Rate it!

0 votes

The Pittsburgh Penguins enjoyed a high-scoring night and moved into a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a 6-1 home win over the New Jersey Devils.

Top scorers Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby scored power play goals to help the Penguins (42-27-8) catch the Philadelphia Flyers in the standings with five games remaining.

The top four teams in each conference receive home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The slumping Devils (47-26-4) have lost six straight and are holding on to third in the East having already secured their playoff berth.

Pittsburgh put New Jersey behind early with first-period scores by Matt Cooke and Bill Guerin. NHL points leader Malkin made it 3-1 with his team-leading 34th goal at 17:11 in the first.

Crosby notched up his 30th goal of the year at 9:35 in the second, while Jordan Staal and Chris Kunitz added the team's final two scores.

Martin Brodeur, who beacme the NHL's all-time top game winner last month, failed to win for the sixth consecutive start.

Full NHL results (home team in CAPS: WASHINGTON 5-3 NY Islanders; ATLANTA 3-2 Buffalo (OT); TORONTO 3-2 Philadelphia; PITTSBURGH 6-1 New Jersey; CHICAGO 3-1 St. Louis; Phoenix 3-0 COLORADO.

Reuters