Pens dump Devils

In Newark, Kyle Palmieri staked the New Jersey Devils to a 1-0 lead in the opening period.

Problem for the Devils was, that was the end of the offense as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored three unanswered goals in a 3-1 win on Saturday.

“I didn’t feel we got off to a good start and [Pittsburgh] owned most the first period,” New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff said. “They outworked us, outplayed us, outskated us. We were fortunate to come away with a 1-0 lead.”

Casey DeSmith made 24 saves to get the win.

“I think he has really established himself as an NHL goalie,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said of DeSmith. “He’s played some big games, and every time we put him in there, he’s given us a chance to win. In the third period, we got into some penalty trouble and he made some timely saves.”

The Devils were scoreless in four power play chances.

“Nothing was really effective on the power play,” Palmieri said. “Breakouts, break-ins, puck recoveries, generating opportunities. We have to find a way to be better, but it starts with every guy just going out there and shifting their mentality to make sure we’re outworking the penalty kill, because if you don’t, you’re not going to have good nights like tonight.”

Zach Aston-Reese knotted the game in the middle frame and Bryan Rust popped in a power-play goal to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

“I kind of knew I had to step up a little bit more and be a little bit more physical (in the absence of Tanev),” Aston-Reese said. “Whenever I got the chance to finish a check, I tried my best to do that.”

Jake Guentzel pushed the lead to 3-1 in the 15th minutes of the third period.

Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves in the loss.

with an upper-body injury.

“I don’t think that was our best effort after what we were able to do [Thursday],” Wedgewood said. “They were double-shifting their top line and kept coming at us. It was a little bit tougher for our guys to kind of manage that.”