Crosby Reaches 100 as Penguins Win, 6-1

To put Sidney Crosby’s rookie season into perspective, consider this: Only Wayne Gretzky had a season this good at so young an age, and he wasn’t playing in the NHL.

Crosby became the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season, setting up three goals Monday night in Pittsburgh’s 6-1 victory over the visiting New York Islanders that may prevent the Penguins from finishing as the league’s worst team for the second season in a row.

Crosby’s three-point night gave him 62 assists, to go with 38 goals, and tied Mario Lemieux (1984-85) for the team rookie scoring record of 100 points. Crosby also joined Hall of Fame forward Dale Hawerchuk of the Winnipeg Jets (103 points, 1981-82) as the only 18-year-olds to score 100 points in an NHL season.

However, Hawerchuk was three-plus months older than Crosby when he did it and was only a few days short of 19. Crosby’s season might be more comparable to Gretzky’s first when, in the year in which the Great One turned 18, he scored 104 points for the World Hockey Assn.’s Winnipeg Jets in 1978-79. The Jets moved into the NHL a season later.

“It’s a great accomplishment, and I’m definitely proud of it,” Crosby said. “By no means, coming into the season, did I think about getting 100 points. But as it became near, it was something I thought would be a nice feat, and I tried to have the best finish to the season -- and have no regrets.”

Detroit 3, Dallas 2 -- Tomas Holmstrom’s power-play goal with 44.3 seconds remaining capped the Red Wings’ three-goal third period at Detroit.

Johan Franzen and Andreas Lilja also scored and Henrik Zetterberg added two assists for Detroit, which stretched its winning streak to eight games. The Red Wings also made it 20 consecutive games (17-0-3) with at least a point, since their last regulation loss March 7.

Washington 6, Atlanta 4 -- Rookie sensation Alex Ovechkin scored the tying goal and assisted on the go-ahead goal at Washington as the Capitals eliminated the Thrashers from playoff contention. Ovechkin, who’s 20, has 52 goals and 105 points; each total ranks third in NHL history for a rookie.

Edmonton 4, Colorado 2 -- Jarret Stoll scored a short-handed, tiebreaking goal in the third period at Edmonton, Canada, to help the Oilers clinch the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Jaroslav Spacek added an empty-netter and Rem Murray and Raffi Torres also scored as Edmonton won its last two games of the regular season.