In what was expected to be a two-horse race for the 2017 Art Ross Trophy, a third player has emerged as a viable threat to win the NHL's scoring race this season.

That would be Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, who, with an overtime goal and an earlier assist against Montreal on Saturday, took sole possession of first place in the points column with 43 through 38 games.

The two points recorded against Montreal gave Malkin a total of 19 in 15 December games, catapulting him into Art Ross contention.

Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid remain right in the thick of things, of course, with the former producing at a higher rate than anyone with a points-per-game average of 1.31. The sky is the limit for the young Edmonton center, and there's no telling how high his point total can reach in a full season.

In truth, Crosby and McDavid were expected to go neck and neck down the stretch, but Malkin is a two-time Art Ross winner in his own right and, when healthy, one of the best in the game.

Avoiding the injury bug will be key for Malkin. He has appeared in all 82 games just twice in his career, and missed, on average, 20 games per season since from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

But Malkin's current pace of 1.13 point per game would give him 93 by season's end, which would be the fourth-highest single-season total of his career and good for second place among all players last season.

Malkin's superstar performance should come as no surprise. He's won the Calder, Hart, and the Conn Smythe trophies on top of the two Art Ross trophies, and is a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

Maybe it's because he was drafted after Alex Ovechkin and is on the same team as Crosby, but Malkin always seems to get overlooked in conversations in regards to the game's best.

If he can maintain this pace and beat out Crosby and McDavid this season, there'll be no doubt he should be mentioned among the greatest of all time.

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