The 38-year-old center has 72 points (29 goals, 43 assists). He previously missed 12 games due to injury earlier this year and can only play a maximum of 70 games this season.

Rickard Rakell scored twice to push his goal streak to five games (seven goals), and Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (40-22-16), who have won four of five, including 9-4 against Florida on Saturday. Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakhov each had two assists.

Arturs Silovs made 29 saves in his second of back-to-back starts for the first time this season. He made 19 saves on Saturday.

Carter Verhaeghe and Cole Schwindt scored, and Daniil Tarasov made 18 saves for the Panthers (37-37-3), who have lost five of seven.

Florida was already eliminated from playoff contention with the loss on Saturday.

Elmer Soderblom put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 at 11:00 of the first period. Tarasov came out of the crease to retrieve the puck, but Connor Dewar hit the goalie’s stick, making the puck slip to Soderblom low in the left face-off circle for a wrist shot into an open net. 

Schwindt tied it 1-1 at 16:15 when his wrist shot from the top of the left circle deflected off Tarasov’s mask, dropped between his pads and trickled over the goal line.

Crosby put the Penguins back up 2-1 just 35 seconds later at 16:50, sending a wrist shot from the left circle over Tarasov’s glove into the top right corner. Brian Rust had the secondary assist for his 500th NHL point (230 goals, 269 assists).

Rakell pushed the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 19:12 with a one-timer to the blocker side after Crosby found him with a one-touch pass in the slot.

It is Rakell’s longest goal streak since 2017-18, when he had runs of six games (from Dec. 21 – Jan. 2) and five games (Feb. 25 – March 8). Rakell also extended his point streak to eight games (10 goals, three assists).

Rakell chipped in a bouncing puck off a pass from Malkin behind the net to make to 4-1 at 18:08 of the second period.

It is Rakell’s longest goal streak since 2017-18, when he had runs of six games (from Dec. 21 – Jan. 2) and five games (Feb. 25 – March 8). Rakell also extended his point streak to eight games (10 goals, three assists).

Rust extended the advantage to 5-1 at 3:48 of the third period. Crosby sent a spinning backhand pass from the left boards to Rust in the slot, where he put a backhanded shot off Tarasov’s blocker that rolled off the right pad into the net.

Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal from between the circles to cut the deficit to 5-2 at 14:15.