Penguins at Devils
Captain Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins had every reason to celebrate entering the Christmas break as the former scored in his third straight game to help the latter improve to 9-1-2 in December with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday. The Penguins and Devils won't have to wait long to renew acquaintances as the Metropolitan Division rivals reconvene at the Prudential Center on Tuesday.
Crosby hasn't let a season-opening six-game absence take him out of the early discussion for a third Hart Trophy, as his 24 goals and nine power-play tallies lead the league while his 38 points are two shy of Edmonton's Connor McDavid and one in back of teammate Evgeni Malkin. Speaking of Malkin, the former Hart Trophy winner notched two assists versus the Devils and has 17 (five goals, 12 assists) of his 39 points this season in December. New Jersey forward Kyle Palmieri has tallied in back-to-back contests but his six goals and 18 points are well off the mark of last season's career-high totals of 30 and 57, respectively. The Devils are mired in a 1-7-1 stretch in their last nine overall, but are 9-2-2 at Prudential Center this season and 5-1-1 at home in their last seven versus the Penguins.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVAS, ROOT (Pittsburgh), MSG-Plus (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (22-8-5): General manager Jim Rutherford didn't mince words when showering praise on coach Mike Sullivan, who signed a three-year contract extension Monday. "Mike did the best coaching job in the NHL last season," Rutherford said of the 48-year-old Sullivan, who turned around Pittsburgh's fortunes in short order in 2015-16 with a 33-16-5 mark en route to the franchise's fourth Stanley Cup last spring. This season's fortunes have followed suit as they own the second-best mark in the NHL, albeit behind Metropolitan Division-leading Columbus.
ABOUT THE DEVILS (13-14-7): Cory Schneider isn't having a December to remember for positive reasons, as the 30-year-old goaltender has yielded at least four goals in six of his nine starts. Schneider turned aside 35 of 39 shots on Friday to fall to 3-6-1 in his career versus the Penguins. Taylor Hall notched an assist for the second straight game on Friday and has five points (one goal, four assists) in six career encounters with Pittsburgh.
OVERTIME
1. New Jersey D John Moore has one goal and two assists in his last five games after failing to dent the scoresheet in his previous eight.
2. The Penguins have scored 12 power-play goals in their last eight contests - including one versus the Devils on Friday.
3. New Jersey C Travis Zajac has been held off the scoresheet in each of his last four games and has mustered just eight of his team-leading 23 points in December.