Sharks’ Patrick Marleau: Gets 1000th point of career with assist

Watching Patrick Marleau play night in and night out can be deceiving.

It’s not that reaching 1,000 points caught San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau by surprise.

“You never know what it’s about until it’s done and over with”, said Marleau, 36, who also got his 1,001st point as he assisted on two goals by defenseman Brent Burns. “Just having everybody come up, congratulating me and throwing different numbers out there, it kind of takes shape how big this is”. His first one was the 1,000th point of his career.

No one has had a better Sharks career than Marleau.

“I watched him as an opposing coach and a fan, now to actually work with him is something pretty special”, Sharks assistant coach Steve Spott said.

Marleau had the secondary assist on a goal by Brent Burns 7:54 into the game. It was coming off back-to-back wins with four goals each but could not sustain its stretch of multiple-goal games despite running up a season-high 39 shots against San Jose, which blocked 22 shot attempts.

Sharks defenseman Paul Martin scored his first goal of the season and had an assist against his old team.

Patrick Marleau said for days that he just wanted to get it over and done with.

Patric Hornqvist and Sidney Crosby earned assists on the goal, Kessel’s first in six games. The rebound kicked out to Burns, and he put it into a partially open net.

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Phil Kessel (81) scores a goal over San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones (31) as Marc-Edouard Vlasic (44) and Justin Braun, right, defend in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, November 21, 2015, in Pittsburgh.

“That’s really cool. Being drafted here and now getting 1,000 points here, that’s a few significance here in Pittsburgh”, he said. “It’s something I’ll always remember”.

Pittsburgh tied it 1-1 on Kessel’s power-play goal at 8:38 of the second period.

Marleau began his career in 1997 after being drafted by the Sharks in the first round and has stayed in San Jose ever since.

Marleau cemented his spot among the NHL’s all-time elite forwards as he collected his 1,000th career regular season point in the Sharks’ 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Couture was expected to miss four-to-six weeks. His twin brother still has 101 points to go, though – using the possibility that it will take a Sedin twin another season or two to reach the milestone as a form of perspective, it’s easy to see why Marleau deserves such accolades for hitting it. The team returns home Sunday night, then starts a three-game homestand, starting with its November 25 game against Chicago, followed by Calgary on November 28 and Pittsburgh.