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Kris Letang had a goal and an assist, and Evan
Rodrigues and Justin Schultz also scored for Pittsburgh
(40-23-6, 86 points), which had lost eight of its previous 10
but hit 40 wins for the 13th consecutive 82-game season.
Penguins goaltender Matt Murray made 20 saves.
Miles Wood and Nikita Gusev scored for the Devils (28-29-12, 68
points), who had won two in a row and were 6-1-2 in their
previous nine.
Mackenzie Blackwood, 1-2-1 since winning six starts in a row,
stopped 28 shots.
Rodrigues, a trade-deadline acquisition, got his first goal as a
Penguin to open the scoring at 8:29 of the first period. From
high along the left-wing boards, he found the far top corner on
Pittsburgh's first shot.
On a power play at 12:46 of the first, Gusev tied it. Off the
rush, his shot from the right circle went in off Murray's glove.
Schultz gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead with the only goal of the
second period. He made a play in his own end to free the puck
and send it the other direction. He raced down, took a feed from
Malkin and lifted the puck under the crossbar from the right
circle at 4:15.
It was Schultz's first goal in 28 games.
The Devils had a five-on-three power play for 1:42 early in the
third period but could not take advantage of it.
Shortly afterward, Malkin gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead. He raced
into the Devils' end, cut to the right dot and whipped a shot
far side off Blackwood's blocker at 7:11.
Wood cut it to 3-2 at 10:24 when his shot from the left circle
went in off the post for his first goal in 15 games.
Malkin's second goal, his 25th of the season, pushed the margin
to 4-2. The tally came at 13:18 from the lower part of the right
circle after a Devils turnover.
Letang scored an empty-netter with 1:15 left.
--Field Level Media
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