Sidney Crosby rescues Penguins in win over Devils

Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal to snap a tie with 6:39 remaining in the third period, fueling the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday in Newark, N.J.

Stationed in the left circle, Bryan Rust wired a diagonal slap-pass that Crosby deflected home at the right post. The goal was the captain's 32nd of the season and 13th in his last 15 games.

Rust scored into an empty net over five minutes later to match Evgeni Malkin and Crosby with a goal and an assist apiece.

Valtteri Puustinen added a power-play tally and Tristan Jarry made 27 saves for the Penguins (33-35-12, 78 points), who overcame an early two-goal deficit to improve to 4-1-1 in their last six games.

New Jersey's Erik Haula scored 15 seconds into the contest and Ondrej Palat also tallied in the first period.

Jake Allen turned aside 17 shots for the Devils (41-31-7, 89 points), who have lost two in a row following a three-game winning streak.

New Jersey got off to a fast start as Dawson Mercer's feed found a streaking Haula, who snapped a shot inside the near post to open the scoring. Haula's game-opening goal was the fastest by a Devils skater since Blake Coleman scored 13 seconds into a contest on Feb. 6, 2020.

The Devils doubled the advantage at 6:17 of the first period after former Penguin Cody Glass' shot from the high slot deflected off the pads of Palat and into the net.

The Penguins halved the deficit with 3:50 remaining in the first period after Malkin's shot landed on the left skate of Allen. New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes attempted to sweep the puck out of harm's way, however he accidentally backhanded the puck into his own net.

Pittsburgh forged a 2-2 tie after Malkin wired a shot from above the right circle that saw the puck carom off both the right pad of Allen and the back of Puustinen before squirting into the net.

--Field Level Media