Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins became the third active player with 800 assists.
Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin began Thursday night with 798 assists, earning a helper on Drew O'Connor's goal at 3:53 of the second period to get to 799. Later, O'Connor scored his second of the night with an assist to Malkin, but the goal was called back, thus nullifying his 800th career assist on a hand pass.
That allowed Malkin to work his magic on the power play in the third period, helping set up Erik Karlsson's first goal at 1:42 to earn his 800th assist officially.
After reaching the milestone, the 38-year-old is now only the third active NHL player with 800 assists behind teammate Sidney Crosby (1,006) and Patrick Kane (813), with all three players skating together in the same game on Thursday.
Malkin's 800th assist gives him 1,298 points in his career, ranking third amongst active skaters behind Crosby (1,598) and fellow Russian Alex Ovechkin (1,550).
As the third leading scorer in Penguins history, Malkin is the 34th player in NHL history to reach 800 assists, and his 1,298 points rank 37th all-time.
In addition to reaching the assist milestone, the native of Magnitogorsk, Russia, still has only two goals shy of 500 in his career. When he gets those two goals, he'll be only the 48th player to achieve one of the game's most treasured milestones.
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