Peter Diana, Post-Gazette photos Sidney Crosby is upended by New Jersey's Scott Gomez early in the game last night. It was one of the few ways the Devils had to stop Crosby in the Penguins' 4-2 win at Mellon Arena.

By Dave Molinari
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Penguins have completed only about 10 percent of their season, so it's important to keep their 5-3 start in perspective.

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Still, it's hard to ignore that the Penguins -- a team whose highest holy day for the past half-decade has fallen on whatever date the NHL set aside for its draft lottery -- are guaranteed to have more victories after eight games than the Steelers will.

That's not something that was widely predicted a month or so ago. Not by anyone who wasn't undergoing intense professional therapy, anyway.

There's at least one other number worth noting, too. In the wake of their 4-2 victory against New Jersey at Mellon Arena last night, the Penguins' magic number for clinching the Atlantic Division championship has been sliced to a mere 146.

OK, it's a bit early to start working out the finer points of a banner-raising ceremony -- after all, they could be on the dark side of .500 when they return from the four-game trip that begins Saturday in Philadelphia -- but for a team that has its first three-game winning streak since March 19-23, 2004, these are heady times.

Especially when it has grabbed sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division for the first time since Nov. 29, 2002.

"We don't want to follow the standings too much -- we have to worry about ourselves -- but to be in first place is nice," center Sidney Crosby said.

It is, of course, far too early to pronounce the Penguins a legitimate threat to win the Atlantic, but they do look entirely capable of competing for a playoff berth, something they haven't earned since 2001.

"It's what we expect out of ourselves," defenseman Mark Eaton said.

Coach Michel Therrien was forced to overhaul his top two forward units before the game because an injury to first-line left winger Ryan Malone and was rewarded with two goals apiece from the Evgeni Malkin-Crosby-Colby Armstrong line and the Nils Ekman-Jordan Staal-Mark Recchi line.

That Crosby's line must produce if the Penguins are to succeed is a given; the key variable is what the No. 2 unit contributes, and it was excellent last night.

Evgeni Malkin, right, celebrates his third period goal with Sidney Crosby after beating Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. Click photo for larger image.

Staal, who had worked mostly on the fourth line, looked comfortable in his upgraded role and added another 16¹/₂ quality minutes of work to the mound of evidence for not returning him to his junior team.

"I think I played a pretty good game again," Staal said.

So did his bosses, although that's pretty much what they anticipated.

"We were confident this kid would do the job," Therrien said. "That's what he's there."

After Scott Gomez gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 7:40 of the opening period, Ekman pulled the Penguins even by beating Devils goalie Martin Brodeur with a wrist shot from near the top of the right circle at 13:37.

Crosby and Malkin teamed up to put the Penguins in front to stay at 1:26 of the second. Malkin had the puck low in the bottom of the left circle and slid a cross-ice feed to Crosby, who threw the puck past Brodeur from inside the right circle.

Staal got the winning goal at 4:53 when he scored under remarkable circumstances -- both teams actually had five skaters on the ice when he completed a slick passing play with Ekman and Recchi by tossing the puck into the open right side of the net.

The goal was Staal's fourth of the season, but his first at even strength.

After Sergei Brylin got New Jersey within one at 8:02 of the third, Malkin restored the Penguins' two-goal edge with a spectacular effort when the Devils were caught in a line change at 10:41.

He pulled in a lead pass from Crosby, slipped between the defense pairing of Brad Lukowich and Colin White and -- with White hacking at him -- flipped a backhander than eluded Brodeur and snuck inside the right post.

"I saw that just one defenseman was there, and he was in a bad position," said Malkin, speaking through a translator. "So I just took the puck and scored."

Just that easy. That's how Malkin made it look, anyway, as he became the first player in franchise history to score a goal in each of his first four games.

Malkin's insurance goal was what Crosby had in mind when he said, "We're just making big plays at the right time right now." And if they keep doing that, there just might be a playoff race in their future.

"Right now, we've got the ball rolling," Staal said. "Everyone's playing really well. As long as we keep playing like this, we'll be a contender."