people to score goals off Crosby assists in each of Crosby's three seasons are Armstrong, Gonchar, Malone and Whitney. With Armstrong and Malone no longer on the Penguins' roster, Gonchar and Whitney are the only ones who can keep their streaks alive in Crosby's fourth season.
-Half of Orpik's career total of four goals are accounted for on this list. Both of his "Crosby goals" were scored within the first seven games of Crosby's rookie season and both occurred in losses to the Bruins.
-Malone is the only player to ever record a hat trick in which Crosby's assists were involved in all three goals. He's had that happen twice actually. Both hat tricks occurred in games against the Islanders in the 2006-07 season.
(Photo: Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Penguins
-We can't seem to find any highlights from last night's game which is disappointing since there were quite a few fights. If anyone spots any, give us a heads up. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
-As Matt Cooke will tell you, he is no Jarkko Ruutu.
-The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' camp opens today.
Atlantic Division
-Former Penguins forward Petr Nedved scored a goal in the Rangers' 2-1 preseason win against the Senators last night. Nedved is in camp with the Rangers on a tryout basis.
-Rangers forward Lauri Korpikoski is having a good preseason so far.
-Free agent forward Brendan Shanahan said no thanks to a tryout offer from the Rangers.
-The Islanders have their own official YouTube Channel.
-New Islanders forward Doug Weight is excited to have his
annual injury-filled season.
-After taking an Evgeni Malkin shot to the eye during the playoffs lasts season, Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn is healthy again and able to drown puppies.
-The Flyers hope to replace defensemen Derian Hatcher and Jason Smith with Steve Eminger and Ossi Vaananen.
Northeast Division
-In his first action since suffering a concussion last
season, Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron scored goal and three assists in an 8-3
preseason rout of the Canadiens.
-Former Penguins forward Dominic Moore scored two goals for
the Maple Leafs in a 7-4 preseason win against the Sabres.
Fire Ray Shero.
-The Canadiens signed former Penguins enforcer Georges
Laraque hoping it would keep defenseman Mike Komisarek out of the penalty box.
-Sabres forward Derek Roy is hoping to capitalize on his
breakout season in 2007-08.
Southeast Division
-Even if with the loss last night to the Penguins, the Lightning
made some progress.
-New Lightning forward Ryan Malone isn't sore about leaving
the Penguins.
Malone has been writing a training camp
blog on the Lighting's Web site.
-Sidney Crosby was quite rude to Lightning forward Steven
Stamkos.
-Former Wild forward Mark Parrish declined a tryout
invitation from the Hurricanes.
-Thrashers defenseman Tobias Enstrom doesn't plan on being
complacent in his sophomore campaign.
-Thrashers first-round pick Zach Bogosian is dealing with a
hip flexor injury.
-Considering he was body surfing in the Gulf of
Mexico while Hurricane Gustav was doing its thing, former
Lightning goaltender Pat Jablonski is lucky to be alive.
Central Division
-The Predators upgraded their cell phone plans or something.
-New Red Wings goaltender Ty Conklin could be playing in the
third outdoor game of his career this season.
Northwest Division
-The young son of former Oilers goaltender Jussi Markkanen
was killed in a horrible accident.
-If you're having trouble getting Penguins tickets, Oilers
fans know your pain.
-New Oilers forward Erik Cole is comfortable wearing the
uniform of the team
he beat for the Stanley Cup in 2006 while with the Hurricanes.
-New Avalanche goaltender Andrew Raycroft is trying to
rebound this season.
-Bad news for you Curtis Sanford fans out there. Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo is expected to play
upwards of 70 games again this season.
-Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goaltender Nolan
Schaeffer is hoping to get a chance with the Wild.
Pacific Division
-The Ducks are still trying to deal defenseman Mathieu
Schneider.
-Anaheim
defenseman Chris Pronger apparently has his own blog.
His brother, former Penguins forward Sean Pronger, is a contributor.
-A Q&A with Ducks forward and former Penguin Eric
Boguniecki.
-Forward Brad Richards is comfortable in Dallas.
-Stars defenseman Mark Fistric wants to be a penalty killer.
Norris Division
-The Sprint Center in Kansas City hosted a game last night. Thankfully it didn't involve a team with Sidney Crosby.
-Veteran official Rob Shick will retire following this season.