Pens beat Panthers for second straight day
PITTSBURGH – Rickard Rakell scored twice, Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 on Sunday.
The teams faced off Saturday night and the Penguins beat them 9-4, eliminating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions from playoff contention.
The Penguins moved closer to securing a playoff berth for the first time since 2022. Their magic number is two points with four games remaining in the regular season.
Rakell scored his first goal for the Penguins with 48 seconds left in the first period on the power play, assisted on by Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. His second came with 1:52 left in the second period.
Bryan Rust and Elmer Soderblom also scored for the Penguins. Carter Verhaeghe and Cole Schwindt each scored for the Panthers.
Pittsburgh’s Arturs Silovs stopped 29 shots after tandem mate Stuart Skinner was ruled out with an upper-body injury. Daniil Tarasov allowed five goals on 23 shots in defeat.
On Saturday, Malkin had his 14th career hat trick and added an assist to become the 23rd player in NHL history to reach 1,400 career points. Crosby picked up a pair of assists to move past Hall of Famer and childhood idol Steve Yzerman and into seventh place on the NHL’s career scoring list (1,756).Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists and Noel Acciari and Soderblom added a goal and an assist.
Up next
Penguins: Visit the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Panthers: Visit the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.