PITTSBURGH — Their MVP candidate center, the one that’s not Sidney Crosby, is hurting. Four of their top seven defensemen are in street clothes dealing with a variety of injuries.
And yet the Penguins keep rolling anyway, and it helped that they were playing the Devils.
Their 6-4 victory over the Devils on Friday night included the usual dash of brilliance from Crosby but also plenty of help from those who normally find themselves watching Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — out with an upper body injury — do their thing.
All four lines contributed at least one goal as the Penguins moved within a point of first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division. Crosby picked up two to move into a tie with Brad Marchand for the NHL lead with 37. Phil Kessel picked up his first in a month, Nick Bonino collected his fifth in his last six games and 27-year-old rookie Carter Rowney added the first of his career.
“There’s a time for all four lines to start scoring, it’s March and April and then into the playoffs,” Bonino said. “Obviously we’re happy with that.”
Crosby added an assist to give him 640 in his career and move him into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the second-most in franchise history. Matt Murray stopped 32 shots for Pittsburgh as the Penguins improved to 4-0 this season against the Devils, outscoring New Jersey 19-10 in the process, though this one was a little more wide-open than most.
Kyle Palmieri matched Crosby with two goals for New Jersey. Stefan Noesen and Beau Bennett also scored for the Devils. Keith Kinkaid finished with 37 saves, but New Jersey couldn’t keep up with the defending Stanley Cup champions.
“They’re play makers over there,” Kinkaid said. “A few of the goals just ended up in the open nets. I felt great out there. I thought the guys battled all the way until the end. It’s good to score goals, but maybe stay out of the box a little bit too and minimize their chances.”
The Penguins have hung around in the heated race for the top spot in the NHL’s toughest division despite a series of injuries that only seems to be picking up speed as the end of the regular season draws near.
Of course, having Crosby helps.
The captain always tends to raise his level of play when Malkin is sidelined and when Crosby slammed home a one-timer off a pretty pass from Mark Streit that gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead late in the first period, it gave him 43 goals in 101 career games with Malkin’s familiar No. 71 out of the lineup.
Bonino pushed Pittsburgh’s advantage to 4-2 late in the second period before Bennett, a longtime Penguin who joined New Jersey after a handful of star-crossed years in Pittsburgh, put home a rebound with 51 seconds left in the second and the Devils were again within one.
Palmieri’s 10th goal in his last 12 games trimmed the deficit to 5-4 with less than 4 minutes left but Crosby’s empty netter sealed it.