Crosby passes Sakic for 9th on all-time points list

Sidney Crosby continued his ascent in the record books Thursday night.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain notched a pair of assists in the first period of a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers to surpass Joe Sakic for ninth place on the NHL's all-time points list.

Crosby tied Sakic with a secondary helper on Bryan Rust's goal that made it 2-0 for Pittsburgh. He scored a power-play goal early in the second period for his third point of the night.

The Penguins veteran jumped above Sakic on the list despite playing 63 fewer contests. Pittsburgh icon Mario Lemieux is next in Crosby's sights with an 80-point advantage, though Lemieux reached his total in 400 fewer games than Crosby has played.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was at a loss for words when asked about Crosby postgame.

"I'm running out of superlatives," the bench boss said, according to NHL.com's Wes Crosby.

Sid leapfrogged Mario for the most assists in Penguins' history when he registered his 1,034th helper Dec. 29. The current Pittsburgh star is now up to 1,039.

Lemieux still has the most goals in franchise history with 690, leading Crosby by 86 in that category.

Crosby ranks 20th all time on the NHL's goals list, trailing Dino Ciccarelli by four for 19th.

The 37-year-old has 12 goals and 35 assists over 43 games this season.