Sidney Crosby collected his NHL-leading 28th goal of the season to extend his points streak to a career-best 22 games as the Pittsburgh Penguins skated to a 5-2 triumph over the visiting Florida Panthers on Wednesday.

Rookie Mark Letestu, Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis also tallied and defenseman Ben Lovejoy netted his first NHL career goal as Pittsburgh (23-10-2) moved to within one point of the first-place Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division.

Brent Johnson turned aside 20 of 21 shots before being relieved by Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 15 saves for the Penguins.

Letestu opened the scoring 90 seconds into the contest with his seventh goal of the season.

After Stephen Weiss leveled the contest by extending his point-streak to four games just 73 seconds later, Crosby and Cooke tallied just over three minutes apart to give Pittsburgh a 3-1 advantage midway through the first period.

Lovejoy netted an unassisted tally in the second period to give the Penguins a three-goal cushion, while veteran defenseman Bryan McCabe tallied with 3:36 remaining for Florida (15-17-0).

Tomas Vokoun permitted three goals on 14 shots before being relieved by Scott Clemmensen, who finished with 18 saves.