Top 5 moments of Sidney Crosby's illustrious hockey career

The number 87 has importance to Sidney Crosby. Of course, it is his hockey number, but he was also born in 1987 and was born on August 7 which is 8/7, but he also makes $8.7 million per year.

Crosby was hyped up to be a perennial all-star and somehow he exceeded those expectations as he's one of the best players of all time. He will have his jersey retired by the Pittsburgh Penguins and will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

On his 36th birthday, let's take a look at the best five moments of his hockey career.

#5, 1,000th NHL point

On Feb. 16, 2017, Sidney Crosby recorded his 1,000th career NHL point which is a feat only few NHL players accomplish.

Crosby stripped the puck off Blake Wheeler and made a beautiful pass to Chris Kunitz who got the goal to give the Canadian his 1,000th career NHL point. Even though Crosby dealt with concussions early in his career, he still accomplished the feat at 29 years, 193 days old.

That age made Crosby became the 11th-youngest player to reach 1,000 NHL points. He did it in 757 games, becoming the fastest active player to get to 1,000 points and the 12th fastest in history.

#4, 100 Greatest Players

In 2017, the NHL was celebrating its 100th anniversary and the league was revealing the 100 greatest players in history.

To no surprise, Crosby was named one of the best 100 players, but in all reality, he likely is a top-10 player of all time. In his career, Crosby has recorded 1,502 points in 1,190 games and has added 201 points in the playoffs.

#3, Second Hart Trophy

Sidney Crosby is one of the most dominant players of all time, so it wasn't a surprise when he finally won the Hart Trophy as the game's best player.

In 2007 and 2014, Crosby won the Hart Trophy and there is a case to be made that he likely should have more. In that 2007 season, he recorded 120 points in 79 games while in 2014, he recorded 104 points in 80 games, which included 68 assists.

#2, Third Stanley Cup

Sidney Crosby has won 3 Stanley Cups

Sidney Crosby has won three Stanley Cups and although all three could be separate on this list, we will lump them together.

Crosby won his first Stanley Cup in 2009 but he led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. Crosby led Pittsburgh to be the first team since the 1997-98 Red Wings to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

Sidney Crosby also won the Conn Smythe in both 2016 and 2017 as the MVP of the playoffs.

#1, 2010 Olympic Golden Goal

There is no better moment for Sidney Crosby than the golden goal he scored to win the Olympic gold medal for Canada during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Canada was playing the United States and America tied the game up late to force OT. In overtime, Iginla got the puck on the board and centered it to Crosby who went five-hole to score the Golden Goal and lead Canada to Olympic Gold.

Crosby was also a big part of the 2014 team that won gold at the Sochi Olympics.

But, Crosby became a hero in Canada for his Golden Goal and will be remembered forever for it.