Penguins, Jarry Stick a (Pitch)Fork in Devils

It seems obvious that Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan gave goalie Tristan Jarry his fourth consecutive start Saturday to see if Jarry could continue to build on his strong play during the previous three games.

That looked to be a pretty good idea before the game and an even better one after it, as Jarry turned aside 25 of 28 shots and allowed just one 5-on-5 goal in the Penguins’ 7-3 win over New Jersey at PPG Paints Arena.

“I thought he was outstanding,” Sullivan said. “He made some outstanding saves for us.”

It was the Penguins’ fourth consecutive victory, matching their longest winning streak of the season, and raised their record to 28-31-10.

The Penguins, who had lost their previous six home games against the Devils, are just 2-7-2 in their past 11 overall against New Jersey.

New Jersey, which had won its previous three games, has not won four in a row since the 2022-23 season.

The Devils played without their best forward, center Jack Hughes, and top defenseman, Dougie Hamilton, both of whom are injured. The Penguins again were missing defensemen Ryan Shea and P.O Joseph and forward Tommy Novak.

The Penguins entered the third period with a 3-1 lead, and Philip Tomasino gave them a little more breathing room with a nice individual effort at 2:22, as he pounced on a loose puck after Devils defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic lost control of it, then whipped a shot past Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom from the inner edge of the left circle for his 10th of the season.

The Penguins promptly shifted into self-destruct mode.

Penguins forward Noel Acciari was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking New Jersey defenseman Brian Dumoulin at 3:21 and, while the Penguins were able to get through the first two-plus minutes unscathed, Timo Meier beat Jarry from inside the right circle at 5:40 to get the Devils within two.

Just six seconds — yes, six seconds — after Meier scored, Evgeni Malkin went off for four minutes after high-sticking Devils defenseman Brett Pesce.

New Jersey needed only the first 54 seconds of that power play to make it 4-3, as Nico Hischier deflected in a Luke Hughes shot from the high slot.

The Penguins got a chance to counter when Pesce was penalized for cross-checking Kevin Hayes at 12:25, and Erik Karlsson took full advantage by scoring on a wrist shot from the high slot at 14:17, eight seconds before the Devils would have returned to full strength. Malkin and Kris Letang got the assists.

Connor Dewar put the game out of reach by hitting an empty net with 53.6 seconds to go in regulation and, after Markstrom returned to his crease, Kevin Hayes closed out the scoring with 21.1 seconds to go.

The Penguins started well enough, but Devils winger Cody Glass — who the Penguins sent to New Jersey at the trade deadline eight days ago — opened the scoring at 10:08 of the first period, as he beat Jarry through traffic from inside the right dot.

The Penguins didn’t let up, however, and grabbed a 2-1 lead on goals by bottom-six forwards during a 25-second span late in the period.

Dewar tied the game, 1-1, at 17:11, swiping a shot past Markstrom from the front edge of the crease. The goal, Dewar’s second of the season and second in the past two games, netted assists for Acciari and Conor Timmins.

The Penguins were in front on the next shift, as Danton Heinen capped a 2-on-1 break with Philip Tomasino by sliding a backhander behind Markstrom. Vladislav Kolyachonok picked up the second assist on the goal, Heinen’s eighth.

New Jersey got its second power play of the game at 1:37 of the second, when Kolyachonok was called for tripping. The Penguins survived that man-advantage, too, in large part because of a pair of exceptional stops by Jarry on Ondrej Palat from close range.

The Penguins didn’t wait long to reward Jarry for his splendid saves, as Rickard Rakell threw a shot past Markstrom from between the hash marks at 4:24. Sidney Crosby and Timmins got assists on the goal, Rakell’s 31st.

A double-minor on Pesce for high-sticking Rakell at 11:44 gave the Penguins a stellar opportunity to add to their lead, but they were lucky to get out of that man-advantage without the score changing.

Not only was their work with the extra man toothless, but Malkin was guilty of a ghastly giveaway in the neutral zone that led to a 2-on-0 break for the Devils, culminating in a shorthanded goal by Nathan Bastian after he took a feed from Curtis Lazar.

The Penguins challenged that Bastian had crossed the blue line before the puck and a video review confirmed it, so the goal was waved off.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have a scheduled day off Sunday. They will return to practice Monday at 11 a.m. at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.