Sidney Crosby enters the 2024-25 season with 592 goals in 1,272 games. Without missing significant time in his mid-20s due to injuries, there’s a chance the Pittsburgh Penguins captain would already be closer to 700 career goals than eight away from 600.
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Ultimately, Crosby has lit the lamp on 40 goalies over the past 19 seasons, including Hannu Toivonen (his first NHL goal) and Juuse Saros (his 592nd goal). Meanwhile, he’s collected a total of 34 empty net goals.
Playing Metropolitan Division rivals more frequently means some of their goalies will appear on the list more often. Still, Crosby has scored at least one goal against every franchise, meaning he’s most likely seen some familiar faces in different places.
Here’s a breakdown of the netminders who have surrendered the most goals to Crosby, who ranks 21st all-time in goals and 10th in points.
Seven Goalies – 10 GA
After the 2023-24 season, Crosby has tallied at least ten goals against 14 netminders. Of those, only seven have given up ten goals:
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Braden Holtby (Vezina)
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Carey Price (Hart Trophy & Vezina, 2016 World Cup teammates)
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Kari Lehtonen
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Martin Biron
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Ondrej Pavelec
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Roberto Luongo (2010 & 2014 Olympic teammates)
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Tomas Vokoun (Teammates in Pittsburgh 2012-13)
Surprisingly, Crosby has a personal connection with three of the seven names on the list, having played with them either in the NHL or on the international stage.
Antero Nittymaki – 11 GA
Antero Nittymaki played five of his seven seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2003 to 2009. As the Penguins’ fiercest rival, the Finnish goalie was on the wrong side of the ice whenever Crosby would hop over the boards.
Related: What is the Pittsburgh Penguins Biggest Rival?
After scoring his first NHL goal on Toivonen, Nittymaki surrendered his second goal. Interestingly, Crosby had three two-goal games against the Flyers netminder.
Ryan Miller – 11 GA
As the long-time goalie for the Buffalo Sabres, Ryan Miller saw a lot of Crosby and surrendered ten out of the eleven goals while playing with them. As a member of the Vancouver Canucks later in his career, Miller gave up a goal at Rogers Arena, the site of Crosby’s most iconic goal – the 2010 Golden Goal – which also happened to be on Miller, who was representing the United States.
Brian Elliott – 12 GA
Brian Elliott was a journeyman goalie who dressed with six clubs during his 16-year career. Whether he was in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Calgary, or Ottawa, Crosby just seemed to have his number with 12 goals scored. Interestingly, Elliott is one of the few goalies who has given goals to him in both Mellon Arena and PPG Paints Arena.
Martin Brodeur – 12 GA
Martin Brodeur played 1,266 games and is the best statistical netminder in NHL history. As the primary goalie for the New Jersey Devils for two decades, he played nine seasons against Crosby, giving up 12 goals.
© Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Together, these two won the Olympic gold medal in 2010 but never crossed paths in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Like many names on this list, Brodeur escaped a Crosby hat trick with just two two-goal games against.
For perspective, Crosby scored goals No. 30 and No. 227 against the Hockey Hall of Famer, a testament to Brodeur’s longevity.
Jaroslav Halak – 14 GA
Jaroslav Halak was a 17-year NHL veteran who played for seven teams. Like Elliott, it didn’t matter where Halak was tending goal; Crosby just found ways to beat him, 14 times in exact.
Related: Contract Extension Would Allow Crosby to Chase Rarely Discussed NHL Record
Although he didn’t play for any teams longer than four seasons, Halak did give six goals to Sid the Kid as a member of the New York Islanders from 2014 to 2018 and surrendered Crosby’s fourth career hat trick in a contest on Oct. 28, 2009.
Henrik Lundqvist – 24 GA
Unsurprisingly, Henrik “The King” Lundqvist gave up the most goals to Crosby, as the two long-time rivals debuted together in 2005-06.
The one-time Vezina Trophy winner played 15 seasons with the New York Rangers and surrendered 24 goals to Crosby, including three two-goal games.
In 2005, Lundqvist gave up career goal No. 19 and then missed out on being in net for goal No. 400 (Jake Allen), allowing goal No. 399 on Jan. 14, 2018. Interestingly, Crosby’s first seven goals on The King came via the power play.
Considering the long-time Penguins captain has three seasons remaining on his deal, will there be an addition to the list, or will he expand the number of goalies he’s scored against? With every lamplighter, he gets close to 600, thus making a future goalie an answer to a trivia question with each milestone goal.
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