Evgeni Malkin recorded his first hat trick in more than four years, Sidney Crosby climbed ahead of Steve Yzerman in the record books and a six-goal second period moved the Pittsburgh Penguins two points closer to a playoff spot as they walloped the visiting Florida Panthers 9-4 Saturday.

Malkin’s big game, three goals and an assist, came on the night he became the 23rd player and fifth European to reach 1,400 career points. Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists for his 11th career four-point game and first since April 1, 2023.

Elmer Soderblom, Anthony Mantha and Rickard Rakell each added a goal and an assist, and Noel Acciari and Ryan Shea also scored for the Penguins (39-22-16, 94 points). A dozen players registered at least a point for Pittsburgh, with Crosby’s two assists giving him 1,756 career points, placing him one ahead of Yzerman for seventh on the NHL all-time points list.

Arturs Silovs stopped 19 shots for the Penguins.

A.J. Greer had a goal and an assist, while Seth Jones, Noah Gregor and Mackie Samoskevich also scored for the Panthers (37-36-3, 77 points).

Sergei Bobrovsky made 13 saves on the 19 shots he faced before exiting midway through the second period. Daniil Tarasov faced 12 shots and saved nine.

The Penguins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after Acciari scored on a putback 20 seconds into the game and Karlsson got his 14th goal of the season on a power play with 14:54 left in the first. However, Greer got one back for Florida two minutes later, and Jones tied the game with 5:29 left in the first.

From there, it was all Penguins, who scored six goals in a period for the first time since Dec. 12, 2024. Mantha’s team-leading 31st came less than two minutes into the second. Malkin scored the next two before Soderblom chased Bobrovsky at 10:07.

Malkin finished the scoring for Pittsburgh with an unassisted goal 3:30 into the third to make it 9-2. It was his 14th career hat trick and first since March 27, 2022, against Detroit.

Florida gave up nine goals for the second time this season. Earlier in the day, the Panthers became the first Stanley Cup defending champion to miss the ensuing season’s playoffs since the Los Angeles Kings in 2015.

–Field Level Media

Darren Raddysh scored a franchise-setting, tiebreaking goal late, as the Tampa Bay Lightning closed their seven-game homestand with a three-goal third period in a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

In a career season, Raddysh netted the game-winner, his 21st, with over five minutes remaining in regulation, breaking a tie with teammate Victor Hedman for the most goals by a Lightning defenseman in a single season.

Charle-Edouard D’Astous netted one and Nikita Kucherov hit an empty net to seal it for Tampa Bay (48-22-6, 102 points), which went 5-1-1 on the season-long stand. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.

Casey Mittelstadt tallied for Boston (43-26-8, 94 points), who is 0-2-0 on its four-game road trip, thus far, and lost both matches in Florida. Goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots.

Before the match began, the Lightning learned they had qualified for the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season with losses by the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators.

Boston nearly had an easy rebound goal with a loose puck in Vasilevskiy’s blue paint, but charging defenseman Charlie McAvoy was dragged down by Raddysh, preventing the first tally but creating a power play.

However, the home side was successfully able to work through two penalty-kills, and Vasilevskiy and Swayman, who fought one another on Feb. 1 in the Stadium Series game, kept it scoreless.

In the second period, Vasilevskiy stuffed Viktor Arvidsson’s early backhander on a breakaway, but Arvidsson later spun and slipped a pass to a trailing Mittelstadt, who sped all alone through the slot and drilled his 15th at 6:47.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay had just five shots and were outplayed in the frame.

D’Astous put his club on the board by recovering his own rebound and burying the tying goal at 2:11 into the third, giving him two goals and eight points over the past seven outings.

The Atlantic Division opponents continued the tight-checking theme throughout the matchup, which could potentially be a first-round one in the postseason, until Raddysh sent a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle that bounced in off the inside of Swayman’s right arm at 14:29.

Kucherov potted No. 42 with Swayman out of the net at 18:27.

–Field Level Media

Yuliia Starodubtseva saved six of eight break points and stunningly stormed her way into the Charleston Open final with a 6-1, 6-4 takedown of fifth-seeded Madison Keys on Saturday.

The Ukraine native and former college standout at Old Dominion was a qualifier at this tournament before a withdrawal elevated her into the main draw. Now, she will have an opportunity to claim her first WTA title when she faces defending champion Jessica Pegula.

The top-seeded Pegula had 23 winners against 25 unforced errors while registering a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 over fourth-seeded Iva Jovic. All four of Pegula’s matches in Charleston have gone three sets.

Copa Colsanitas Colsubsidio

Top-seeded Czech Marie Bouzkova saved five of seven break points en route to posting a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Jazmin Ortenzi to reach the title match in Bogota, Colombia.

Bouzkova had a 5-2 lead in the opening set, but Ortezni rallied to force a tiebreak before Bouzkova was able to prevail. She sailed through the second set to earn the championship match appearance against eighth-seeded Panna Udvardy of Hungary.

Udvardy engineered an impressive rally for a 6-7 (8), 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Emiliana Arango of Colombia. The home country favorite led 5-2 in the third set before Udvardy won four straight games to take the lead and eventually win the match.

–Field Level Media