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NEWARK Jesper Bratt Jersey Kids , N.J. (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins 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.“Even last year, it was kind of the same way,” said Zach Aston-Reese, who scored for the Penguins along with Chad Ruhwedel and Nick Bjugstad. “They had our number. It’s nice to get that one, especially going down the stretch to the playoffs. Those are important wins.”Coupled with Montreal’s win over Columbus, the Penguins 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 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 Leo Komarov Jersey Womens , 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.“It could be the story of the season, we don’t play a full 60 (minutes),” Kinkaid said. “I don’t think their shots were too harmful, like I said a crazy curve on the fourth one and I have to find a way to squeeze that third one. I didn’t see it right away. It’s one me I have to come up with the big save. I think we played well enough to win.”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.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.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 New Jersey 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.NOTES: The Devils gave the first 9,000 fans in attendance a David Puddy bobblehead. He’s the Seinfeld television show character portrayed by Patrick Warburton, who painted his face in Devils’ colors in an episode and shouted “We’re the Devils.” … Travis Zajac appeared in his 900th game with the Devils. … Penguins Matt Cullen will tie Phil Housley for third most games (1,495) by an American-born player the next time he takes the ice. … The Devils activated F Blake Coleman off injured reserve and assigned F Nick Lappin to Binghamton (AHL).UP NEXTPenguins: Return home to host San Jose on Thursday night.Devils: End a three-game homestand against Ottawa on Thursday night. TORONTO (AP) — Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews? Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid?With debate ramping up about which player sits atop hockey’s throne — after some remarkable early performances — Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock’s goes in a different direction — Sidney Crosby.“This is what I think,” Babcock began as he made his case for the Penguins captain before Pittsburgh’s 3-0 victory over Toronto on Thursday. “I think one guy’s got two Olympic gold medals and three Stanley Cups.”And the other guys?“They don’t.”McDavid Womens Kyle Palmieri Jersey , the Edmonton Oilers captain with blazing speed, has won back-to-back NHL scoring titles and the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Matthews, the Maple Leafs’ deadly sniper, has the most points in the league, 16 in just eight games.McDavid set an NHL record this week by becoming the only player to either score or assist on the first nine goals of his team’s season.Matthews has a lethal shot that often leaves a goalie looking up at the replay for a glimpse at a puck that just whizzed by him. He is just the fifth player to have seven straight multipoint games to start a season.Babcock is quick to acknowledge what these 21-year-old phenoms have done. But he says personal accolades matter only so much.Crosby is 31 and has been on top of the hockey world for the better part of the last decade. He won the Cup in 2009, 2016 and 2017 to go along with gold medals for Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.Had it not been for the concussions that limited him to 63 of his team’s 164 games between 2010 and 2012, the two-time Hart and Conn Smythe Trophy winner might own even more hardware.Babcock coached Crosby at the Vancouver and Sochi Games, and again at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, which Canada also won.“Team success in the end, that’s how you’re measured,” he said. “When you’ve been the best player on the best team http://www.officialbluejackets.com/authentic-adidas-david-savard-jersey , to me that’s totally different than being the best player on a team that’s not as good. As you’ve got people around you to raise your game and set a standard … to me, it’s not even close.”Mike Sullivan became Pittsburgh’s coach during the 2015-16 season and immediately grew to appreciate Crosby’s gifts.“Sid’s the most driven athlete I’ve ever been around,” he said. “Not only is he an elite player, but he’s willing to put the work in to continue to try to be the best player he can be. … I have the privilege of watching him on a daily basis put the work in to be the player that he is.”Toronto center Nazem Kadri says it’s tough to pick among Crosby, McDavid and Matthews.“I still think Sid’s an incredible player and McDavid’s definitely up there,” he said. “(Matthews) is creeping up there. … To me, McDavid’s speed is just incredible and so hard to stop. You can’t necessarily make a mistake when he’s on the ice because when you’re beside him you’re going to be behind him.”Maple Leafs center John Tavares went head-to-head with Crosby for nine seasons while with the New York Islanders.“He doesn’t take anything for granted and his work ethic’s tremendous,” Tavares said. “He puts a lot of commitment into being the player that he is.”Crosby has five assists in six games this season playing on a line with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust — the first time he’s gone without a goal this long. But Sullivan’s admiration is undiminished.“He leaves no stone unturned,” Sullivan said. “He takes care of himself physically. He trains so hard, both off the ice and on the ice. We learn as much from Sid as I think he does from our coaching staff with just the way he thinks the game.”