Malkin has goal, assist in Penguins win against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.

Rickard Rakell, Erik Karlsson and Chad Ruhwedel also scored for Pittsburgh (20-15-4), which won for the fifth time in seven games (5-2-0). Alex Nedeljkovic made 36 saves.

"[The Flyers] were, I think, four points in front of us with a game in hand for us, so it was kind of like a four-point swing," Nedeljkovic said. "We still have that game in hand and we're two points closer now, so it was huge."

Owen Tippett scored for Philadelphia (20-14-6), which has lost five of six (1-4-1). Carter Hart made 35 saves.

"We just weren’t good," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "We were not good enough in either end, and that's the result."

Rakell scored 45 seconds into the first period to put the Penguins ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal set up by a backhand pass through the crease from Malkin.

Rakell began the season with a 17-game goal drought, then missed 12 games because of an upper-body injury sustained Nov. 22. But since returning, he has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 10 games, including points in four straight (three goals, two assists).

"He just stuck with it," Nedeljkovic said of Rakell. "He was getting a lot of chances at the start of the year there, the puck just wasn't bouncing. It happens. Everybody goes through it at some point, just unfortunately for him it seemed to be pretty bad and didn't seem like it was ever going to end. Once that first one came, you know the rest were going to come and you knew it was going to be easy the rest of the way. He makes it look easy, but he works hard every day in practice. He's trying to score every time he shoots the puck."

Karlsson made it 2-0 at 7:37 when he scored through traffic from the right point.

"I think giving one up early on the power play allowed their skill guys to get feeling it a little bit," Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "You could just sense it, they were making plays."

Tippett cut it to 2-1 at 14:55 on the power play with a wrist shot from the right circle. It was his first goal in seven games.

Ruhwedel pushed it to 3-1 at 8:07 of the second period, scoring his first goal of the season on a wrist shot from the high slot.

"Third goal was the one that gets you," Tortorella said. "We spent too much time in our end zone. We didn't come out clean enough. ... We just weren't clean coming out and if you give that team opportunities on breakouts, sooner or later the momentum changes. I thought we fought, we just struggled scoring. We don't have enough people going offensively. They were the better team."

Malkin put a snap shot from the right circle over Hart’s blocker at 4:29 of the third period for the 4-1 final.

"I think he's playing hard, he's competing hard," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Malkin. "I think he's just doing a better job at some of the subtleties or the little small details in his game, like stopping on pucks and not playing as much in constant motion. 'Geno' is a guy that likes to play in motion, but there are some times when you have to stop on pucks, and I think he's doing a much better job just paying attention to those types of situations."

NOTES: The Flyers traded forward Cutter Gauthier, the No. 5 pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Tortorella said he expects Drysdale to practice Tuesday. ... Rakell's goal was the Penguins’ fastest to open a game this season. ... Pittsburgh has scored a power-play goal in four straight games, its longest streak since scoring at least one in each of the final four games of last season. ... Karlsson's goal extended his point streak to four games (one goal, four assists). ... Ruhwedel’s goal was his first since March 25, 2023. ... Penguins defenseman Kris Letang had his streak of three straight road games with at least three points end. He had been one of six NHL defensemen to accomplish the feat. ... Flyers forward Travis Konecny had his seven-game point streak end (five goals, five assists).