This is an NHL regular season to remember for the league's Senior Skatesmen. While Alex Ovechkin has commanded the majority of the headlines as he has chased down Wayne Gretzky and is now in a first-place tie with the Great One for most career goals in the history of the league, Sidney Crosby continues to add achievements to his remarkable resume.

Crosby scored a hat trick for the 14th time in his career as his Pittsburgh Penguins recorded a 5-3 road triumph over the Dallas Stars. Crosby recently passed Gretzky by exceeding the point per game mark for the 20th consecutive season. Gretzky had previously held the mark after scoring at more than a point per game for 19 consecutive seasons.

Crosby and Ovechkin have been rivals throughout their respective tenures. But as both players are closer to the sunset of their careers, they have developed respect for each other, if not a true friendship.

The hat trick meant that Crosby had reached the 30-goal mark for the 13th time in his career. He also added an assist for the Penguins.

Crosby opened the scoring at the 4:16 mark of the first period when the center opened the scoring by snapping a power play goal past Dallas goaltender Casey DeSmith. Crosby was assisted by his long-time teammates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

He scored his second goal early in the third period when he gathered the puck and beat DeSmith — a former Penguin goaltender — with another snap shot. That goal tied the score at 2-2.

The Penguins took the lead on a goal by Blake Lizotte with less than two minutes remaining and Crosby finished the scoring when he found the empty net with 15 seconds remaining

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Crosby downplays achievement but salutes Ovechkin

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) and Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) shake hands after a puck drop ceremony prior to their game at Capital One Arena.
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Penguins captain took note of Ovechkin scoring two goals Friday night for the Washington Capitals Friday night and tying Gretzky for the NHL's lead with 894 goals.

Crosby described Ovechkin's achievement as something that was extremely special.

“I think like everyone else, we knew it was a matter of time and obviously a pretty cool night,” Crosby said. “For us, it was nice to come out here and get a win.”

Dallas forward Evgenii Dadonov also had a huge game as he scored a hat trick in response to Gretzky. Dadonov has scored 19 goals for the Stars this season.