In a town which has been home to some great professional athletes, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are making their marks

Mario is at the top of the list, the long list of Pittsburgh sports icons we’ve had the privilege of watching over the years. Mario. Mean Joe. Franco. Maz. Roberto. But as fabulous as Mario Lemieux was and as great as his teams were with five Hall of Famers — six if you count Jaromir Jagr — in the early-1990s, he and they are on the verge of being topped. Sidney Crosby is four wins from a third Stanley Cup with the Penguins, one more than the Lemieux group won. So are Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz, Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang. All were on the franchise’s Cup teams in 2009 and last season.

“They’re legends, for sure,” teammate Ian Cole was saying as a tense Thursday night turned into a joyous Friday morning because of the throbbing 3-2, double-overtime, Game 7 win against the Ottawa Senators that sent the Penguins to the Cup final against the Nashville Predators.

It’s darn near unbelievable the Penguins have made it this far without Letang, who has been out since February because of a neck injury that required surgery. It’s a shame he has missed all the fun in this — to quote Mike Sullivan — “really hard playoffs.” It seemed cheap to offer him a penny for his thoughts as he huddled with Ottawa’s terrific defenseman, Erik Karlsson, outside the Senators room after Game 7. The guess here is they consoled each other, Letang to Karlsson about the brutal loss and Karlsson to Letang about having to sit out and watch. Letang isn’t going to be too eager to lift the Cup should the Penguins beat the Predators because he won’t feel as if he had much to do with it.

Fleury knows that feeling from last season. He didn’t want anything to do with the Cup presentation after a late-season concussion knocked him out for all but two playoff games. That certainly won’t be the case this season. Matt Murray has taken over again in net, but the Penguins wouldn’t have beaten Columbus and Washington in the first two rounds without Fleury. He should lift the Cup proudly and lovingly if the team goes on to earn it against Nashville.

Kunitz is trying to become a four-time Cup champion, also having won with Anaheim in 2007. He was the star Thursday night, scoring the first Penguins goal, assisting on the second and scoring the winner at 5:09 of the second overtime. Those were his first goals of these playoffs, his first goals since he had one February 16 against Winnipeg, actually.

But that hardly means Kunitz hasn’t been a major postseason contributor. He had four hits and three blocked shots in Game 7, the third block coming early in the second overtime when he stepped into Mark Stone’s shooting lane in the slot.

“One of the most dangerous shooters walked right down the pipe and [Kunitz] had an unbelievable block,” Cole said. “Those little things, our team really gets excited about.”

Malkin didn’t have a point in Game 7 but still is the leading scorer in these playoffs with seven goals, 17 assists and 24 points. He’s making the panelists who excluded him from the list of the NHL’s top 100 players earlier this season look like fools. He remains the Penguins’ favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. That would go nicely with the one he won in 2009.

Of course, it’s still not too late for Crosby to win his second Smythe after getting his first last season.

Crosby didn’t hurt his chances when he set up Kunitz’s winning goal. Somehow, it felt right that Sullivan decided to play them on the same line with Conor Sheary for much of Game 7. Crosby and Kunitz made magic together on a line with Pascal Dupuis a few years back. In that February game against Winnipeg, Crosby picked up his 1,000th career point when he assisted on Kunitz’s goal.

But Crosby isn’t just a great player. He’s a great captain. The latest proof came after the Penguins turned in a sour performance in a 5-1 loss at Ottawa in Game 3.

“He shut the door and said, ‘Hey, that’s not good enough,’ ” Cole said. “The guys responded.”

Clearly, the Penguins’ winning mindset starts at the top with Sullivan and in the room with Crosby. But there’s no question Malkin, Kunitz and Fleury have done their share of leading. They are at the top of the list of veterans who, according to Sullivan, have created “a will to win more so than any other group I’ve been around …

“I think they have a certain perspective that they understand the opportunity to play this deep and compete for the Stanley Cup doesn’t come around every year. It’s a great opportunity, and our veteran guys know it. They never look for excuses and the expectation is high all the time. They are a privilege to coach.”

It’s also pretty cool playing with them, Cole said.

“Their work ethic is the highest on the team. They do a lot of things that certainly inspire awe, but walking around the locker room, being teammates, they’re just normal guys. Getting to play with them is something special. It’s something all the guys on this team cherish. They really bring everyone along with them.”

The Penguins said the same thing about Lemieux and his group. Of course, they did.

I always will look at Lemieux as the greatest athlete in Pittsburgh sports history. He was the best of all time in his sport, better even than Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe on those toofew days when he wasn’t dealing with a bad back, cancer or a heart problem. What a thrill he was to watch. Now, it’s Crosby’s and Malkin’s turn. How lucky are we? How many sports icons does one town deserve?