Crosby finished with four points, also assisting on goals by Alex Goligoski and Bill Guerin, giving him 104 points for the season and 501 in his five-season career.
The only players younger than Crosby (22 years, 244 days) to hit the 500-point mark faster were Wayne Gretzky (21 years, 52 days) and former Penguins star Mario Lemieux (22 years, 172 days).
Alex Ovechkin of Washington and Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay have 48 goals each.
Crosby was originally credited with his 50th goal—it would have been the first time in his career he reached that mark—but the goal was reviewed after the game and given instead to Guerin, giving him two goals.
Brooks Orpik, Evgeni Malkinand Tyler Kennedyalso scored for Pittsburgh. Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson and Jose Bailey scored for New York.
In Boston, Dennis Wideman broke a tie early in the third period to help Boston solidify its position in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
With the win, Boston moved out of eighth place in the East and passed Philadelphia to tie for sixth with Montreal, a 5-2 loser Thursday night in Carolina.
Tuukka Rask stopped 31 shots for the Bruins. Miroslav Satan also scored, and Mark Recchi made it 3-1 when he tipped in Zdeno Chara’s slap shot with 3:25 left. The Bruins had not scored more than two goals in a game in almost two weeks.
Patrick Lalime, who played with the flu so No. 1 goalie Ryan Miller could rest up for the playoffs, made 31 saves for the Sabres. Derek Roy scored for Buffalo, which clinched the Northeast Division title Tuesday night.
In Raleigh, N. C., Eric Staal had three goals and two assists and the Carolina Hurricanes beat Montreal to prevent the Canadiens from clinching a playoff berth.
Chad LaRose had two goals and two assists in his first career four-point game. He and Staal scored 3 1/2 minutes apart in the second to help the Hurricanes win their second straight. Staal completed his club-record 10th career hat trick with an empty-netter.
Brian Giontaand Marc-Andre Bergeron scored for Montreal, which could have wrapped up a postseason berth with one point but instead lost its second straight.
In San Jose, California, Joe Thornton scored his first goal since returning from a lower-body injury and San Jose moved a step closer to clinching the top spot in the Western Conference.
Joe Pavelski, Manny Malhotra and Logan Couture also scored for the Sharks, who lead Chicago by two points heading into the final weekend. But the Blackhawks have two games remaining and the tiebreaker edge to just one game for San Jose.
The Northwest Division champion Canucks, locked in as the third seed for the playoffs, gave goalie Roberto Luongo and defenseman Sami Salothe night off. The only remaining drama for Vancouver is whether Henrik Sedin will be the first Canucks player to win the NHL scoring title. Sedin had an assist, giving him 108 points on the season—two more than Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.
Pavel Demitra and Andrew Albertsscored for Vancouver.
In Los Angeles, Adrian Aucoin scored in the fourth round of the shootout, and the Phoenix Coyotes overcame a two-goal deficit in the final minutes of regulation to beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Thursday night.
Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson scored in regulation for the Kings before Matthew Lombardi and Taylor Pyatt scored 1:24 apart to tie it with 5:53 left for the Coyotes, who already locked themselves into the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs one night earlier.
In Tampa, Fla., Teddy Purcell scored in the third round of a shootout to give Tampa Bay the victory after Ottawa overcame a 3-0 deficit.
Purcell and Martin St. Louis scored first-period goals, and Steven Stamkos added his 48th goal of the season early in the second on a power play to make it 3-0.
Ottawa’s Nick Foligno beat Lightning goalie Mike Smithon a power play to cut it to 3-1 midway through the second. Jason Speeza added a power-play goal with 1:18 left in the second, and Mike Fishertied it with another power-play goal early in the third.
In Dallas, Mike Modano had a goal and an assist in regulation in possibly his final home game with the Stars, then scored in the second round of the shootout to help Dallas beat Anaheim.
Bobby Ryan scored twice for Anaheim, including a power-play goal that gave the Ducks a 2-1 edge at 15:16 of the third period. But Modano deflected Trevor Daley’sshot out of the air and past goalie Jonas Hillerwith 1:47 left in regulation to tie it at 2. Rookie Jamie Bennalso scored for Dallas.
Florida, Radek Dvorak and Nathan Horton scored in the third period for Florida, and Scott Clemmensen made 42 saves against his former New Jersey teammates.
Michael Frolik added a goal for the Panthers, who won for the second time in eight games. Patrik Elias and David Clarkson scored for the Devils in their final road game of the regular season. Coming off the 600th win of his NHL career on Tuesday night in Atlanta, Martin Brodeur made 15 saves.
In Calgary, Alberta, Brent Burns and Antti Miettinen scored in a shootout to lift Minnesota past Calgary.
Chuck Kobasew opened the scoring for Minnesota on a power play in the first period, and Nigel Dawes tied it in the second.
