In Newark, the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins trailed the New Jersey Devils, 3-1, entering the third period.
In the final 20 minutes of the game, the Pens scored five unanswered goals in a 6-3 win over New Jersey.
If the Devils season was not over before Tuesday night, the Penguins certainly twisted the dagger to make sure there was no second chance.
“I thought it was a gutsy effort by our guys,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We could tell early on we didn’t have a lot of energy. We just didn’t have a lot of juice tonight. It was one of those nights where sometimes you play against the schedule. That game last night in New York took a lot out of our guys.
“I give our players a lot of credit. We hung in there and we dug in.”
The third period ice was tilted into the New Jersey zone and the Penguins took advantage of that, and the Devils’ incompetence, in scoring five straight.
Sidney Crosby closed the gap to 3-2 with his first of two in the period, with a power play marker at 6:48 of the third, scoring off a tap in at the crease.
Evgeny Malkin, who hit for a double in the win, potted his first 67 seconds later for a 3-3 tie, scoring off a deflection of a shot by Jack St. Ivany.
Rickard Rakell then added another deflection goal at 16:16 for a 4-3 lead to the Pens.
“I thought the power-play goal got us going,” Rakell said. “Just making it a one-goal game, we know anything can happen. Then just play hockey. We played with emotions and just showed that we wanted it.”
Malkin collected his double off another deflection at 16:38 for a 5-3 advantage.
Crosby potted his double into an empty net with 2:53 remaining left on the game clock for the 6-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“I think just desperation,” Crosby said. “I think we knew it was going to be an uphill climb there. It was good to get one on the power play. … Just putting pucks to the net. ‘Geno’ comes up with a huge tip, and then ‘Raks’ and Geno again. So, I thought we really got a lot of momentum there.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves in the win.
The Penguins moved to 34-30-11, pushing their current point streak to six games.
The Penguins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the game on a strike by Erik Karlsson at 7:54 of the opening stanza. He scored off a shot from atop the right circle.
New Jersey replied with a power play goal from Timo Meier with 17 seconds left in the first , scoring off a blistering shot.
“I just think we stopped making plays in the third,” Meier said. “It almost looked like we were scared after they scored. That’s not how you win, playing on our heels. They’re obviously going to make a push in the third. We didn’t handle it well.”
New Jersey dropped to 36-35-4.
“It’s not easy to explain, especially after the first two periods,” New Jersey coach Travis Green said. “I thought we played almost as perfect a game as we could’ve in the first two periods. Really didn’t give them a lot of life. … I don’t think we necessarily let up, but we gave them some life with some power plays.”
Midway through the middle frame frame, Curtis Lazar put New Jersey up, 2-1, scoring with a snap shot shot from the above the crease. 
“It’s the NHL, the other team’s got skill,” Lazar said. “They’re not going to roll over easy. They’re going to try to make it hard on us.”
Jesper Bratt extended the lead to 3-1, scoring off a breakaway at at 17:47.
Jake Allen made 15 saves in the loss, and was left defenseless in the third period. .
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