Sidney Crosby's pursuit of 1,000 points will have to wait, as the Calgary Flames topped the Penguins, 3-2, in a shootout Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins (33-14-6) entered the game with the NHL's most wins (22) and points (46) this season but could not muster a comeback against the Western Conference's Flames.
So much for Crosby picking up three points and becoming the 86th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points. (He'll be the sixth to do it as a Penguin.)
Instead, Crosby, who had one assist and now sits at 998 points, will try to make history Thursday at Colorado or Saturday in Arizona.
Kris Versteeg scored the only goal in the shootout. Phil Kessel, Crosby and Kris Letang missed, Letang's shot striking the right post.
The loss comes after the Penguins erased a 2-0 deficit and appeared poised to notch their eighth win this season when trailing after two periods.
The Flames nearly extinguished those hopes in overtime, however.
Dougie Hamilton shot the puck from the left circle, Matt Murray's mask came off, and the whistle blew _ negating what appeared to be, for a second anyway, a backhand goal from Sean Monahan, who knocked Murray's mask off.
The sequence came when the Penguins were killing a minor penalty for holding on Trevor Daley.
It looked like a given Crosby would get on the board at 3:02 of the third period, when he drilled a feed from Bryan Rust _ one knee, left circle _ but clanked it off both posts.
Crosby picked up point No. 998 not long after, assisting on Chris Kunitz's goal at 5:51 that cut the Flames' lead to 2-1.
After a smart keep-in by Letang, Kunitz jammed the puck short side past Flames goaltender Chad Johnson for his third goal and seventh point in his past nine games.
Jake Guentzel brought the Penguins even at 15:06 of the third period when he scored short side from the inner-edge of the right circle. Subtle but important was Ian Cole's short setup from the high slot.
After attempting zero shots in the first period, Crosby attempted six in the second, putting three on goal.
On a rare shift with Kessel, Crosby couldn't put in a bouncing puck from the right post at 2:22. Nick Bonino slid Crosby a slick one-time feed at 3:39 of the second, but Johnson got a pad on it. Crosby had a third quality look on the rebound of a Kunitz shot at 14:07.
A short while later, Micheal Ferland stripped Crosby at the offensive blue line, picked up speed through the neutral zone and beat Murray glove side for a 1-0 Calgary lead at 16:19 of the middle period.
Michael Frolik stretched the Flames' lead to 2-0 less than two minutes later, at 18:03, when he finished a beautiful, tic-tac-toe play with Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk.
Matt Cullen had a gorgeous chance about a minute into overtime, but his shot went wide. Carter Rowney and Justin Schultz executed a rush late in regulation. Schultz's shot, though, sailed over Johnson's pads and through the crease.
