The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rickard Rakell celebrates his first of two goals during the first period with Evgeni Malkin (71) and Sidney Crosby (87), during an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
                                 AP photo

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rickard Rakell celebrates his first of two goals during the first period with Evgeni Malkin (71) and Sidney Crosby (87), during an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

AP photo

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<p>The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rickard Rakell, center, celebrates his second of two goals during the first period, with Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker during an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Sunday.</p>
                                 <p>AP photo</p>

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rickard Rakell, center, celebrates his second of two goals during the first period, with Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker during an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

AP photo

<p>The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Letang, center, poses for a photo with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and his wife Catherine Laflamme, front right, son Alexander, and daughter Victoria, during a pre-game celebration of his 1000th NHL game played as a Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman before an NHL game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Pittsburgh on Sunday.</p>
                                 <p>AP photo</p>

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Letang, center, poses for a photo with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and his wife Catherine Laflamme, front right, son Alexander, and daughter Victoria, during a pre-game celebration of his 1000th NHL game played as a Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman before an NHL game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

AP photo

PITTSBURGH — It was a milestone night for Kris Letang, but a win carried greater significance to the star defenseman as the Pittsburgh Penguins fight for a playoff spot.

Letang skated in his 1,000th career game, Rickard Rakell scored two goals and the Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 on Sunday night.

“It was a special night,” Letang said. “There’s a lot of emotion, but you have to refocus and say that two points are more important, so it was nice to get the win.”

Bryan Rust scored in his 500th NHL game and Ryan Poehling added a late empty-net goal. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had two assists and Casey DeSmith stopped 31 shots.

Crosby is three points from 1,500 in the NHL. He recorded his 233rd multi-assist game, moving past Joe Sakic for 11th in NHL history. Crosby also tied Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for the most career points against the Flyers in NHL history with 124.

Pittsburgh rebounded from a one-goal loss against Boston on Saturday and overtook idle Florida for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh and Florida both have five games remaining. Pittsburgh is trying to extend its playoff streak — the longest active in major North American sports leagues — to a record 17th consecutive season.

“It’s human nature to watch the scoreboard,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re aware of who’s winning, who’s losing and where we stand. The most important thing is that we don’t get distracted by that stuff and focus on the task at hand.”

Travis Konecny scored his 29th of the season and Nicolas Deslauriers his sixth, both in the third period, but the Flyers couldn’t rally from their early three-goal deficit. Samuel Ersson finished with 27 saves as Philadelphia lost its third straight following a four-game win streak.

The Flyers failed to earn at least one point in the season series with Pittsburgh for the first time in franchise history.

“I didn’t think it was out of reach when it was 3-0,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “I thought we’d get to them. We certainly tried.”

Rakell scored the first two goals for Pittsburgh. His slap shot from the slot caromed off the glass, hit Ersson in the back and went in the net for the Penguins’ first goal with 8:20 left in the first period. He added a power-play goal a little more than three minutes later as he redirected Malkin’s pass behind Ersson from the slot for his 27th.

Rust gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead with his 19th of the season with 6:37 left in the second. He flipped a backhander past Ersson off the rush with Crosby.

BRUINS 4, BLUES 3

ST. LOUIS — Charlie Coyle scored the winner in the shootout and the Boston Bruins recovered from blowing a 3-0 lead to beat the St. Louis Blues for their 60th win of the season.

Linus Ullmark made 35 saves and stopped all three of St. Louis’ shootout attempts to lead Boston to its third straight win. Jake DeBrusk, Tyler Bertuzzi and Oskar Steen all scored in regulation for Boston.

Jordan Kyrou scored twice, including the tying goal with 25 seconds left in regulation, and Torey Krug also had a goal for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for St. Louis which lost its second straight game.

Dmitry Orlov appeared to have scored the winning goal 2:24 into overtime, but after a quick review the goal was overturned when it was ruled David Pastrnak was offside entering St. Louis’ zone.

