PITTSBURGH - It's not a stretch to think that Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby might rack up at least three points on Tuesday night when the Calgary Flames visit PPG Paints Arena.

After all, he had two goals and an assist on Saturday at St. Louis.

If Crosby get three points against the Flames, he will reach 1,000 career points in front of his home fans. The Penguins play their subsequent two games on the road.

"At home would be really nice, but hockey is the way it is," Crosby said Monday. "I'll try my best to get it (Tuesday) night. You want to win the game ultimately, but if you can get a few points at home and get it, that would be great."

If his 1,000th point comes Tuesday, it will be in Crosby's 753rd game, 12th fastest in NHL history.

Crosby already has won two Stanley Cups, two Hart and two Art Ross trophies, one Conn Smythe Trophy and one Rocket Richard Trophy. Hindsight will give Crosby proper perspective on 1,000 points, but approaching such a milestone has already prompted him to consider that number.

"You want to get it over with because you're close. You don't want to stew over it for a few games," he said. "But I definitely appreciate it.

"I think you just kind of reflect a bit on all the teams you've been a part of, all the guys you've played with and how quickly it goes by."

Crosby, 29, surely would have reached 1,000 a season or more ago if not for time lost to injuries. Specifically, he played in just 63 games combined in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons because of much-chronicled concussion symptoms.

"My mind didn't even venture to point totals or anything like that at that point," he said. "You just want to play the game, and you want to get back to the level that you can play at and feel healthy. As that comes back and you start to feel better, your goals change."

Crosby this season leads Pittsburgh with 59 points and leads the league with 30 goals.

"Creativity is one element to his game, but he has so many facets to his game," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "That's what separates him from other players, in my opinion.

"He can beat you so many different ways. He can play a power game. He can play a finesse game and a speed game and a creative game. He can beat you off the rush. He can beat you in the grind game underneath the hash marks. He's so versatile as a player offensively. That's what separates him."

Pittsburgh (33-13-5), which has won two games in a row, will be short-handed among forwards against Calgary.

Crosby's regular left winger, Conor Sheary, is out with a lower-body injury, as is fellow star center Evgeni Malkin, who practiced Monday for the first time but has not been cleared for contact. The latest injury is to left winger Carl Hagelin, who has a concussion sustained Saturday.

The Flames (27-25-3) had won two straight before falling to the Rangers 4-3 on Sunday. Tuesday marks end of three-game road trip and sends them into a five-day break.

Calgary is clawing to hold onto a wild-card spot in the West.

"We can feel pretty good about our game," winger Troy Brouwer said of the loss to New York, "but in our current situation pretty good doesn't get us points. We've got to learn from it, for sure, but we're in a tough stretch right now playing really good hockey teams - and we're playing really good hockey ourselves.

"We go into a very tough building in Pittsburgh, and we need to find ways to keep pace with everybody else."

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One day, the Philadelphia Flyers will score again.

It didn't happen Monday, making it two games in a row at home in which the Flyers have failed to score. After losing 1-0 to the Kings on Saturday, Philly fell 2-0 to St. Louis on Monday.

And Jakub Voracek, who's scored only three goals since Dec. 10, is as frustrated as Flyers fans.

"It's tough, you don't score a goal two games in a row, especially at home. It's tough for us," he said, according to the Courier-Post's Dave Isaac. "It's tough for the fans. They pay a lot of money to see goals and unfortunately we just couldn't buy one again (Monday)."

The Flyers outshot the Blues 26-16, but it wasn't meant to be.

Philadelphia remains in the playoff picture, holding down the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but the Flyers will have to begin finding the net again if they want to play in the postseason.

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Every point matters.

That was the simple message espoused by Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly after a 6-5 overtime loss to the New York Islanders.

The single point vaulted Toronto past the Boston Bruins for the third spot in the Atlantic Division - both teams are level at 58 points - but the Maple Leafs have the advantage of playing four fewer games.

The eight points that could be amassed as Toronto catches up to Boston only exist in the realm of possibility at this point, Rielly told reporters after the loss to the Islanders:

The games in hand only matter if you win them. You've got to make those games and those points count. We know what the situation is with the standings, we check it pretty frequently so we know how big the points are, we know what's at stake when you're playing teams within the Eastern Conference.

Obviously tonight, going into it, we wanted to come away with two, we only came away with one, and that's not going to be good enough down the stretch. Moving forward we're going to continue to work, continue to take advantage of those games and it's important that we come away with two points more often than not.

In terms of point percentage, Toronto does indeed rank third in the Atlantic, behind Montreal and Ottawa. The Bruins have fallen to fifth, with resurgent Florida making a late push for a playoff berth.

The Maple Leafs will move even closer to Boston in games played when they host Dallas on Tuesday.

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Sometimes complaining works.

