Penguins get 40th win of the season, Sid and Geno make history

PITTSBURGH -- Rickard Rakell scored twice, Sidney Crosby scored and added two assists, and Evgeni Malkin got two assists to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Florida Panthers on the second leg of their back-to-back games at PPG Paints Arena this Easter Sunday.

Rakell got two for his 23rd and 24th goals of the season, Sid scored his 29th with two assists, Bryan Rust scored his 28th and got an assist, and Elmer Sonderblom scored in consecutive games for his sixth of the season. Egor Chinakhov and Geno had two helpers each.

Cole Schwindt scored his fourth from Gustav Forsling and Vinnie Hinostroza, and Carter Verhaege scored 24th of the season for the short-handed Panthers, who were eliminted in yesterdays loss agaisnt the Pens.

Arturs Silvos got his 19th win of the season, stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced.

Danill Tarasov was in the net on both legs of the back-to-back for Florida after being forced in for Bob last night in mop-up duty. Tarasov gave up five goals, only making 17 saves on 22 shots.

Long-time Pens teammates Crosby and Malkin both clinched point-per-game milestones with their performances this afternoon. With his 70th point of the season, Sid clinched his record-setting 21st consecutive ppg season. Geno also clinched his 16th consecutive season averaging a ppg. Only Sid, Wayne Gretzky, and Gordie Howe have more seasons than Malkin.

Rakell also extended his goal-scoring streak to five games, which is the longest active goal streak in the NHL. Only Cole Caufield and Rakell have 14 goals since March 1, which leads the league.

The Penguins' offence has been on fire as of late. Over the past five games, they have scored 30 goals, going 4-1 in that stretch of games, the loss coming on the road to the Lightning.

Pittsburgh gets a bit of a breather now after a very busy March schedule. The Pens do not play again until Thursday when they travel to New Jersey to take on the Devils. After that is a home and home with the Capitals as the Caps look to stay in the mix for the final wild card spot, or even third spot in the Metro division, with the Islanders and Blue Jackets continuing to slip.

The eliminated Panthers will look to play spoiler in their last few games of the regular season as they travel to Montreal next Tuesday to face the Habs on an eight-game win streak.