NEW YORK —
Travis Zajac had a goal and three assists Monday to help the New Jersey Devils break a three-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins.
Zajac has 45 points in 63 career games against the Penguins. Damon Severson, Brian Boyle, Blake Coleman, Kyle Palmieri and Pavel Zacha also scored for the Devils, who are 3-0-0 against Pittsburgh this season.
The win gave the Devils a 6-17-3 road record, the fewest road victories in the NHL. Two of the six have come against the Penguins.
New Jersey goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves to end a skid of losses in his previous four starts. Derick Brassard, Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins, who have lost four of five following a 10-1-0 stretch. Pittsburgh was 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed a short-handed goal.
Matt Murray, who was 10-1-0 in his last 11 starts preceding the All-Star break, stopped 26 of 32 New Jersey shots. It was the teams' first game since Jan. 19 after the break.
New Jersey took a 1-0 lead at 13:08 of the first period as Zajac picked up his just his third goal in the past 22 games. Murray was screened by teammate Cullen as Zajac wristed a shot past the goaltender.
Severson made it 2-0 at 14:53 of the first. Off the rush, he sailed a shot past Murray's glove. At 3:30 of the second, Boyle's short-handed goal upped the Devils' lead to 3-0. Boyle converted a centering pass from Zacha. It was the 11th short-handed goal given up by Pittsburgh, most in the NHL.
Two seconds after that Penguins power play expired, at 4:28, Brassard scored from the right circle to close the deficit to 3-1. At 12:57 of the second, Coleman restored New Jersey's three-goal lead, making it 4-1 off a three-on-two.
Palmieri's knuckler on a power play at 11:42 of the third made it 5-1. Cullen's short-handed goal 48 seconds later made it 5-2, and Zacha's power-play one-timer at 13:38 increased the margin to 6-2.
Rust's goal with 1:57 left closed it out.
Konecny leads Flyers
to 3-1 win over Jets
Travis Konecny scored a goal and added an assist to lift the host Philadelphia Flyers past the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 on Monday. James van Riemsdyk and Phil Varone each contributed a goal for the Flyers, who won their fourth game in a row. They had secured victories in three straight before the All-Star break.
Flyers rookie goaltender Carter Hart was sharp throughout the game and finished with 31 saves. Jack Roslovic scored the lone goal for the Jets, who have dropped two in a row after winning six of seven. Winnipeg goaltender Laurent Brossoit stopped 28 shots.
Hart was stellar in the first period, and he made a couple of spectacular saves against Winnipeg's Patrik Laine in the final couple of minutes. The game was scoreless at the end of the period, with the Jets holding an 11-8 edge in shots.
Sean Couturier skated in and ripped a wrist shot on goal with 11:25 left in the second, but Brossoit made the stick save.
The Flyers stayed aggressive and struck for the initial goal soon after. Varone gathered a bouncing puck in front and sent it past Brossoit for a 1-0 advantage at 9:47. The Jets tied the game at 1 with a power-play goal by Roslovic at 12:59, his second tally of the season. Roslovic snapped a 22-game skid without finding the net.
Konecny, who played in his 200th career NHL game, gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 18:46 of the second. He redirected a shot by Andrew MacDonald into the net. Winnipeg's Tyler Myers wound up and fired a slap shot with about 11:30 remaining in the third. MacDonald went sprawling to the ice and made a terrific block to maintain a one-goal advantage.
Following a Winnipeg turnover late in the third period, van Riemsdyk received a pass from Konecny and tapped it home for a 3-1 lead at 16:25. The Jets pulled Brossoit for the final two-plus minutes but weren't able to capitalize with the extra skater. — Reuters