A new group formed by the NHL and NHLPA called the Playing Environment subcommittee will rate ice conditions around the league by having players submit postgame surveys, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reports.

Players will evaluate the ice quality after 20, 40, and 60 minutes, and it was the new subcommittee that authored the ice conditions report card, according to Kypreos.

Several players have taken digs at the ice conditions at certain arenas this season. Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson quipped last month that the outdoor sheet for the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium was "better than that last game in Carolina."

His teammate, goaltender Corey Crawford, was critical of that outdoor ice surface. Then, a couple of weeks later, he said having ideal ice quality like that of Colorado, Washington, and Edmonton was a better way to increase scoring than the streamlined goalie pants that became mandatory over the weekend.

Three days after Crawford's comments, the always outspoken Vancouver Canucks netminder Ryan Miller complained about Crawford's home rink, Chicago's United Center, claiming it was the worst ice he's seen in his career.

Then there's the situation at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where several New York Islanders players criticized the ice in an arena where the floor piping system reportedly doesn't meet NHL standards.

The league clearly knows the situation there is less than ideal and there's not much the Islanders can do about it barring a move to another venue, but these new surveys should help determine other arenas where the ice needs to be improved.

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Ondrej Pavelec has earned the right to keep making starts for the Winnipeg Jets.

So says head coach Paul Maurice, who will continue to turn to the veteran goalie over the likes of Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson.

"He's played well," Maurice said Monday, according to Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun. "So he gets to play more, which pushes the other two guys further down the depth chart."

In seven starts since being called up from the AHL - where he'd played all season after being waived during training camp - Pavelec has a 4-3-0 record with a .895 save percentage.

Not great by any standard, but team captain Blake Wheeler said it goes deeper than the numbers.

"There's a trust factor there," Wheeler said. "He's capable of making some big stops for us ... He made some incredible saves (in Saturday's loss to Colorado). We get one or two of those we're going to be tough to beat."

Pavelec, it should be noted, would need to clear waivers if sent down after 10 games played. Hutchinson would have to go through the same process to be reassigned, while Hellebuyck would not. For now, Maurice seems content to carry three goalies, with Pavelec at the head of the pack.

The Jets, meanwhile, remain in the hunt for a wild-card spot, three points back of St. Louis.

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Another wild one involving the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This time in Brooklyn, eventually a 6-5 loss in overtime to the New York Islanders. And there's a lot to unpack, after Toronto's rookies again shined, but the club's poor defensive play and poor goaltending cost it a point.

Let's go point by point:

• Toronto rookies scored all five goals on the night. In order: Nikita Soshnikov, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Zach Hyman, and William Nylander.
• The last time four different Toronto rookies scored in a game: 1948.
• The Islanders deserve some credit, erasing 2-1, 4-2, and 5-4 Maple Leafs leads, the latter with only 90 seconds left in the game.
• Meanwhile, Toronto remains one of the worst teams with a lead. Any lead.
• Maple Leafs rookies can't stop scoring, but Toronto's allowing goals in bushels right now. Monday's loss was Toronto's third in four games, and Mike Babcock's crew has allowed at least five goals in all of those contests.
• Frederik Andersen's struggles continue. After posting back-to-back shutouts on Jan. 23 and 25, he's been absolutely lit up. He stopped five-of-eight shots against Dallas last Tuesday, before being pulled; he gave up five goals to the Blues on Thursday, and another five to the Bruins in a wild 6-5 Toronto win Saturday.
• Andersen stopped 28-of-34 shots Monday, marking the fourth straight game he's ended with a save percentage below .880.

• With games almost every other night the rest of the way, Toronto's got no choice but to give Andersen some rest, likely beginning Tuesday when Dallas visits the Air Canada Centre. Expect Curtis McElhinney to get the start.
• Brock Nelson had two goals - including the OT winner - and an assist for New York, while Andrew Ladd scored his fourth goal in five games.

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Travis Konecny appears to have suffered an injury in his return to the Philadelphia Flyers lineup after sitting two games as a healthy scratch.

The rookie forward was forced to leave Monday's game against St. Louis after an awkward collision and fall into the corner. General manager Ron Hextall announced Konecny would not return and an update will be offered Tuesday.

Exactly where Konecny was injured is anyone's guess.

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No Robby Fabbri, no problem.

Kenny Agostino, who St. Louis Blues head coach Mike Yeo hoped would help offset Fabbri's season-ending knee injury, did just that in his first game with the club Monday night.

It was Agostino's first goal as a member of the Blues in his first game after being recalled from the AHL, where he led the league with 42 assists and 60 points in 48 contests.

Yeo put him on the Blues' second line with Jori Lehtera and David Perron, and both linemates earned assists on Agostino's goal.

Agostino was a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2010 who also spent time in the Calgary Flames organization.

The Blues beat the Flyers 2-0.

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