The 5 biggest goals of Sidney Crosby's NHL career

Sidney Crosby has scored a bigger one, but his touch finish short side on Andrei Vasilevskiy in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final may one day rank as one of his most important goals as a professional.

Here are five of the greatest finishes in Sid's NHL career.

Welcome back, Sid

A celebration over 10 months in the making. Crosby scores one of his prettiest goals - and presumably his most cathartic - slicing through three New York Islanders defenders and finishing with a gorgeous backhand five minutes into his return from almost a full year of inaction.

15, and none bigger

Crosby scored only once in the Penguins' seven-game triumph in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final. But his go-ahead convert on a 2-on-1 with Evgeni Malkin was the decisive goal in a win that prevented Pittsburgh from going down 3-1 in the series.

Legacy game

Despite Crosby leading the postseason in goals in Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup-winning season, the Conn Smythe went to Malkin. But the franchise would not have reached that culminating series had Crosby not put the Penguins on his back in the second round. He collected 13 points in the club's seven-game series win over the Capitals - none more important than the Game 7 icebreaker.

Welcome to the Crosby show, Canada

It doesn't officially count as a goal, and secured merely an extra point, but few finishes can compare to a moment in his first game against Crosby's boyhood club, the Montreal Canadiens. Crosby eviscerates Jose Theodore's water bottle with a backhand that let the hockey world know just how dangerous his secondary weapon is.

An OT winner at last

Steadily making a habit of silencing critics this season, Crosby responded to the most recent bit of heavily misguided criticism before it could even enter his consciousness. His first-career overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs rescued the Penguins from consecutive losses on home ice to the Lightning to begin the East final.