Brian Boyle scored the game-winning goal against one of his former teams early in the third period Sunday afternoon as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins moved into first place in the Metropolitan Division by beating the New Jersey Devils, 4-2, in Newark, N.J.
Boyle, who played 116 games for the Devils from 2017-2019, put back the rebound of a shot by Mike Matheson to snap a tie 6:58 into the third.
Matheson scored in the second, Bryan Rust scored earlier in the third and Jake Guentzel collected an empty-netter with 1:07 left as the Penguins moved one point ahead of the idle Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan.
Sidney Crosby had two assists and remained one goal shy of 500 goals for his career.
Goalie Tristan Jarry made 28 saves as the Penguins won their third straight following a four-game losing streak.
Jack Hughes, who missed the previous three games while in COVID-19 protocol, scored in the second and Nico Hischier tied the game in the third for the Devils, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Jon Gillies recorded 31 saves.
After a scoreless first, the Devils took the lead after winning a faceoff in the neutral zone. Pavel Zacha, skating along the boards, sent a drop pass to Yegor Sharangovich, who passed to an open Hughes racing down the left side. The center then fired a shot under Jarry’s stick arm at the 7:02 mark.
The Penguins tied the score a little more than six minutes later when Matheson’s shot from just in front of the blue line sailed over the glove of Gillies, who was screened by teammates Hischier and Damon Severson as well as Zach Aston-Reese, with 6:44 left.
Rust gave the Penguins a brief lead when he redirected a slap shot from the blue line by Kris Letang 36 seconds into the third and just six seconds after a power play expired. Hischier tied the game 2:15 later when his shot bounced off Letang’s leg and caromed in off the far post.
The Devils pulled Gillies with 2:13 left but didn’t generate a shot before Guentzel’s insurance goal.
–Field Level Media
