Sidney Crosby scored his 500th career NHL goal on Tuesday night.

He also helped spark his Pittsburgh Penguins to a comeback win over a bitter rival.

Crosby joined Alex Ovechkin as the second active player with 500 career goals.

He also followed Mario Lemieux as the second player to reach that milestone with the Penguins.

It seemed only fitting Crosby’s 500th came against the Philadelphia Flyers in front of a packed house at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

Fortunately for the home fans in attendance, Crosby would assist on another goal in the third period that started the rally.

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Wednesday Feb. 16, 2022.

Crosby scores milestone goal

Crosby’s 500th career goal was also his 50th career goal against the Flyers.

 

He’s now one back of Lemieux (51) for the most goals in franchise history versus Philadelphia.

 

After failing to find the back of the net on any of his 10 shots in back-to-back wins over the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils in his previous two games, Crosby scored on his first shot of the night against the Flyers.

He was +145 to score a goal.

After Philadelphia responded with the next three goals to take a 4-2 lead in the second period, Crosby assisted on a goal by Jake Guentzel just past the midway mark of the third period to cut the deficit to one. Chad Ruhwedel scored less than a minute after that to tie it at 4-4.

Kris Letang scored the overtime winner to extend Pittsburgh’s win streak against the Flyers to four games in a row, dating back to last season. 

The Penguins were the biggest favourite on the board at -330.

NHL favourites went 5-4 on Tuesday night, including the Calgary Flames (-280) beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2.

Tyler Toffoli scored in his debut – he was +190 to score a goal in his Flames’ debut.

Calgary has outscored its opponents a combined 22-6 over the course of their current four-game win streak.

Meanwhile, Connor McDavid and Evander Kane each delivered a goal and an assist to lead the Edmonton Oilers (+100) to a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

The Oilers improved to 3-0 since the decision to promote Jay Woodcroft to head coach. 

76ers, Nets’ futures outlook

James Harden spoke to the media on Tuesday for the first time since the blockbuster trade that sent him to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Based on how the team performed in last night’s loss to the Boston Celtics, the 76ers could certainly use Harden in their lineup soon.

The Celtics (-2) beat Philadelphia 135-87 for their ninth straight win.

It matched the second-largest road win in franchise history.

Boston has climbed into the top six in the Eastern Conference, just one game back of the 76ers for the fourth seed.

Philadelphia’s odds to win the Eastern Conference and NBA championship were slashed following the addition of Harden.

The 76ers are now the third choice to win the East at +290 and the fifth choice to win the NBA championship at +650.

I’m admittedly a skeptic of how the Harden experiment will play out in Philadelphia, so I’m not looking at any 76ers’ futures plays right now.

Meanwhile, Ben Simmons addressed the media in Brooklyn for the first time since joining the Nets as the main piece going the other way in that trade.

The Nets snapped an 11-game slide with a 109-85 win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night and will visit the New York Knicks tonight.

Simmons isn’t expected to make his Brooklyn debut until after the All-Star break.

The Nets are currently the second choice to win the Eastern Conference at +280 and +600 to win the NBA title.

Early Super Bowl 57 futures movement

There has been a lot of talk about what’s going to happen next in the NFL in the days since the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56.

Some people believe Matthew Stafford belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Some people believe he does not.

For the record, I’d put him in based on this throw alone.

More immediately, we have already seen some movement when it comes to Super Bowl 57 futures.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills opened as co-favourites to win it all next season at +700.

As of this morning, the Bills stand alone at +700, while the Chiefs’ odds have lengthened to +750.

The Rams remain the third choice at +1200, followed by the Green Bay Packers (+1300), Dallas Cowboys (+1300), San Francisco 49ers (+1500) and the Bengals (+2000).

There’s been some early money on the Minnesota Vikings to win it all in 2023, as their odds to win the Super Bowl have shortened from +4100 to +3300.

A little lower on the board, the Las Vegas Raiders moved from +6000 to +5000 to win it all, while the Pittsburgh Steelers went from +7000 to +6500.

There is bound to be a lot more movement in the coming weeks, with an expectation that potential trades involving Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson will move markets.

After watching what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams accomplished over the past two seasons after adding Tom Brady and Stafford respectively, it will be interesting to see where Rodgers and Wilson end up, and the impact a potential trade or trades has on the Super Bowl futures market.