PITTSBURGH — Evgeni Malkin scored his 500th career goal Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena as the Penguins defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 6-5, in a wild game in Pittsburgh.

Malkin got his milestone goal with 16:34 remaining in regulation. He fell to the ice and from his stomach he swatted a shot behind goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Penguins players emptied their bench and mobbed Malkin behind the Buffalo net as the crowd at PPG Paints Arena gave Malkin a long and loud standing ovation.

He became the 48th player all time and fourth active player to reach 500 goals.

Malkin is the fourth active NHL player to reach that milestone. The others are Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos and longtime Penguins teammate Sidney Crosby.

But after the celebration died down, the Sabres stunned the Penguins with two goals 40 seconds apart. J.J. Peterka got the first one, beating Joel Blomqvist on a partial breakaway. Then, after Blomqvist had made a bunch of saves during another Sabres push, he allowed Ryan McLeod to snipe him from long range.

The Penguins pulled their goalie in the final moments. And with mayhem around the Sabres crease, Rickard Rakell banged home a rebound with 46 seconds left.

Then, Crosby capped another comeback with a power-play goal in overtime.

The game turned after Tristan Jarry was pulled in favor of Blomqvist. The rookie stopped 26 of 28 shots in relief, giving Pittsburgh a chance to get back in the game.

He stuffed Peterka and Zach Benson on breakaways early in the second period. Then, after Drew O’Connor got the Penguins back within one, Blomqvist slid over to kick out a shot from Alex Tuch on another odd-man rush for the visitors.

O’Connor scored short-handed on Luukkonen to make it 3-2 midway through the second. Noel Acciari won a battle on the wall to create a 2-on-1. O’Connor took care of that by himself, wiring one in from the right dot.

A few minutes later, Jesse Puljujarvi kept his remarkable comeback story going by whipping a backhand by Luukkonen. Lars Eller saucered the pass that sprung him, then Puljujarvi — who overcame double hip surgery — made a sweet move in tight.

After Malkin’s milestone, Rakell and Crosby scored to win Wednesday’s thriller.

Jarry gave up goals on the first two shots he faced to put Pittsburgh in a 2-0 hole.

The first one could be the ugliest goal you see all season. Jarry stepped behind his net to play the puck, hesitated and got his pocket picked. He scrambled back into his crease, only to let Tage Thompson beat him on a wraparound 43 seconds in.

Jordan Greenway made it 2-0 just over two minutes later. It was another bad goal. Erik Karlsson made a head-scratching play, misreading a bounce off the boards to allow Greenway to get behind him. Jarry was deep in his net and off of his angle, and Greenway snuck a shot under his glove.

When Jarry made a routine save on the third Sabres shot, frustrated Penguins fans sarcastically cheered the goalie.

Bryan Rust scored on the power play, his first goal of the season, to give Pittsburgh a little life. With an assist, Crosby tallied the 1,600th point of his career.

But Jarry allowed another just 32 seconds later and was pulled from the game.

That one was not on Jarry. The Sabres executed on a 2-on-1 rush and Peterka put a heck of a shot under the crossbar. But coach Mike Sullivan had seen enough.

The PPG Paints Arena crowd roared when Blomqvist came in 11:33 into the game.

Jarry made just two saves on five shots before getting the hook. And for the second time in his three starts this season, he put the Penguins in a multi-goal deficit.

He was OK in Monday’s start in Montreal, making a few difficult saves in the third period before the Penguins pulled away to win. But he still had a save percentage below .900. On the season, he has given up 12 goals on 72 total shots.

The Penguins — looking to avoid another poor start to the season — are in a tough spot with the two-time All-Star. Jarry is just about unplayable right now, and he is in just the second season of a five-year deal that pays him $5.4 million annually.

Meanwhile, Blomqvist has been excellent over his first three NHL appearances.

And Alex Nedeljkovic, who started the year on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, appears to be on the verge of returning. He has now strapped on the pads for a few full-team sessions, including Wednesday’s morning skate in Cranberry.

That situation is a worry for Thursday.

Ice chips

— Malkin is the 20th player in NHL history to score 500 goals with one team. The Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens are the only NHL teams with three 500-goal scorers in their history. Mario Lemieux, of course, was the first Penguin to do it.

— The Penguins assigned Rutger McGroarty to the American Hockey League before the game, a move that was neither a surprise nor a concern. He played three NHL games last week. The winger didn’t record a point and posted a minus-1 rating.

— It took Crosby 1,277 games to reach 1,600 points. Only four players needed fewer. They were Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux, Marcel Dionne and Jaromir Jagr.

— Puljujarvi stayed in the lineup, something that was connected to the McGroarty roster move. Valtteri Puustinen was a healthy scratch for the fifth straight game.

— Jack St. Ivany replaced Ryan Shea on the blue line. Shea made his season debut Monday in Montreal. St. Ivany got the nod over him in the three games before that.

— Sullivan said Blake Lizotte, who has been out with a concussion since Sept. 29, has started skating and on Wednesday ramped up the intensity of his workouts.

Stat n’at

2 — Russian-born players who scored 500 goals: Malkin and Ovechkin.

Coming up

Penguins players have a scheduled day off Thursday ahead of Friday’s home game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Their annual Western Canada trip is after that.

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