NHL: Pittsburgh 7, Philadelphia 1

PITTSBURGH, March 16 (UPI) -- Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora both had two goals and two assists Sunday in Pittsburgh's 7-1 rout of the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Penguins led 2-0 after the first period and made the contest a laugher by increasing their lead to 5-1 heading into the third.

Malkin's goals in the first and second periods gave him 40 this season and Sykora's total rose to 24.

Marion Hossa (27th), Tyler Kennedy (10th) and Hal Gill (3rd) also scored for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury turned back 24 of 25 shots for the Penguins, who have won three in a row.

They played their seventh straight game without high-scoring center Sydney Crosby (high ankle sprain).

Philadelphia's lone goal was the Mike Knuble's 27th at 12:43 of the second.

Philadelphia netminder Martin Biron was blitzed for five goals after only eight shots before he was replaced by Antero Niittymaki, who was beaten four times on 28 shots.

The Flyers have lost their last four games.