GAME STORY: Penguins 4, Devils 2

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -For the ninth straight game the Devils trailed at the end of the first period, and for the ninth straight game the Devils trailed at the end of the game.
The Penguins carried a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes in an eventual 4-2 win Saturday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena to hand the Devils a ninth straight loss.
Pittsburgh built a 3-0 lead on the backs of Jeff Carter, Jared McCann (power play) and Bryan Rust. Sidney Crosby would add a goal with 0.1 seconds left in regulation on a 200-foot shot.
The Devils responded with goals from Jack Hughes and Miles Wood. Meanwhile, goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves in his first game back in the lineup since missing the previous two with an upper-body injury.

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WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils head to Philadelphia for the final game of their road trip Sunday night. You can watch on MSG+ and listen on the Devils Hockey Network,
including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com.
Game time is 7:08 PM ET.
The Penguins swept the three-game mini-series in Pittsburgh, though the Devils made them really earn the finale.
"Out of the three games this was certainly our best," Wood said. "It's certainly frustrating to not win here in Pittsburgh. But there's a lot of good things to take from this game. I thought we stepped up.
"We need step up here and get a win, because frankly I'm sick and tired of losing hockey games."
Here are some other observations from the game…
* Captain Nico Hischier nearly tied the game in the final seconds of regulation. A loose puck bounced into the slot and Hischier shot it just wide of the net. The Devils came THIS close to tying this game and forcing overtime.
"I think everybody is tired of losing, but the effort we put in, the detail we put kept the game close and gave ourselves and opportunity," Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said. "(Hischier) misses a half-open net that would have tied the game up. That's kind of been the way the year's gone. When we get that great opportunity to put a point on the board, we haven't put it in the back of the net."
* The Devils spoke ad nauseum about having to be better at the start of games. They had mixed results Saturday afternoon. They battle through a scoreless game through the opening 9:41 of the first period before the Penguins broke through.
Pittsburgh would add a second goal to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Overall, it wasn't a bad period for New Jersey - which had trailed 3-0 and 4-0 at times over the past two weeks after the first period - but it still wasn't ideal. The Devils don't want to be trailing by any count after the first period, but by keeping it close they gave themselves a fighting chance to stage a comeback.
"We had some opportunities to score first," Ruff said. "Getting the lead would be important. It forces the other team out of their game. We haven't had that for some time."
The start was better than it's been, but not good enough.
* Hughes picked up his 11th goal of the season in the second period to make it a 3-1 game. He started the rush by entering the zone on a flip pass to defenseman Will Butcher in the corner. Butcher threw a pass all the way to Yegor Sharangovich at the opposite side of the crease. Sharangovich bobbled the puck and it squirted through three Penguins players and right to the stick of Hughes, who easily scored into a virtual empty-net.
Hughes created another great scoring chance for himself early in the third period. First, he tried to out-skate Mike Matheson for a breakaway, but Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith played the puck away. On the same sequence he caught the puck low and pulled it into the crease for a shot. The puck seems to follow him, as it does with good players.
"If you look at some of the plays he made inside of tonight's game, they are plays that not a lot of players are able to make," Ruff said. "We need players around him to finish. When he's playing like that, you're able to see that our team is able to create a lot more offensive opportunities."
* Miles Wood scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season thanks to the wits of defenseman Ryan Murray. The blueliner had the puck above the circle and faked a shot, fooling DeSmith into committing to his butterfly. Smith then made a no-look cross-ice slap pass that Wood one-timed into the goal. DeSmith couldn't recover from biting on the fake.
"To be honest I thought (Murray) was just about the shoot it," Wood said. "He caught me by surprise too. But he found a lane there and that play was all him. I was just fortunate enough to score there.
"I'm not trying to pick a spot there. Maybe if you ask (Alex) Ovechkin, he's trying to pick a spot. Me, I'm just trying to get it on net."
* Ruff said he needed "flat-out better goaltending." He received that this afternoon from Blackwood. The 24-year-old was beat on a good shot by Carter, a power-play rebound by McCann and a freak triple-deflected goal off of the knee of Rust. None of those goals can fully be pinned on Blackwood (perhaps an argument could be made on Carter's goal).
"I felt pretty good," Blackwood said. "A couple weird bounces, but overall I felt pretty good, felt I was seeing the puck pretty good, making good reads. I was happy to feel that way after about a week off."
Blackwood also made a stop on a streaking shot by Carter down the far side, a point-blank rebound try by Evan Rodrigues and a shot from the slot by Sidney Crosby late in the third. He made all the saves he needed to make, and he gave the Devils a chance to win. That's all you can ask of your goaltender.
"I thought Mackenzie played a strong game. He looked comfortable back there," Ruff said. "Look at the couple saves in the third period when he kept the game close for us. He gave us that opportunity to get back in the game."
* Though, moving forward the Devils may need to ask more of Blackwood. They need him to make all the saves he needs to make and then some. They need him to make some of those tough and near-impossible saves. Blackwood has the potential to be a difference-maker and steal a game for his team. New Jersey needs him to play that way now more than ever in this stretch run.
* Butcher picked up an assist in the game on Hughes' goal and also made a couple of nice defensive plays. He stood up the much larger Zach Aston-Reese (5-foot-10, 190 pounds vs. 6-foot, 204 pounds), separating him from the puck.
Then Butcher made a game saving defensive play with under 10 minutes to play in the third period and the Devils trailing 3-1. The Penguins had a 2-on-1 with Crosby and Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh's Top-2 offensive threats. Crosby tried to pass across for a sure goal, but Butcher got his stick on the puck to deny the play. Seconds later the Devils scored to make it 3-2 and make this a game.
* The Devils lost two more players in the game in forward Janne Kuokkanen (hand injury on a blocked shot) and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler (COVID-19 protocol).
Blueliner Colton White, who played Friday night for Binghamton, drove to Pittsburgh at 5 a.m. to be able to play in this afternoon's contest.
"That's an incredible story," Ruff said. "He gets here and I thought he played a really good game, really strong, very predictable game, made the right plays. You look at that effort playing yesterday and coming here, he's got to get here for a 12:30 game. You have to give him a lot of credit. He really played a strong game for us.