The Florida Panthers were eliminated from the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs after getting crushed 9-4 by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who moved closer to making their first playoff appearance since 2022, at PPG Paints Arena.

After the teams played to a 2-2 tie in the first period, the Penguins exploded for six goals in the second, chasing Sergei Bobrovsky midway through the frame, to turn the game into a utter and complete rout.

Veterans Evgeny Malkin and Erik Karlsson were the offensive catalysts. Malkin notched his 14th career hat trick and collected an assist to pass 1,400 NHL points while Karlsson scored a power-play goal and finished the tilt with three helpers.

Noel Acciari opened the scoring 20-seconds into the action and Anthony Mantha, Elmer Soderblom, Rickard Rakell, and Ryan Shea also lit the lamp for Penguins. Mantha, Soderblom and Rakell added assists and captain Sidney Crosby had two.

Down by two early, A.J. Greer got the Panthers on the board 2:04 after Karlsson goal. Gustav Forsling head-manned to Cole Reinhardt and he put a routine shot on net. Arturs Silvos make a stick save, but Greer got to the rebound and slid it home for his 15th of the campaign.

Florida equalized at 14:31 when after doing some heavy work down low, Cole Schwindt sent a bounce pass off the boards to Seth Jones and his slapper beat Silvos from the right point.

The Panthers got the final two goals of the game after Malkin completed the trick with an unassisted goal 3:30 into the third by stealing the puck from Mike Benning and deking Daniil Tarasov.

Sam Bennett took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and exited his own zone before sending Noah Gregor away down the left side. Gregor blew by Connor Clifton before cutting in on Silvos, who missed with his poke-check, and finishing on the backhand at 8:02.

Mackie Samoskevich extended his goal-streak to four games at 10:46. Greer crossed to Samoskevich on a 2-on-1 break and he snapped a shot past Silvos from the right circle to pick up his tenth of the season.

After fighting back from an early deficit, it looked like the Cats were in the running to bump their winning streak to three. Instead, disaster struck in second period, with Bobrovsky surrendering four goals in just over eight minutes, and Tarasov coming on at 9:53 to give up two more. Florida’s penalty kill allowed the Penguins to convert on their first three power-play chances of the game. It was the second time this season they gave three or more PPGs in a game. They allowed four to the Carolina Hurricanes on January 16 in a 9-1 loss.

The Five Hole

A.J. Greer extended his point streak to three games by scoring Florida’s first goal. His third period assist gave him his first multi-point game since January 17.

Mackie Samoskevich hit the 10-goal mark for the second straight season. Samokevich became the ninth Panther to reach double-digits in 2025-26..

Sam Bennett’s primary assist on Noah Gregor’s fourth goal gave the center points in four-straight games. Bennett is now just three points from tying Sam Reinhart for the team scoring lead.

In addition to his assist, Matthew Tkachuk matched rookie Mikulas Hovorka and Pittsburgh’s Justin Brazeau with a game-high three hits.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped just 13 of 19 shots faced. Backup Daniil Tarasov made nine saves in relief.

Stat Card