Penguins score 4 unanswered, rally past Devils 

NEWARK, N.J. -- Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had a goal and an assist for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who scored four unanswered goals in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Friday.

Crosby scored a power-play goal on a tip-in from the slot at 13:21 of the third period to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead.

"It's just accountability to one another," Crosby said. "It's not an easy situation. Some days it's not as fun when you're dropping games and you're not going to make the [Stanley Cup Playoffs]. I think it's just up to us to help one another handle that. I thought we've done as good a job as we possibly could, given the situation."

Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist, Matt Grzelcyk had two assists and Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in his third straight win for the Penguins (33-35-12), who are 9-4-2 in their past 15 games.

"We're not in playoffs but we have a lot of pride on the line and we want to build something," Grzelcyk said. "There's so many good players who have played for a long time and we owe it to them to keep battling and not to give up on the season."

Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Devils (41-31-7), who lost their second straight and are 4-3-0 in their past seven games.

The Devils went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Penguins were 2-for-4.

"Penalties gave them goals," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We didn't get the job done on the kill and we just didn't score enough but I didn't mind our game at all ... 5-on-5 we gave up next to nothing. We had some chances to build our lead in the first period and didn't bury it. Aside from the special teams, I had no issue with our game."

New Jersey is third in the Metropolitan Division and will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round.

Erik Haula gave the Devils a 1-0 lead just 15 seconds into the first period when he took a pass from Dawson Mercer at the Penguins blue line and skated down the slot before scoring on a snap shot inside the left post.

Ondrej Palat pushed it to 2-0 on a deflection past Jarry after a shot from the high slot by Cody Glass at 6:17 of the first.

Malkin scored for the Penguins to make it 2-1 at 16:10 of the first after poking a puck at the right post that slid onto the outstretched left skate of Allen. Devils defenseman Luke Hughes attempted to clear the puck and inadvertently backhanded it over the goal line.

Valtteri Puustinen made it 2-2 with a power-play goal off a rebound at 1:05 of the second period. Malkin took a shot from the top of right face-off circle that was stopped before it bounced into the net off Puustinen's left skate.

"We've got to find a way to create more offense," Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "They did a good job of taking away the home run, back-door tap-in play, so when that happens you got to create a little bit of chaos, use our big bodies and hopefully create something.

"We can't allow two power-play goals and when we're up two, we got to find a way to lock it down."

Rust scored an empty-net goal at 18:24 of the third for the 4-2 final, giving him a career-high 29 goals this season.

"I think he's grown every year as a player and as a person and I think it starts in practice," Jarry said of Rust. "He's the first one on the ice. He's the one practicing his craft and I think that it's no surprise he's still doing that at this age (32). It's fun to see and fun to stand back there and watch."

NOTES: Crosby and Malkin each scored in a game for the 128th time; the Penguins are 112-10-6 when both players score in the same match. ... Crosby scored his 99th career game-winning goal and moved past Bobby Hull and Guy Lafleur (each with 98) for 10th-most in NHL history. ... Rust extended his point streak to five games (eight points; three goals, five assists). ... Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who has missed the past 16 games with a lower-body injury but has been skating on his own the past two weeks, remains on schedule to possibly rejoin the team for the start of the playoffs, as Keefe said earlier this week. "We're hopeful that Dougie is going to be good to go; it looks like he is," Keefe said. "But we got to ramp him up."