Penguins Defeat Kings 5-2 as Crosby and Malkin Hit Milestones

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin reached major milestones as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-2.

Crosby scored twice and passed Marcel Dionne with his 1,772nd career point, while Malkin passed Adam Oates for 20th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.

Crosby secured his second multigoal game of the season, earning a late empty-net goal at 18:44 after being impeded by Los Angeles defenseman Erik Gustafsson on a breakaway.

Earlier in the contest, Malkin recorded a one-timer from the right circle that caught a piece of Crosby before going into the net off an Erik Karlsson setup to make it 4-2 at 17:13. Egor Chinakhov also contributed to the scoreboard with a power-play wrist shot in the first period that went into the top right corner.

Malkin finished the game with 1,421 career points, consisting of 539 goals and 882 assists. Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang each recorded multiple points in the same game for the 37th time in their careers.

Reflecting on setting his milestone against the Kings, Crosby noted, "I mean, it was probably a little bit cooler because it was here," referencing Dionne having played 12 seasons for Los Angeles. Regarding his goals, Crosby added, "Haven’t gone in easy, so yeah, just nice to get that one. Nice to get a win and have a good feeling here going into tomorrow."

On the opposing side, Los Angeles coach Laviolette took accountability for the loss, stating, "This is on us tonight." Laviolette explained, "You know, it was pretty limited with what they generated, and we couldn’t generate.

We had chances, we had looks, we had them called back, and there was an opportunity for us to take the game, and so it’s more on us and what we didn’t do."

Following the victory, the Penguins carry their winning momentum forward to face the Anaheim Ducks the following day.