Jesper Bratt starts third-period surge as New Jersey Devils beat Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jesper Bratt, Alexander Holtz and Tyler Toffoli scored in the third period, and the short-handed New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Thursday night.

The Devils played without forwards Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, but they were still able to beat Pittsburgh for the sixth straight time overall.

Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves for New Jersey, which had dropped three in a row and four of five overall.

Bratt gave the Devils a 3-2 lead 2:35 into the third, beating Tristan Jarry over the shoulder to the blocker side during a 4-on-4 stretch.

Holtz scored his fourth of the year at 11:24, and Toffoli tacked on his ninth at 11:44. Bratt set up Toffoli as New Jersey scored three goals on eight shots.

Curtis Lazar had a short-handed goal and an assist for the Devils, reaching 100 points for his career. Nathan Bastian scored his first of the year.

Bryan Rust scored twice for Pittsburgh, which had won five in a row. Jarry stopped 25 shots.

Sidney Crosby extended a 10-game point streak with an assist for Pittsburgh. Crosby became the 15th player in NHL history with 11 point streaks of 10 games or more in his career. He has a point in 14 of 15 games played this season.

Pittsburgh's Erik Karlsson tied Rob Blake (777) for the 20th-most points by a defenseman in NHL history and extended his point streak to seven games.

Meier, a 40-goal scorer last season, missed Thursday’s game after he was injured in Tuesday’s loss at Winnipeg. Hischier, the Devils’ captain, hasn’t played since Oct. 27 because of an upper-body injury. Hughes (shoulder), who has five goals and 20 points in 10 games, hasn’t played since Nov. 3 when he crashed into the end boards against St. Louis.

Rust opened the scoring for Pittsburgh on a partial breakaway. Jake Guentzel, who gave Rust his lead pass, continued a six-game point streak with an assist. Lazar tied the game at 13:34 of the first.

Rust and Bastian exchanged goals 38 seconds apart early in the second. Rust scored at 3:17 and Bastian flipped a backhand rebound past Jarry to tie the game.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.

Penguins: Visit Carolina on Saturday.

___

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL