Penguins Hand Devils 5th Straight Loss 4-1

After taking a 2-1 loss at home on Wednesday when they hosted the Buffalo Sabres, the Devils headed to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins ended up dominating in their first game back after the Olympic break, defeating the Devils 4-1 to hand them their fifth straight loss while picking up their second consecutive win. Tommy Novak, Connor Clifton, Egor Chinakhov, and Blake Lizotte each scored for Pittsburgh, while Paul Cotter netted the lone goal for the Devils. This was the first game this season where Sidney Crosby was not in the lineup for the Penguins, and he’s expected to miss at least four weeks with a lower-body injury he sustained while playing for Team Canada on February 18th in the quarterfinals against Team Czechia at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina.

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Bratt – Hughes – Brown
Gritsyuk – Glass – Hameenaho
Cotter – Bjugstad – Tsyplakov

Pesce – Kovacevic
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Dillon – Nemec

Markstrom
Allen

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Chinakhov – Novak – Malkin
A. Hayes – Rakell – Rust
Mantha – Kindel – Brazeau
Dewar – Lizotte – Acciari

Wotherspoon – Karlsson
Girard – Letang
Shea – Clifton

Silovs
Skinner

Late in the first period, Tommy Novak scored his 12th goal of the season to put the Penguins ahead 1-0 when he made a pass to Kris Letang, who handed it over to Evgeni Malkin just to get it right back, and Letang fired on a one-timer for Novak to tip it in on a power play with 1:09 on the clock. This was also Novak’s third goal in the past four games.

Paul Cotter tied things up to get the Devils on the board 1-1 at 15:04 in the second period when Dougie Hamilton took a pass from Jack Hughes, then sent a one-timer from near the blue line, and it went in off Cotter near the crease. This was Cotter’s sixth goal of the season. The Penguins had challenged for goalie interference, but the goal was upheld after review. In the middle frame, Connor Dewar had two opportunities to score for the Penguins, but was denied both times by Jacob Markstrom. He could have extended it 2-0 on a short-handed breakaway a few minutes before the Devils goal, and the second time, he could’ve broken the tie on another short-handed breakaway at 4:16 of the second period.

Connor Clifton gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead at 13:30 of the third period for his second goal of the season when he scored on a slap shot from the right circle off the back bar, just four seconds after Ryan Shea hit the crossbar with a slap shot, which ended up bouncing out to Clifton. 50 seconds later, Egor Chinakhov found the back of the net on a breakaway, going forehand to backhand through Markstrom’s five-hole after taking a stretch pass from Malkin to make it 3-1. This was Chinakhov’s 12th goal of the season. With 1:59 to go and an empty New Jersey net, Blake Lizotte finished it off for a 4-1 victory when he struck the empty net on a short-handed goal, recording his seventh goal of the season.

Game Notes:

– Arturs Silovs made 28 saves for Pittsburgh, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves for New Jersey. …For Silovs, this was his 20th career win, and he’s become the fourth Latvian goaltender in NHL history to reach the milestone.

– Evgeni Malkin collected a pair of assists. …With his assist on the game-opening goal, this was the 231st time Malkin factored on an opening goal, tying Mario Lemieux for the second-most in Penguins history, behind Sidney Crosby (296). …After recording his second assist of the night, he now has 175 multi-assist games, and ties Nikita Kucherov for the third most among active skaters behind Crosby (259) and Connor McDavid (214).

– Egor Chinakhov’s goal was his ninth for the Penguins since joining the lineup on January 1st, which is the most among all Penguins players during that span.

– The Penguins are 30-15-12, and are 9-1-3 since January 13th.

– Dating to October 25th, the Penguins have recorded a point in 14 straight games against Metropolitan Division teams. The only other teams with a similar run against divisional opponents over the past 10 years are the Calgary Flames (17 GP in 2024-25), Edmonton Oilers (15 GP in 2022-23), Colorado Avalanche (15 GP in 2020-21), and Tampa Bay Lightning (14 GP in 2019-20).

– The Devils are 28-29-2, and have lost five in a row and seven of eight, including their loss after returning from the Olympic break on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres.

– The Penguins head to New York on Saturday to take on the Rangers, while the Devils will be in St. Louis, looking to put an end to their losing streak.

• Penguins Lose 3-2 To Ottawa Senators
• AHL Game Recap: Providence Offense Stalls in Loss to Hartford
• Malkin Scores In His Return, Luke Scores Lone Goal In 4-1 Loss
• Who Would the Red Wings Be Willing to Trade?
• NHL Game Preview: New Jersey Devils at Pittsburgh Penguins with Line Combinations 02/26/2026