RANGERS 5, CAPITALS 2

WASHINGTON — Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko scored goals just over two minutes apart, Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves and New York snapped a two-game skid by beating Washington.

K’Andre Miller, Vladimir Tarasenko and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers, who moved three points back of the rival New Jersey Devils for second place in the Metropolitan Division with five games to play.

Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas, who ended a 36-game goal drought, scored for Washington. Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves, but the Capitals lost their fourth in a row and for seventh in eight games — inching closer to being eliminated and ending the team’s eight-year streak of playoff appearances.

HURRICANES 2, ISLANDERS 1

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jordan Martinook scored for the first time in more than two months to break a third-period tie as Carolina edged New York.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves for the Hurricanes, who’ve won back-to-back games following a stretch of four losses in five games to maintain first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored first for the Islanders, who’ve lost two games in a row and three of their last five. New York is in playoff position, but only has four games remaining in a tight competition with multiple teams for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference.

BLUE JACKETS 4, SENATORS 3, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kirill Marchenko scored 16 seconds into overtime to rally Columbus past Ottawa to end a four-game losing streak and move out of the NHL basement.

Kent Johnson, Eric Robinson and Boone Jenner also scored for Columbus, Johnny Gaudreau had two assists and Marchenko added an assist. Jon Gillies stopped 24 shots in his Blue Jackets debut — and first game this season — for his first win since Feb. 10, 2022.

Marchenko’s winner was his 21st goal of the season and set a franchise rookie record. He’s tied with Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston and Seattle’s Matty Beniers for the NHL lead among rookies.

Columbus tied Anaheim for the second-fewest points in the NHL with 56. Chicago is last with 54.

Dylan Gambrell, Mark Kastelic and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Senators, who have lost two straight.

JETS 6, DEVILS 1

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice and Morgan Barron converted a penalty shot as Winnipeg routed New Jersey.

Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and assist, while Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets. Blake Wheeler had two assists. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 31 shots in his 60th start of the season. Winnipeg pulled one point behind Seattle for the first Western Conference wild card, though the Kraken have two games in hand.

Nico Hischier spoiled Connor Hellebuyck’s shutout bid when he scored on the power play with 13.9 seconds left. Vitek Vanacek finished with 17 saves for New Jersey before he was replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood to start the third period. Blackwood made four saves in relief.

RED WINGS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2

TORONTO — Dylan Larkin scored three times for his second career hat trick, Alex Nedeljkovic made 42 saves and Detroit defeated Toronto.

Olli Maatta had a goal and an assist, and Jonatan Berggren also scored for Detroit. Moritz Seider added two assists.

Calle Jarnkrok and John Tavares scored for Toronto, which lost goalie Matt Murray to an injury late in the first period. He allowed two goals on seven shots before being replaced by Ilya Samsonov, who made 13 saves in relief after stopping 31 shots in a 3-0 win over Ottawa on Saturday.

FLAMES 5, DUCKS 4

CALGARY, Alberta — Milan Lucic and Michael Stone scored in the third period and the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Anaheim Ducks.

Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist, and Andrew Mangiapane and Nikita Zadorov also to help Calgary win a season-high fourth straight game. Tyler Toffoli had two assists.

Jacob Markstrom gave up two goals on nine shots in the first period and was replaed by Dan Vladar, who stopped 11 shots over the final two periods to pick up the win.

Calgary remained two points behind Winnipeg for the second wild card in the Western Conference. The Jets beat New Jersey 6-1 earlier Sunday.

KINGS 4, CANUCKS 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Alex Iafallo scored twice, Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves and Los Angeles wrapped up a playoff spot with a victory over Vancouver.

Arthur Kaliyev and Blake Lizzote — into an empty net — each had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Anze Kopitar added a pair of assists. Los Angeles improved to 45-22-10, winning for the second straight night after topping Seattle on Saturday.

Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks and Thatcher Demko stopped 21 shots. The Canucks were eliminated from postseason contention earlier in the night when Winnipeg beat New Jersey. Vancouver has missed the playoffs three straight years and seven of eight.