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Penguins beat Devils in final road game of season | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

Penguins beat Devils in final road game of season

Seth Rorabaugh
Seth Rorabaugh
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Penguins center Evgeni Malkin controls the puck past Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon behind Devils goaltender Jake Allen in the first period Friday.
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Penguins center Evgeni Malkin reacts after scoring a goal in the first period against the Devils on Friday.
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Devils left wing Erik Haula (right) celebrates toward teammates after scoring against the Penguins in the first period Friday.
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A moment of silence is held for Ray Shero, former general manager for both the Penguins and Devils, before a game Friday.
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Penguins center Sidney Crosby shoots wide of Devils goaltender Jake Allen in the third period Friday.
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Penguins center Sidney Crosby scores past Devils goaltender Jake Allen in the third period Friday.

Erik Karlsson has been on some bad teams before.

And he has a pretty good idea of what it looks like when a squalid squad ceases to compete.

He has seen no such evidence of that with his current employer, the Pittsburgh Penguins, as they play their final games of the regular season having been formally eliminated from postseason contention.

“It hasn’t gone our way for the better part of it, (and) I think down the stretch here now it feels like it’s easy to mail it in,” the defenseman said Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. “But it’s something that we haven’t done.”

That trend continued Friday in the Penguins’ final road contest of the campaign, a 4-2 comeback victory against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The result boosted their record to 9-4-2 since March 9 and illustrated that the Penguins — players and coaches, at least — have no such interest in widely circulated suggestions they should “tank” to secure better selections in this summer’s NHL Draft.

“We’re not in the playoffs, but we have a lot of pride on the line,” defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said to reporters in Newark via audio provided by the team’s media relations staff. “We want to build something.”

One habit that remains consistent in dragging down the Penguins’ fortunes was that for the 15th time this season, they allowed a goal on their opponent’s first shot of the contest. Forward Erik Haula’s 10th goal of 2024-25 came only 15 seconds into regulation.

After Haula initiated a breakout from his own zone, linemate Dawson Mercer offloaded the puck from the neutral zone to Haula, allowing him to gain the offensive zone with all the momentum of a comet. Racing past Penguins forward Bryan Rust and Karlsson, Haula attacked the cage and lifted a wrister by goaltender Tristan Jarry’s blocker. Mercer and defenseman Brett Pesce had assists. It was the eighth time Jarry has allowed a goal on the first shot he’s faced in a game.

The Devils scored again at 6:17 of the first period via forward Ondrej Palat’s 15th goal.

Off some strong puck movement around the perimeter of the offensive zone, ex-Penguins forward Cody Glass leaned down and swatted a one-timer from the high slot. Making something of a drive-by from the left circle, Palat allowed the puck to deflect off his left shin and past Jarry’s blocker on the near side. Glass and rookie defenseman Seamus Casey collected assists.

The Penguins managed to get on the scoreboard before the first frame closed out at the 16:10 mark when forward Evgeni Malkin was credited with his 16th goal.

As a power-play opportunity expired for the visitors, Penguins forward Kevin Hayes accepted the puck in New Jersey’s right circle and then forced a pass attempt to the front of the crease that was blocked by ex-Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Before Dumoulin could clear it out of danger, Malkin picked his pocket and jammed a handful of backhand and forehand shots from the right of the blue paint that were rejected by goaltender Jake Allen’s left skate at first. The puck eventually rolled on top of Allen’s ankle then was directed into the cage inadvertently by Devils defenseman Luke Hughes. Officials deemed it an own goal and there were no assists.

Penguins forward Valtteri Puustinen — largely banished to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League for the bulk of this season until injuries to incumbents on the NHL roster necessitated a recall Thursday — tied the game with his second goal during a power-play sequence 65 seconds into the second period.

After Hayes won a faceoff in New Jersey’s left circle, Grzelcyk settled the puck at the near point then slid it to Malkin above the right circle. Malkin thunder-clapped a one-timer that glanced off the stick of Devils forward Jesper Bratt and then deflected on net. Allen made a save but allowed a rebound. Puustinen, battling Devils defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic above the crease, had the puck bounce off his left skate and carom into the cage. Malkin and Grzelcyk generated assists.

The Penguins took their first lead of the contest at 13:21 of the third period when forward Sidney Crosby scored his 32nd goal while on a power-play opportunity.

Chasing down a loose puck on the right half-wall of New Jersey’s zone, Penguins rookie forward Ville Koivunen fed a pass to the near point for Grzelcyk. Settling things for a moment, Grzelcyk slid the puck to the left circle where Rust faked a one-timer and then one-touched a pass to the far side of the crease for Crosby, who leaned on his left knee and deflected the puck by Allen’s left leg. Rust and Grzelcyk had assists.

The scoring was capped at 18:24 of the final frame when Rust set a new career high with his 29th goal on an empty net off assists from Crosby and Koivunen.

Jarry’s record was bumped up to 16-11-6 after he stopped 26 of 28 shots.

“What I loved about tonight was just the resilience or the certain resolve where we didn’t let it snowball,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to reporters in Newark. “And it could have.”

Notes:

• Players on each team wore decals on their helmets in recognition of Ray Shero, a former general manager of both franchises. Shero died on Tuesday at the age of 62.

• Rust’s previous career high of 28 goals was established last season.

• Rakell appeared in his 800th career game.

• In 89 career games against the Devils, Crosby has 96 points (42 goals, 54 assists).

• With forward Noel Acciari scratched due to an undisclosed injury, Grzlecyk and Karlsson are the only members of the Penguins who have yet to miss a game this season.

• In addition to Acciari, Penguins forwards Boko Imama (right bicep), Blake Lizotte (undisclosed injury), Rutger McGroarty (suspected left foot), Matt Nieto (undisclosed injury), Thomas Novak (undisclosed injury) and Philip Tomasino (concussion) as well as defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok (healthy) were scratched.

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

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