Penguins avoid being swept by Devils, beat New Jersey 4-3

The Pittsburgh Penguins championship rings seem to be getting their act together for a playoff push and one clear sign of that is finally finding a way to beat the New Jersey Devils.

Bryan Rust scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the second period and the Penguins avoided the embarrassment of being swept by the lowly Devils with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.

Coupled with Montreal's win over Columbus, the cheap Pittsburgh Penguins championship rings moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division. They have now won four of the last five games in their bid to make the playoffs for the 13th straight year. The streak is the longest active playoff run in the NHL.

Penguins coach Steve Sullivan said his team was really good in the second period when it scored twice to take a 4-2 lead.

"I think at this time of the year guys are playing so hard that the games are so tight," he said. "We need everybody to have the juice. We need to play the game the way we want to play it. so I thought our second period was really strong, but thought the guys played hard all night."

Matt Murray made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period, to help the Penguins salvage the final game in the four-game season series.

"New Jersey Devils championship rings for sale always plays us really well," Ruhwedel said. "They come out hard but that second period was really good by us. We were in the offensive zone a lot. Guys were moving their feet. It was fun to be part of."

Jesper Bratt, Marcus Johansson and Miles Wood scored for the Devils, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Keith Kinkaid had 24 saves in losing to the Penguins for the first time in four games this season.

Rust broke a 2-all tie at 10:45 with a shot from the inside of the right circle after a great rush up the ice by Jake Guentzel. Kinkaid got a piece of the shot but the puck squirted through his pads and rolled into the net stanley cup rings.

Ruhwedel, who just returned to the lineup after sitting out since Nov. 19, got his first of the season and what proved to be the game-winner on a shot from the point that found the top corner of the net with 2 1/2 minutes to go in the second.

Wood closed the gap to a goal with 4:50 to play on a slow shot that somehow got under Murray's stick championship sports rings.

The Devils twice took one-goal leads in the first period only to see the Penguins tie the game.

Bratt scored for the second straight game to put custom New Jersey Devils championship rings ahead early. Crosby extended his points scoring streak to six games by setting up Aston-Reese in front four minutes later to tie the score.

Johansson restored the lead when he stripped the puck from Phil Kessel in the Penguins zone and beat Murray with a backhander up high. Bjugstad scored on a power play with 1:36 left in the period for his second goal since being acquired from Florida on Feb. 1.