Malkin has hat trick, Penguins score 6 goals in 2nd period to cruise past Panthers

PITTSBURGH -- Evgeni Malkin had three goals and an assist to pass 1,400 NHL points, and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored six goals in the second period of a 9-4 win against the Florida Panthers at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

The hat trick was the 14th in the NHL for the 39-year-old forward and first since March 27, 2022, when he had three goals and an assist in an 11-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings. 

Malkin (1,403 points; 532 goals, 871 assists) is the 23rd player in League history to reach 1,400 points and third active, joining Pittsburgh teammate Sidney Crosby (1,756) and Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (1,682). He has played 1,266 games for the Penguins since they selected him in the first round (No. 2) of the 2004 NHL Draft. 

“It’s an amazing number, for sure,” Malkin said. “For one team, it’s huge. I love playing here. ... We have a great team right now. We played hard. Points are important, two points for the team are important because it’s huge for us. We’re fighting for the playoffs.”

Crosby had two assists to pass Steve Yzerman (1,755) for the seventh-most points all-time, and Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists for the Penguins (39-22-16), who have won three of four. Rickard Rakell, Anthony Mantha and Elmer Soderblom each had a goal and an assist, and Arturs Silovs made 19 saves. 

“It feels like every couple of games these guys hit another milestone,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “It’s not like these minor milestones. These are big ones, these are some that you never really even get to see. It’s incredible.” 

The Penguins are second in the Metropolitan Division, 10 points behind the Carolina Hurricanes in first and five ahead of the New York Islanders in third. 

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed six goals on 19 shots before being pulled at 9:53 of the second period, and Daniil Tarasov made nine saves on 12 shots in relief for the Panthers (37-36-3), who have lost four of six. A.J. Greer had a goal and an assist.

Florida, which won the Stanley Cup each of the past two seasons, was eliminated from contention for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“It got away from us,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I mean, just the quickness of the game, for us, was a lot. The puck movement. So, we had touches on almost all of the pucks that ended up in our net. ... We were slower than they were. Credit them, they were fast.” 

The teams will play again here on Sunday. 

“Obviously, we’ll take a bunch from (this game),” Florida forward Cole Schwindt said. “Obviously, we’re playing the exact same team, so clean things up that we need to and get another crack at them tomorrow.”

Noel Acciari put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 by chipping his own rebound over Bobrovsky with a backhand 20 seconds into the first period. 

Karlsson made it 2-0 on a power play at 5:06, scoring his eighth goal in 11 games with a one-timer set up by Crosby. 

Greer cut it to 2-1 at 7:10 on a wrist shot off a rebound from Cole Reinhardt. 

Seth Jones sent a slap shot from the point in off Rakell’s hand, tying it 2-2 at 14:31. 

“It was 2-2 after the first. We did a good job of coming back and making it 2-2 after a slow start,” Jones said. “Then, you blink and it’s 9-2. We just couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

Mantha scored the first of the Penguins’ seven straight goals, putting them back in front 3-2 at 1:51 of the second period when his pass intended for Justin Brazeau was tapped past Bobrovsky by Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.  

Malkin extended the lead to 4-2 on a power play at 5:51, chipping in a pass from Karlsson at the right post for his 1,400th point, and made it 5-2 at 8:27 when a shot from Tommy Novak went in off him in the crease. 

Soderblom pushed it to 6-2 at 9:53 by tipping a shot from Connor Dewar. 

Rakell and Ryan Shea then scored 19 seconds apart. Rakell made it 7-2 on the Penguins’ third power-play goal at 17:48, a backhand set up by Malkin; Shea had a shot go in off the stick of Florida defenseman Mike Benning to extend the lead to 8-2 at 18:07. 

"I don't think anybody in here was too happy with how the first period ended,” Rakell said, “and we wanted to make sure in the second period, we came out better in the neutral zone, getting pucks in on the forecheck and getting chances and, yeah, getting looks on the power play because we were turning pucks over and creating chances. Really good job from everybody after that."

Malkin capped his hat trick at 3:30 of the third period, stealing the puck from Benning and tucking a shot around Tarasov’s right pad to push it to 9-2. 

Noah Gregor pulled Florida to within 9-3 on a backhand at 8:02, and Mackie Samoskevich scored on a snap shot at 10:46 for the 9-4 final. 

NOTES: Malkin’s 14 hat tricks match Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Crosby for the fourth-most among active players, behind Ovechkin (34), David Pastrnak (19) and Steven Stamkos (16). He is the oldest player in Penguins history to have a hat trick. ... The Penguins scored eight goals through the first two periods of a game for the first time since Dec. 11, 2008 (eight in a 9-2 win against the Islanders).  ... Malkin and Crosby each had multiple points in the same game for the 170th time, tied with Daniel and Henrik Sedin for the fifth-most by a duo in NHL history.  ... The Panthers allowed a goal on each of the Penguins’ three power plays. They gave up three power-play goals for the second time this season (four in a 9-1 loss at the Hurricanes on Jan. 16).