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Zajac has 45 points in 63 career games against
the Penguins.
Damon Severson, Brian Boyle, Blake Coleman, Kyle Palmieri and
Pavel Zacha also scored for the Devils, who are 3-0-0 against
Pittsburgh this season.
The win gave the Devils a 6-17-3 road record, the fewest road
victories in the NHL. Two of the six have come against the
Penguins.
New Jersey goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves to end a skid
of losses in his previous four starts.
Derick Brassard, Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust scored for the
Penguins, who have lost four of five following a 10-1-0 stretch.
Pittsburgh was 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed a
short-handed goal.
Matt Murray, who was 10-1-0 in his last 11 starts preceding the
All-Star break, stopped 26 of 32 New Jersey shots.
It was the teams' first game since Jan. 19 after the break.
New Jersey took a 1-0 lead at 13:08 of the first period as Zajac
picked up his just his third goal in the past 22 games. Murray
was screened by teammate Cullen as Zajac wristed a shot past the
goaltender.
Severson made it 2-0 at 14:53 of the first. Off the rush, he
sailed a shot past Murray's glove.
At 3:30 of the second, Boyle's short-handed goal upped the
Devils' lead to 3-0. Boyle converted a centering pass from Zacha.
It was the 11th short-handed goal given up by Pittsburgh, most
in the NHL.
Two seconds after that Penguins power play expired, at 4:28,
Brassard scored from the right circle to close the deficit to
3-1.
At 12:57 of the second, Coleman restored New Jersey's three-goal
lead, making it 4-1 off a three-on-two.
Palmieri's knuckler on a power play at 11:42 of the third made
it 5-1. Cullen's short-handed goal 48 seconds later made it 5-2,
and Zacha's power-play one-timer at 13:38 increased the margin
to 6-2.
Rust's goal with 1:57 left closed it out.
--Field Level Media
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