PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh franchise career record for assists on Michael Bunting‘s power-play goal and the Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Sunday night.
Crosby has 1,034 assists — 12th in NHL history. Only three players — Ray Bourque, Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman — have more assists with a single team. The 37-year-old Crosby has played 1,310 regular-season games. Lemieux played 915.
Crosby was behind the net when he sent a backhand feed to Bunting, who buried his seventh power-play goal behind Marcus Hogberg at 1:36 of the second period, giving the Penguins a 2-0 lead.
Philip Tomasino added the deciding power-play goal in the third for Pittsburgh, which has 14 goals with the man advantage in its past 13 games. Anthony Beauvillier also scored to help the Penguins win for the seventh time in their past eight home games.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves in his first start since Dec. 17.
Kris Letang missed the game because of a lower-body injury, and defenseman Nate Clurman made his NHL debut.
Anders Lee scored two third-period goals for the Islanders, who fell behind 3-0 before their rally fell short.
Hogberg stopped 38 shots during his first start since April 28, 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.