Sidney Crosby extends goal streak in Penguins win

NEWARK, N.J.-- Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday.
Evgeni Malkin, Carl Hagelin, Bryan Rust and Justin Schultz scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Pittsburgh in his second straight win against New Jersey in five days. Fleury made 23 saves in a 4-1 win at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
The goal was Malkin's 800th NHL point. Crosby has scored in four straight games and extended his point streak to five.

WATCH: All Penguins vs. Devils highlights
The Penguins (23-8-5) are 10-1-2 in December and have outscored opponents 57-32 in that span.
"I think all of our top guys have had real consistent play night in and night out for 30-plus games and that's what's helping us gain the success," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
PA Parenteau and Adam Henrique scored, and Cory Schneider made 24 saves for the Devils (13-15-7), who are 1-8-1 in their past 10 games.
Schultz scored with 5.4 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Penguins their first lead of the game, 3-2. Crosby tied the game 2-2 when he converted a pass from Conor Sheary 10:56 into the second.

Hagelin took a lead pass at center ice from Chad Ruhwedel and broke in against Schneider before taking a slap shot to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead 3:13 into the third.
Rust scored into an empty net with 1:18 remaining in the third after the Penguins killed a double minor for high-sticking to defenseman Ian Cole with 5:58 left.
"If you're not going to score on the power play, it's got to give you momentum and I thought for a lot of the night it didn't do that," Devils left wing Taylor Hall said. "The power play has to be fun, it's got to be exciting."
Parenteau and Henrique scored in the first period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
Parenteau tipped in a pass from Taylor Hall off a 2-on-1 at 1:18 for a 1-0 lead.
Malkin scored a power-play goal at 6:43 to tie the game 1-1. Henrique gave the Devils a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal from the right circle at 8:23.

Goal of the game

Malkin scored his 15th of the season on the power play when he took a pass from Crosby in the right circle 6:43 into the first period.
"[Crosby] gives me lots of assists," Malkin said. "He gives me good passes and I knew on that power play he'd spot me open. I knew he would get it back to me."

Save of the game

Fleury made a stick save while spinning in his crease with the Penguins holding a 4-2 lead 4:10 into the third. Henrique took the initial shot that deflected off defenseman Ian Cole and into the air.

Highlight of the game

Kyle Palmieri broke his stick on an attempted shot from the left circle, but the puck slid right into the right circle to Henrique, who scored his ninth goal 8:23 into the first for a 2-1 lead.

Unsung performance of the game

Without defensemen Kris Letang (lower body), Trevor Daley (upper body) and Olli Maatta (illness), the Penguins defense limited the Devils to 23 shots, including 15 over the final two periods. New Jersey finished 1-for-7 on the power play.

They said it

"[Malkin] is a great player and 800 points is a lot of points in this League. He has the ability to take a game over and that's what he does for us at times. I think his play this whole season has been very consistent on the power play and 5-on-5, and regardless who we put him. He finds ways to generate offense." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"We need to improve our overall game, need to keep getting better. When teams get a lead we can't sit back and hope we're going to score in the last minute. It just doesn't work like that. It's on everyone to be better. We get a one goal lead, but we need to make it two, three. It seems like we're in close games all the time and we have to find a way to be on the right side of those." -- Devils left wing Taylor Hall

Need to know

Maatta missed his first game of the season. ... Sullivan had no update after the game on defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who left after getting hit in the side of the face with the puck with 5:58 left in the third. ... Schneider has allowed four or more goals in eight of his past 13 games (3-7-3). ... Schultz has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his past 14 games. ... Crosby has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak and 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games.

What's next

Penguins: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; ROOT, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Devils: At the Washington Capitals on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)