PITTSBURGH — It was a rough night for MacKenzie Blackwood and the New Jersey Devils.
Jared McCann and John Marino scored 25 seconds apart in the third period to boost the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Devils 4-1 on Friday night.
Jake Guentzel picked up his team-leading 11th goal for Pittsburgh and Dominik Kahun added his sixth of the season as the Penguins snapped a four-game winless streak at home against New Jersey.
We’re playing well,” Guentzel said. “I think our record might not show some games that we’ve played well in but I think our top to bottom lineup, we’re just playing well and we’re filling spots and guys are stepping up big, so I think it’s been good.”
Taylor Hall scored his third of the season for the Devils. Blackwood made 30 saves before being pulled in favor of Louis Domingue early in the third period after giving up goals on back to back shots by McCann and Marino.
“That one is not on Mackenzie,” New Jersey coach John Hynes said. “I mean, he kept us in the game in the first period. The pull was not regarding Mackenzie or the disappointment in him by any means.”
Tristan Jarry trimmed his goals-against average to 1.81 by stopping 36 shots, weathering an early second-period surge from the Devils then coasting after Guentzel’s pretty backhand goal just past the midway point gave the Penguins the momentum they would need.
Jack Hughes is stopped by goalie Tristan Jarry during the Devils’ loss.AP“We have some surges, but there’s still some inconsistencies to our game,” Devils center Travis Zajac said. “Just need more out of guys like me, out of other guys, if we want to turn this thing around.”
If the Penguins were drained following consecutive overtime losses to the streaking New York Islanders, it didn’t show. Pittsburgh carried play early and Kahun gave the Penguins the lead 7:51 into the first when linemate Dominik Simon created a turnover along the boards in the New Jersey zone and slipped the puck to Kahun. Kahun worked his way past Devils defenseman Mirco Mueller and flipped the puck past Blackwood’s stick to put Pittsburgh in front.
Hall evened it 31 seconds into the second with a power-play goal, the third Pittsburgh surrendered in two games following a franchise record-tying stretch in which the Penguins went 10 games without giving up a goal while a man down. New Jersey kept pressing, ripping off 12 shots at Jarry in the opening eight minutes of the second. Jarry, however, stood his ground and the offense responded behind a top line that has kept right on humming even with captain Sidney Crosby out following surgery to repair a sports hernia.
Guentzel took a lead pass from Evgeni Malkin — centering the top line in Crosby’s absence — and broke in alone on Blackwood. He dumped the puck into the open net following a nifty deke from his forehand to his backhand to put Pittsburgh back in front.
“It’s just kind of a cluster there when you lose a puck like that and you’re on a breakaway,” Guentzel said. “Just tried to get him to cheat over and it worked.”
The Penguins have been only so-so finishing off opponents this season, coming in 6-2-1 when leading after two periods, including a late collapse against the Islanders on Tuesday that ended with New York extending its point streak to 15 games. There would be no letdown this time against a New Jersey attack that’s struggling to score goals.
Pittsburgh’s Alex Galchenyuk forced a turnover on the forecheck early in the third and the puck came to McCann in the slot. McCann beat Blackwood high to make it 3-1. The buzz in the arena hadn’t died down when Marino pushed the lead to three goals on a slapshot from above the right circle that made its way through a sea of bodies and into the net to chase Blackwood.
