PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins had plenty of built-in excuses Sunday. They were playing the second game of a back-to-back against the same team — who they had shellacked Saturday.

Pittsburgh’s presumed starting goalie was ruled out the day of the game. The Penguins are virtually locked into a playoff spot.

Yet they came away with another convincing win anyway, beating the Florida Panthers, 5-2, on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena behind two goals from Rickard Rakell and a resurgent 29-save performance by goalie Arturs Silovs.

Silovs made his second consecutive start, as Stuart Skinner missed the game with an upper-body injury.

With the win, the Penguins have a six-point lead on the Philadelphia Flyers for second place in the Metropolitan Division entering Monday. Pittsburgh has just four games remaining.

Sidney Crosby clinched his 21st consecutive point-per-game season with a first-period goal, extending his NHL record, and added two assists Sunday.

“You just think about how much has to go into it,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said of Crosby’s milestone. “And I’m not just talking about hockey here. I’m just talking about all sports, people to be able to do it for that long, it doesn’t happen.

“And so, it’s amazing. It’ll be one of things [he’s remembered by]. But he seems to have a lot left in the tank.”

Penguins take first-period lead and extend it

The Penguins were sluggish in the opening minutes, especially in two lackluster power plays. But they got the game’s first goal anyway, as the fourth line continued its strong stretch.

Panthers netminder Daniil Tarasov came out of the net to play the puck, but Connor Dewar surprised him. Elmer Soderblom retrieved the loose puck and immediately fired it into the open net 11 minutes in.

It was the 6-foot-8 winger’s third goal and sixth point in the past six games.

The Panthers tied the game five minutes later. Cole Schwindt’s relatively routine wrister from the left circle hit Silovs in the mask, bounced between his legs and into the net. It was a less-than-inspiring display of goaltending from Silovs. But he would recover to play his best game since at least March 16 at Colorado.

And Crosby gave the Penguins the lead again 35 seconds after Florida’s equalizer, whipping a shot past Tarasov on the rush for just his second goal in the past 16 games.

That secured the point-per-game streak. Bryan Rust registered his 500th career point with a secondary assist on the play. Egor Chinakhov had the primary.

“It’s for me, a guy who’s just tried to earn everything,” Rust said of his legacy with the Penguins, though he joked about using that term. “Came in this league as a fourth-liner who probably had horse blinders on, just trying to take pucks to the net and block shots and use my speed and skating, and I take a lot of pride in knowing that I’ve adapted over the years and kept trying to get better and better every year.”

Evgeni Malkin would quickly join Crosby in clinching a point-per-game season, his 16th. That put Malkin fourth in NHL history. He passed to Crosby on the power play, who shuffled it to Rakell for a one-timer that beat Tarasov and gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead at the first intermission.

It was Rakell’s 10th goal in the past 10 games. He’s riding an eight-game point streak.

“I feel like at the start of the year, I had a lot of opportunities that didn’t go in,” Rakell said. “I’ve learned that’s how it goes sometimes, but I’m happy with how it’s going right now.”

He would make it 11 late in the second period. Malkin fired a pass from behind the net to Rakell, who controlled the bouncing puck and buried it to give the Penguins a 4-1 lead at the second intermission.

“He’s a machine right now,” Rust said of Rakell. “He’s been a privilege to be on the ice with, and also, watching [from] the bench, too, you can see that he’s playing with so much confidence. He’s making incredible plays.

“He’s also working really hard. The combination of the skill, the effort and the confidence, you can see — he’s got a gajillion goals recently, so needless to say, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Silovs played his best period in a while during the second, making 11 saves including a pad stop on Matthew Tkachuk from point-blank range. He turned away 12 shots in the third period and saved 2.31 goals above expected for the game, per Sportlogiq.

Crosby picked up his third point of the night early in the third period, assisting Rust’s goal on the rush. Chinakhov also recorded his second assist of the game on the play.

The Penguins’ penalty kill largely played well Sunday, stopping five of six Florida power plays. But the Panthers’ Carter Verhaeghe scored on the man-advantage to trim the deficit back to three with less than six minutes remaining.

Pittsburgh’s power play finished one for seven, though it did generate plenty of solid chances.

It was over when …

Rakell gave the Penguins a three-goal advantage at the 18:08 mark of the second period.

Stat of the game

5: Consecutive games with a goal for Rakell. He has seven in that stretch, and the Penguins have won four of those games in regulation.

Around the boards

— With Skinner’s injury, the Penguins recalled goaltender Taylor Gauthier from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL on Sunday. Gauthier backed up Silovs.

Skinner was walking outside the locker room with an ice pack held to his face after Saturday’s game, so it appears he may have been hit with a puck or stick (though he did not play).

When the team got the news that Skinner would not be able to play, they did not have time to recall Sergei Murashov from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Gauthier is a capable option, as he has a 2.0 goals-against average and .932 save percentage with Wheeling.

Murashov joined the Penguins in the press box during the game.

— The Penguins also brought forward Avery Hayes back from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That seems to have been a precautionary measure, as well. Hayes didn’t play.

— Defenseman Parker Wotherspoon fought Tkachuk late in the first period after the Florida forward cross-checked Dewar in the back near the boards.

Up next

The Penguins get a well-deserved three-day break between games. They will next play 7 p.m. ET Thursday at the New Jersey Devils.

There’s just one regular-season home game left on the Penguins’ schedule: 3 p.m. Saturday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

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