Sidney Crosby gets winner as Penguins rally from 2 goals down to beat Devils

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

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After an awful start at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Friday, the Penguins stabilized then rallied to earn a 4-2 win over the playoff-bound New Jersey Devils.

Sidney Crosby scored the winner after the Penguins erased a multi-goal deficit.

From one knee, the captain steered a slap pass from Bryan Rust into an open cage with 6:39 left in the game. It was Pittsburgh’s second power-play goal of the game.

The Penguins buried themselves in a 2-0 hole before they could even muster their first shot on Devils starting goalie Jake Allen. New Jersey fired the first seven shots.

Pittsburgh gave up a breakaway goal to Erik Haula just 15 seconds into the game.

That was the 15th time the Penguins let in the game’s first shot. That’s the most in one season since the Colorado Avalanche allowed 16 first-shot goals in 2000-01.

The Devils made it 2-0 a moment after a dangerous power play for them expired. Cody Glass, whom the Penguins dealt to the Devils at the NHL trade deadline, shot the puck wide of the net but it hit Ondrej Palat and banked in behind Tristan Jarry.

The early deficit was hardly on Jarry. And he actually did well to keep the Penguins in the game. His point-blank pad save on Dawson Mercer was most important.

The Penguins pulled back within one later in the first on a goal from Evgeni Malkin.

They tied it up on a power-play goal early in the second period. Malkin’s one-timer hit Allen’s blocker then pinballed off of Valtteri Puustinen’s skate and over the line.

After Crosby put them in front, Rust hit an empty net for his career-high 29th goal.

Around the boards

— The Devils honored the late Ray Shero, the former general manager for both the Penguins and Devils, with a message on their scoreboard and a moment of silence before the game. Both teams also wore Shero stickers on their helmets on Friday.

— With a pair of points, Malkin hit the 50-point mark for the 15th time in his career.

— Friday was Rickard Rakell’s 800th NHL game. It was his 250th with the Penguins.

— With Rutger McGroarty and five other forwards out for the rest of Pittsburgh’s season, the lineup had a much different look in New Jersey. Ville Koivunen skated on the first line. Danton Heinen took McGroarty’s spot next to Malkin. And Vasily Ponomarev was in between Joona Koppanen and Emil Bemstrom on another line.

— Vladislav Kolyachonok was a healthy scratch for the sixth consecutive game.

Coming up next

The Penguins will practice Saturday. Sunday is the penultimate game of their season. They will host the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena at 3:30 p.m.