DENVER — The first time the Avalanche and the Penguins met this season, on Oct. 17 at Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby was out with a concussion. The Avalanche won 4-3 in overtime, when Gabe Landeskog deflected in a Nathan MacKinnon shot, and at 2-0, Colorado still hadn’t lost under first-year coach Jared Bednar.
Crosby returned to the lineup a week later. Against the Avalanche in Denver Today, he will be seeking to become the 86th NHL player to reach 1,000 career points. Barring an unfathomable cold spell, only 11 players will have gotten to the benchmark in fewer games than Crosby. He is at 998 points after getting an assist against Calgary Tuesday, and the game in Denver will be the 754th regular-season game of his career.
“I know he’s two away, so that’s pretty cool,” MacKinnon said Wednesday.
MacKinnon, of course, has a unique kinship with Crosby, since both are from the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, both played in the Cole Harbour Bel Ayr Minor Hockey Association, both attended Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn., and both went first overall in the NHL draft — Crosby in 2005, MacKinnon in 2013. They work out together in the offseason and, on a lighter note, the past two summers have starred in a series of funny commercials for Tim Hortons.
Their lines likely will be matched today at the Pepsi Center, and they won’t be talking about donuts at the faceoffs. After beating Winnipeg 5-2 Saturday and Montreal 4-0 Tuesday, Colorado will be seeking to win three consecutive games for the first time all season.
But Crosby — who has a league-high 30 goals and is tied for the league scoring lead with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid at 60 points — will be in the spotlight as the Penguins open a two-game trip with their fathers as part of the traveling party. The second stop is Arizona on Saturday, and that common Denver-Phoenix NHL swing, with or without fathers along, has become like scheduling New Mexico State for a homecoming football game.
“It’s a lot of fun to see the similarities between the fathers and the sons,” Crosby told reporters after the Penguins’ Wednesday practice. “Having them around brings you back to the days of minor hockey tournaments together and traveling with them. It’s really nice the team organizes this. It’s a great opportunity for us to spend some time with our dads…at the rink and around the rink and have them experience what we go through day to day.”
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