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Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos: Comparing the Numbers

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos: Comparing the Numbers



Barring injury, or a sudden surge from somebody down the list, the race for the NHL's goal-scoring crown appears as if it's going to come down to Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, the two players that shared the top spot a year ago with 51 goals. The two will face off Wednesday night in Pittsburgh as the Penguins hit the ice for the first time since their appearance in the Winter Classic, while Tampa Bay comes in 24 hours removed from a huge overtime win in Washington to take over the top spot in the NHL's Southeast Division.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the two stars are neck-and-neck in the goal-scoring race with Crosby holding the slim 32-31 edge. There's also a sizable gap between them and the No. 3 goal-scorer, Chicago's Patrick Sharp, who currently has 23 tallies. Crosby also holds a nine-point lead over Stamkos for the overall scoring race (65 points to 56).

The two players have been the most prolific goal-scorers since the start of last season, and have been nearly identical in their actual performance. Here's a quick look at how they match up, and how even they've been over the past season-and-a-half...

Crosby vs. Stamkos: Since Start Of 2009-10 Season
Player

    Games
    Goals
    Time On Ice
    Goals/Minute
    Shots On Goal
Sidney Crosby     121     83     2,657     .031     457
Steven Stamkos     121     82     2,498     .032     444

Both players have also accounted for over 25 percent of their teams goals this season. It doesn't get much closer. Three years ago this would have been hard to imagine, as Crosby was still more of a playmaker and puck distributor than pure goal-scorer, while Stamkos was struggling through the first half of his debut season before finally starting to find the back of the net as his rookie season came to a close.

When it comes to each players supporting cast, Stamkos certainly has an edge playing alongside Martin St. Louis (currently the No. 3 point producer in the NHL), while Crosby gets a healthy dose of Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis. Both are solid players, and in some ways Kunitz is a perfect compliment for Crosby with his aggressive forechecking and ability to create space. Still, neither he nor Dupuis is on the same level as St. Louis. (Though, to be fair, Crosby also plays quite a bit with Pittsburgh's other star, Evgeni Malkin, but nowhere near as often as he's centering Kunitz and Dupuis).

Faceoff at the Consol Energy Center is 7 p.m., and it's the third meeting of the season between the two. Each team has won one, with each player scoring one goal in the previous games.

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