Sidney Crosby is a pretty good hockey player. Yes, alert the masses.
But it's not just that the Penguins star has been playing up to his typical high standards during the 2016-17 season — he has been better than ever at putting the puck in the net.
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Crosby continued to distance himself from the rest of the NHL's top goal scorers with another goal on Tuesday against the Devils in a 5-2 Pittsburgh win. Crosby smacked a shot past Devils goaltender Cory Schneider off a beautiful feed from Conor Sheary.
Fun fact: Sidney Crosby has 25 goals this season (an NHL-best). No other player has 20. pic.twitter.com/ciZnBTvSOl
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 28, 2016
In addition to the goal, Crosby had two assists, and finished plus-2 in nearly 17 minutes of ice time. "The Kid" is right in the thick of the points race and is on track to score more goals in a single season than he ever has in his 11-year career.
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Let's take a look at how Crosby has taken his game to another level:
25
With a second-period goal against the Devils, Crosby now has 25 goals in 30 games. No other NHL player has scored 20 goals. He also holds the No. 1 spot despite missing the first six games of the season.
63
At his current pace, Crosby will finish the season with 63 goals. That would easily eclipse the highest total of his career (51 goals in 2009-10) and would be the most goals scored in a season since Alex Ovechkin netted 65 in 2007-08. Crosby would join Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos as the only players to score 60 or more goals in a single season since 1997.
23.8
Crosby is also on pace for the highest shooting percentage of his career. He's currently at 23.8 percent on 105 shots, well ahead of the 19.9 percent he posted in 41 games during the 2010-11 season — before symptoms stemming from a serious concussion kept him off the ice.
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0.53
While Crosby is averaging a career-high 0.83 goals per game, his assists per game have actually dropped to a career-low 0.53. Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel have picked up the slack in that department, both placing in the top 10 on the NHL assists list. Those averages would keep Crosby at 1.36 points per game, slightly above his career rate (1.328). Crosby is fifth all time in points per game behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Bobby Orr.
Aside from the numbers, opposing players have noticed subtle changes in Crosby's evolving game.
"You see a lot of his goals this year are deflections and tips," Devils winger Taylor Hall told NJ.com. "It's obviously something he's worked at, and in the new NHL, teams are so good at defending, you've got to find new ways to score, and he's obviously doing that this year."
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Bruins winger Brad Marchand even went so far as to say Crosby is "on another level."
"Some of the goals he gets now, the goals behind the net, out of the air, some of the plays he makes — I think he surprises people every year, especially with the talent that he has," Marchand said (via ESPN). "You think you've seen it all until he pulls another trick out of the bag."
As mentioned, Crosby's goal pace has kept him firmly in the points race. He is tied with Malkin at 41 points, and is on pace for the sixth 100-point season of his career.
The Penguins teammates are right behind Oilers phenom Connor McDavid, who leads the league with 42 points. It should be a fun ride as McDavid attempts to hold on to the top spot with Crosby and Malkin chasing him down.
