Crosby helps Phil Kessel hit a major career milestone.

People have called him lazy his entire career and have even sometimes labeled him as a coach killer, but there is one word that truly encapsulates the modern iteration of veteran Penguins forward Phil Kessel and that world is successful.

Although there is absolutely no disputing the fact that his career has been much maligned since the time he was selected fifth overall at the 2006 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins things have really turned around for Kessel in the later stages of his career. Kessel would last just two seasons with the big bad Bruins before they decided that he didn't fit their vision of the future and instead opted to deal him to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In spite of his individual level of success on the ice as a Maple Leafs the team never really managed to go anywhere with him as their star player it after several seasons with relatively little team success the Maple Leafs themselves finally decided that it was time to move on from Kessel. 

In spite of the success he had achieved prior as an individual player Kessel really took off after he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal that unquestionably paid major dividends for the Penguins in both the short and long term. Kessel would go on to capture a pair of Stanley Cups alongside the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and there's very little question about the fact that those two big wins have drastically altered the way he is perceived, at least publicly. 

On Saturday Kessel took one more step towards establishing himself as a player to be universally respected around the league when everyone's favorite hot dog connoisseur hit a massive career milestone, with the help of some friends. The Penguins were facing the Flames in a tough match up on  Saturday and in fact were down in the game when Kessel and the aforementioned Sidney Crosby managed to cut that lead down to just a single goal. The goal was Crosby's and although all the attention was on him initially it quickly became apparent that the goal actually had quite a bit more significance. 

The assist on the play marked 800 career points for Kessel, another incredible achievement to add to his repertoire of accomplishments and another one that comes during his tenure as a Penguin.

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