Boyle has goal, assist for Penguins in win against Devils

NEWARK, N.J. --Brian Boyle had a goal and an assist for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Sunday.

Boyle scored the go-ahead goal at 6:58 of the third period on a rebound of Mike Matheson's shot to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead.
"It's nice to chip in; we practice with [Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter] every day so we try to pick up some stuff from them, but you want to score goals," Boyle said. "That doesn't change whether you're 7 or 37 years old."
Bryan Rust scored for the fifth straight game, and Tristan Jarry made 28 saves for the Penguins (30-11-8), who have won three in a row since the All-Star break after losing their previous four. Pittsburgh has won six straight road games.
"We're trying to play the game that gives us the best chance to win, and our players have a real good understanding of what that looks like," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "When we're on the same page from a collective effort standpoint, I think we're a team that that plays a stingy game. We do it differently than a lot of teams. We're not a team that sits back and just defends. I think our best defense takes place 150, 160 feet from our net, just with our puck possession game or our pursuit game, using our quickness, our stick skills."

Jack Hughes scored for the Devils (17-27-5), who won their previous two games. Jon Gillies made 31 saves.
"We've got to take pride in not losing two games in a row," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "That's a hard thing to do. But if you want to be a good team, you just stop it right at one."
Hughes made it 1-0 at 7:02 of the second period on a snap shot from the left face-off circle. Hughes missed the previous three games in NHL COVID-19 protocol.

Matheson tied it 1-1 at 13:16 with a slap shot from the point. He has four goals in his past 11 games after scoring five in 44 last season.
"When you don't feel like things are going well, it can be easy for doubt to creep into your game and when that happens, it's tough to execute and be sharp throughout the game, so that's really been the name of the game," Matheson said. "Staying confident and not trying to do too much with the puck, that's been bringing me some success."
Rust extended his goal streak 36 seconds into the third period on a redirection of Kris Letang's shot from the point to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.
Nico Hischier tied it 2-2 at 2:51 when his snap shot from the right face-off circle went off Letang's skate got past Jarry.
Boyle's sixth goal this season was also his first game-winner of 2021-22. He played 116 games with the Devils over two seasons (2017-2019) and signed a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Penguins on Oct. 12.
"It's always really great coming back, seeing those people and the fans that did so much to lend a helping hand," Boyle said.
Jake Guentzel scored an empty-net goal at 18:53 for the 4-2 final.
"I feel like sometimes we didn't make the right decision for the right play," Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. "Overall it was a good game, but just little details that you probably get out of the zone and stuff like that, we could have done better."

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who needs one goal to reach 500 in the NHL, had four shots on goal and two assists to extend his point streak to six games (two goals, eight assists).
"There hasn't been silence about [Crosby reaching 500 goals]; it's been talked about a little bit," Rust said. "But it's not something that's consistently brought up."
NOTES: Pittsburgh has won five straight games and six of its past seven at New Jersey. ... Malkin returned after missing two games in COVID-19 protocol. He had one shot in 16:47 of ice time. … Hughes had five shots in 19:46. … Devils forward Andreas Johnsson was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury. He was replaced by forward Marián Studenič, who had four shots in 10:52. … Hischier has scored five goals during a four-game goal streak.