The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Florida Panthers 5-2 Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, completing a weekend sweep of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Sidney Crosby scored a goal to guarantee him his 21st consecutive seasons of at least a point per game, an NHL record. Wayne Gretzky had 18 consecutive seasons of a point per game in his career. Gordie Howe had 17 seasons.
Crosby also added two assists in the game. Rickard Rakell had two goals.
The Penguins defeated Florida 9-4 Saturday, officially eliminating the Stanley Cup champions from this year’s post-season. Evgeni Malkin had his 14th career hat trick in that game. He also added an assist, and became the 23rd player in NHL history to reach 1,400 career points.
The Pens currently have 96 points with four games remaining. They are six points in front of Philadelphia for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers took over third place in the division following a 2-1 victory over Boston in overtime Sunday.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner was unavailable Sunday after apparently suffering an upper-body injury. Arturs Silovs was in net for both weekend games. He stopped 29 of 31 shots Sunday. He stopped 19 of 23 shots Saturday. The Penguins had to call up prospect Taylor Gauthier from Wheeling as their back-up goaltender Sunday.
The Penguins visit New Jersey Thursday.