Bratt lifts Devils past Penguins in OT

PITTSBURGH -- Jesper Bratt scored at 2:50 of overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Bratt went behind the net and snuck a wraparound inside the right post, before defenseman Mike Matheson could poke it away, for his second goal of the season.
"Think we played much harder as a group," Bratt said. "We wanted to win. That was something that mirrored our game today. We wanted to compete, and we wanted to win this game really bad. That's how it should be. ... Overall, it was a great performance by all the four lines."
Mackenzie Blackwood made 35 saves in his return after missing two games with an upper-body injury, and Sami Vatanen scored for the Devils (11-14-4), who have won three of four games.
Tristan Jarry made 33 saves, and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins (19-11-2), who have lost three of four since a six-game winning streak.
"We're playing a lot of games here. We just went through a stretch where we played an awful lot of hockey (five games in seven days)," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "So that's one of the challenges in this particular circumstance in this year with the condensed schedule. So we've got to get contributions throughout our lineup if we're going to get consistent results.
"We're getting consistent offensive production, obviously, from Crosby's line. But it would help if we could get some more from the bottom nine. So that's one of our challenges right now."

The Devils won two of a three-game set against the Penguins that began with two games in New Jersey. They won 3-2 on Thursday before losing 3-1 at Prudential Center on Saturday.
"They're playing responsible hockey," Blackwood said. "They're not forcing stuff. They're doing the right things in the [defensive] zone, making smart plays and not taking chances offensively, and giving up a lot defensively. So they did a great job of limiting that and playing a very solid game. Makes it a lot easier for me."
Crosby put the Penguins ahead 1-0 on their second shot of the game at 3:37 of the first period. Jake Guentzel sent a cross-ice pass to Crosby just above the goal line, where he scored with a one-timer from a sharp angle.
Pittsburgh's line of Crosby with Guentzel at left wing and Bryan Rust at right wing scored five of the Penguins' six goals in the three-game series.
"I thought, tonight, we generated some decent chances [from] every line," Crosby said. "Didn't capitalize. It was a close game, and obviously in overtime, anything can happen. But I think if you want to win consistently, everybody's got to chip in."

Vatanen tied it 1-1 with a one-timer from the point set up by Janne Kuokkanen at 4:48 of the second period. It was Vatanen's second goal in four games after being held without one in his first 15 games this season.
"I thought our response was really good," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "We stuck with it. We played the game the right way. We came right back at them and ended up down in their zone for a while and had some great shifts. ... Disappointing to have that goal [from Crosby] go in, but at the same time, I thought our game plan, we stuck with it. We got rewarded by the end of the game."
NOTES: Blackwood was a late scratch after taking part in warmups Thursday, when Scott Wedgewood made 40 saves in the Devils win. He said it was a nagging injury that felt fine during the morning skate that day before worsening in warmups. … Penguins forward Brandon Tanev missed a second straight game with an upper-body injury after being a game-time decision. … Pittsburgh has lost two of three games (1-1-1) without center Evgeni Malkin, who is week to week with a lower-body injury. Malkin scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during an eight-game point streak before getting injured early in the first period against the Boston Bruins on March 16.