Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins came from behind to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2, Sunday afternoon. With less than three minutes left in the third period, the game was tied at two until Crosby found the back of the net for the game-winner. It was Crosby's 74th career game-winning goal, tying him with Mario Lemieux for third all-time in Penguins history.

Ironically, he is one game-winning goal behind his teammate, Evgeni Malkin, who has 75. The franchise leader is Jaromir Jagr who retired with 78 career game-winning goals with Pittsburgh.

Crosby, Malkin, Jagr and Lemieux are easily the four greatest players in Penguins franchise history. Lemieux, or “Super Mario” as he was known, along with Jagr dominated hockey during the early to mid 1990's. They won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992.

Crosby and Malkin did them one better. The more recent duo won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and then also won back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017. Despite their scoring prowess not being nearly as high as the former duo, the game is played differently. Goalies are bigger and more athletic now than they were in the 1990's (outside of Dominik Hasek of course).

It is likely that both Crosby and Malkin surpass Jagr for the most game-winning goals in Pittsburgh history before all is said and done. However, there is still little debate as to who the greatest player overall in franchise history is.

After Lemieux retired, the Penguins franchise fell off. They were unable to pay superstars and fell from contention. That's when Lemieux saved the franchise, for a second time. He purchased the team and was part of building what has become a powerful force in the league once again.