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Sidney Crosby joins elite company with 600th NHL career goal

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored his 600th career goal Saturday night in a 6-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club, joining some elite company.

The Penguins captain became just the 21st player in NHL history to reach the 600-goal mark and the seventh player to score 600 goals with one team.

With Utah up 2-0, Crosby got Pittsburgh on the board on a two-man advantage. He one-timed an Erik Karlsson feed past Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka for his team-leading eighth of the season at 3:11 of the second period.

Teammates came off the bench to congratulate Crosby after the goal.

Every other NHL 600-goal scorer is in the Hall of Fame, except active players Alex Ovechkin, who’s chasing Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894, and Jaromir Jagr, who’s still playing in Europe. Jari Kurri is in 20th place with 601 goals.

‘It means a lot,’ he told Sportsnet Pittsburgh. ‘Obviously I’ve been here a long time. To be able to do it at home and have another memory with so many others (and) family here, it’s special, and I’m happy to see it go in.’

Dylan Guenther scored twice and added an assist for Utah.

Jack McBain, Mikhail Sergachev, Nick Bjugstad, and Alexander Kerfoot also scored for Utah, which ended a three-game losing streak.

Clayton Keller had three assists while Nick Schmaltz, Michael Carcone and Logan Cooley added two helpers each.

NHL’s 600-goal scorers

1. Wayne Gretzky,  894 goals in 1,487 games

2. Alex Ovechkin, 868 goals in 1,444 games

3. Gordie Howe, 801 goals in 1,767 games

4. Jaromir Jagr, 766 goals in 1,733 games

5. Brett Hull, 741 goals in 1,269 games

6. Marcel Dionne, 731 in 1,348 games

7. Phil Esposito, 717 goals in 1,282 games

8. Mike Gartner, 708 goals in 1,432 games

9. Mark Messier, 694 goals in 1,756 games

10. Steve Yzerman, 692 goals in 1,514 games

11. Mario Lemieux, 690 goals in 915 games

12. Teemu Selanne, 684 goals in 1,451 games

13. Luc Robitaille, 668 goals in 1,431 games

14. Brendan Shanahan, 656 goals in 1,524 games

15. Dave Andreychuk, 640 goals in 1,639 games

16. Jarome Iginla, 625 goals in 1,554 games

17. Joe Sakic, 625 goals in 1,378 games

18. Bobby Hull, 610 goals in 1,063 games

19. Dino Ciccarelli, 608 goals in 1,232 games

20. Jari Kurri, 601 goals in 1,251 games

21. Sidney Crosby, 600 goals in 1,295 games

This post appeared first on USA TODAY