Musings: Penguins Power Past Florida in 9-4 Win

Powered by a six-goal second period, the Penguins put together a 9-4 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.

Pittsburgh, which is in second place in the Metropolitan Division, moved five points ahead of the third-place New York Islanders. The Panthers were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

“Obviously, a good game from us. I think we took their spirit away there in the second,” Erik Karlsson said. “You know, we’ve been in their position here before, and it’s not easy. A well-executed game by us.”

“We have a great team right now, you know? We played hard,” Evgeni Malkin said. “Points (are) important, and two points for the team is important, because it's huge for us. We're fighting for playoffs, and I think it's important to fight for maybe second place, to start at home.”

First, some major milestones from the game:

*Malkin scored a hat trick. The first goal was his 1,400^th point. The feature on his milestone night is here.

*With two assists, Sidney Crosby quietly passed his idol Steve Yzerman and moved into seventh place on the NHL’s all-time points list. He now has 1,756 points.

Now, as for the story of the game:

The Penguins got off to a terrific start. Noel Acciari scored just 20 seconds in, as his line continues to make a huge impact. Elmer Soderblom has done an excellent job slotting in for the injured Blake Lizotte, and he got the primary assist on the tally.

“We were ready to go from the start,” Soderblom said.

Then, just over five minutes into play, Bryan Rust was boarded by Mike Benning. Pittsburgh went to the power play, and Karlsson got his first of four points when he blasted a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.

But at that point, the Penguins took their foot off the gas, and Florida tied the game by the end of the first period. The Penguins regrouped during the intermission, and to say they came out with a vengeance would be an understatement.

"I don't think anybody in here was too happy with how the first period ended,” Rickard Rakell said. “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."

It started with a strong shift from Malkin’s line with Rakell and Tommy Novak, along with defensemen Kris Letang and Sam Girard, who have started to come together as a pairing. They were buzzing, and the next line came over the boards and continued that momentum.

Anthony Mantha netted his team-leading 31^st goal of the season just over two minutes in, as the best free agent signing by any team this offseason put a puck on net that deflected in off a Panther stick.

Malkin’s milestone tally came on the power play, when he deflected a pass from Karlsson.

“He called for it, I think, for a minute straight. I refused to give it to him until it was time,” Karlsson said with a grin. “Obviously, that was a good sequence for us. I think we generated a lot on the power play and created a lot of looks.

Malkin’s next goal came off another re-direction, with the feed from Novak.

“It’s always nice to see when the big man is moving,” Karlsson said. “He wanted it today. Obviously, he’s a big part of this team, and going down the stretch here now is how they made a living. Today, they showed it."

Less than 90 seconds later, Soderblom found one – and ended Bobrovsky’s night at the 9:53 mark of the middle frame.

With just over two minutes to go, Rakell scored yet another goal on the man-advantage. The Penguins ended the night 3-for-3 on the power play.

“I think we generated a lot on the power play and created a lot of looks,” Karlsson said. “Sometimes you do that, and they don’t go in for you. Luckily, today, they did.”

Shortly after, the Penguins got one more goal from blueliner Ryan Shea to take a 6-2 lead into the third period. Malkin completed the hat trick just 3:30 into the final frame, with the fans at PPG Paints Arena giving the franchise forward a standing ovation and chanting “GENO! GENO! GENO!”

“I almost cried a little bit, you know? It’s huge for me,” he said. “I scored a hat trick a long time ago, I don’t remember when I scored last time. Again, it’s lots of emotion. And I want to say thank you. Thank you for the support for myself, (the) team. It’s crazy.”

During his postgame interview with Dan Potash, Malkin told the fans to come back tomorrow, as the Penguins host the Panthers again on Sunday.

“Huge game tomorrow, because we know this team win two Cups in two years, and they fight tomorrow, for sure,” Malkin said.