PITTSBURGH — In an offensive onslaught, including six second period goals and an Evgeni Malkin hat trick, the Pittsburgh Penguins (39-22-16) cruised to a 9-4 over the Florida Panthers (37-35-3) to inch ever so closer to their first playoff berth since the 2021-22 season.

The power play scored three times, Malkin and Erik Karlsson had four points(1G, 3A), and four other players registered two points in the offensive outburst.

Advertisement

Just 20 seconds into the game the Penguins struck first when Noel Acciari (12) took a beautiful tip pass from Elmer Soderblom in the neutral zone, broke into the Panthers’ zone and wristed a shot on Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, followed his own rebound, and then, almost in slow motion, backhand flipped the puck up and over an upright Bobrovsky to give the Penguins a very early 1-0 lead.

With Panthers defenseman Mike Benning in the box for boarding Bryan Rust, the Penguins’ eighth-ranked power play went to work. Erik Karlsson took a Sidney Crosby pass from the bottom of the right circle and blasted a 92.9 MPH slap shot from the top of the right circle that clanged off the left post and in at 5:06 of the first to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. With the assist, Crosby registered his 1,755th career point, tying Steve Yzerman for seventh-most in NHL history.

The momentum the Penguins gained from the power play goal was short-lived, as the Panthers would get the next two goals. Just 2:04 after the Penguins got their second goal, the Panthers got their first. Cole Reinhardt took a seemingly harmless wrist shot from distance, however the resulting rebound off the left pad of Penguins’ goaltender Arturs Silovs bounced into the slot where Panthers forward A.J. Greer (15) tapped it past Silovs, halving the Penguins’ lead, 2-1. Next, it was Seth Jones (7) taking a shot from the point that deflected off the glove of Rickard Rakell and past Silovs to knot the game at two at 14:31 of the first.

While the Penguins relinquished a two-goal lead in the first period, they got the six-consecutive goals in the second to build an insurmountable lead. First, they got some puck luck early in the frame when Anthony Mantha took a shot from the left wing boards that hit Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling, changed direction, and slid through the legs of Bobrovsky to put the Penguins back ahead, 3-2 at 1:51 of the second.

Advertisement

Next, the power play scored for the second time in as many tries. Karlsson masterfully kept the puck in at the blue line, skated towards the net and let go a wrist shot that went intentionally wide and right to the stick of Evgeni Malkin (16), who was calling for the puck. Malkin then tilted the blade of his stick upwards and deflected the Karlsson shot-pass over Bobrovsky and just under the crossbar. The goal was the 1,400th career point for Malkin, joining Crosby and Mario Lemieux as the only players in franchise history to reach the milestone. He is also just the third active player to reach the milestone, joining Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.

Malkin also got the next goal, driving hard to the net and deflecting a Tommy Novak shot in off his shin pad at 8:27. Just 1:26 later, the fourth line got its second goal of the game when Soderblom skillfully used his 6’8″ frame to reach his stick out to deflect a Connor Dewar shot over Bobrovsky to put the Penguins ahead, 6-2. That goal got Bobrovsky pulled in favor of Daniil Tarasov. The four goals for the Penguins came in a span of 8:02. However, they were not done with second period scoring. At 17:48 Rakell made the power play a perfect 3-3 when he scored his 22nd. Then just 19 seconds later Ryan Shea snuck a shot past Tarasov to close out a six-goal second period for the Penguins.

Malkin (18) completed the hat trick at 3:30 of the third when he picked the puck from Panthers defenseman Mike Benning and deked forehand to backhand and slid the puck past Tarasov to put the Penguins ahead 9-2. It was Malkin’s 14th career hat trick, tying him with Crosby and a host of others for the 46th most hat tricks in NHL history. The Panthers got third period goals from Noah Greger (4) and Mackie Samoskevich (10) to make it a 9-4 game, but that is as close as they would get.

In a unique scheduling quirk, the Penguins and Panthers will face each other again tomorrow at PPG Paints Arena before getting a rare three-day break before heading to New Jersey on Thursday. Depending on tomorrow’s result and the results of several other games, they could potentially have clinched a playoff spot by the time they hit the ice in New Jersey on Thursday.

Advertisement

Notes

The Penguins’ lines and defensive pairings on Saturday were as follows

Forwards

Egor Chinakhov – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin

Anthony Mantha – Rickard Rakell – Justin Brazeau

Elmer Soderblom – Connor Dewar – Noel Acciari

Defensemen

Parker Wotherspoon – Erik Karlsson

Sam Girard – Kris Letang

Ryan Shea – Connor Clifton

The post Crosby, Malkin Milestones Push Penguins Closer to Playoffs appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now.

Related Headlines