Devils edge Pens, 3-2

In Newark, Scott Wedgewood made 40 saves and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, in regulation on Thursday night.

Wedgewood was a last minute addition to the starting lineup.

“You can’t prepare for those situations,” Wedgewood said. “I think I do a good job kind of doing my normal routine on most days. Today it was a little different. I didn’t get a nap in, and I didn’t know I was playing for probably 75 percent of warmup. [Blackwood] takes every shot up until probably about the three-minute mark, and right around four minutes, he just left. I was in the corner and saw the look on his face and [it] didn’t look good.

“I just turned my mind on as quick as I could to just kind of focus in. There were a few saves there where I had to battle but it was fun to play a part in that win.”

Jack Hughes staked the Devils to a 1-0 lead in the first period.

“It’s one thing to go in a game where you know the main goalie has played three or four and you’re going in,” Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said. “But to be ready and be called upon when you’re not the starter and you have basically 15 minutes to prepare yourself mentally and give your team a good game … and he gave us a real good game.”

PK Subban and Travis Zajac potted markers in the middle frame for a 3-0 New Jersey lead.

“I just saw a little bit of room up top and tried to bank it off [Jarry’s] head and put it in the net,” Hughes said. “I don’t know if it did hit his head, but it was a good shot and I’m happy it went in.”

Jake Guentzel stopped the New Jersey run to make the score 3-1 heading to the third period.

“We need to be better, obviously,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We didn’t get the result we wanted. It’s not good enough. We need to be better as a group. We’ll take a look at our team and see what kind of adjustments we make from here, but we certainly need to be better.”

Bryan Rust made the score look respectable with a goal at 19:55 of the third period.

“I thought our guys did a great job,” Ruff said. “We faced some adversity and lost a couple of key players and got a big effort out of a lot of guys that allowed us to win the game. It was something that we needed.”

Tristan Jarry made 32 saves in the loss.

“We know we have capable guys; everyone has got to step up here, we’ve got to do it by committee,” Guentzel said. “We can’t take any nights off, and it’s got to be a full 60. We’ll make sure we are better on Saturday (in the second of the three-game series) and go from there.”