Devils Rattled by Penguins, Suffer 5-2 Loss in Penultimate Home Game

Published: Friday, April 10, 2026

by Nick Diodato

NEWARK, N.J. - The New Jersey Devils (40-36-3) fell short Thursday night at home, losing 5-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins (41-22-16).  

The win tonight clinches a postseason berth for the Penguins, their first since 2022. It also guaranteed them home ice advantage in the first round.  

Coming into this game, the Devils were coming off a tough loss versus the Philadelphia Flyers, a loss which ended their chances at a playoff appearance.  

Forward Paul Cotter, who got New Jersey their first goal tonight, said postgame, “It sucks. Doesn’t really matter right now, winning or losing. We should be a playoff team right now. It’s hard mentally to digest that we’re not gonna make the playoffs this year.”  

Meaning for the Devils, nothing really matters for these next couple of games. Win or lose, they are still in the same spot.  

To start tonight’s game, the Devils came out hot and nearly scored in the first minute with a shot from Timo Meier, but it tapped the post at the last second.  

Following this, momentum started to slow just a bit, in time for Pittsburgh to get their game rolling. The Penguins scored first, five minutes into the opening frame thanks to Bryan Rust, and would hold onto this lead for the rest of the period. 

The second started scrappy but slow with the puck not moving much. New Jersey knotted the game up though as Paul Cotter would break free and score just about halfway through the period, tying the game up.

Immediately after, Pittsburgh knocked in two goals, the first from Tommy Novak and the second from Yegor Chinakhov, putting the Penguins lead up to two at 3-1. Chinakhov’s goal was just 9 seconds apart from Novak’s.   

A couple minutes later, Jack Hughes sniped one to cut the deficit to one for the Devils at 3-2, turning what was a slow 2nd period into a back-and-forth shootout. Pittsburgh kept the Devils off for the rest of the second, holding onto their one goal lead at 3-2.  

Another slow start in the 3rd period led to another Penguins goal, this time from Evgeni Malkin, who got the rebound off Jake Allen’s leg to tip in the puck with assists from Sidney Crosby and Yegor Chinakhov.  

New Jersey picked up a penalty following a Simon Nemec shove, being only the second of two penalties throughout the game.  

To try to keep them in the game, the Devils pulled Allen for the extra attacker, giving Pittsburgh the chance to put the cherry on top, which they did, as Erik Karlson found the empty net with three minutes left in the third, solidifying the 5-2 win for the road team.  

The Penguins dominated from beginning to end tonight and showed that they are a force to be reckoned with come the post season.   

Mistake after mistake did not help the Devils out as it seemed from the beginning they were outmatched. 

“We created some chances. You make one mistake and it’s in our net, that kind of zapped some life out of us,” said Head Coach Sheldon Keefe in the post-game presser.  

The Devils will suit up again on Saturday when they head to Detroit to face the Red Wings at 5:00 p.m. 

Nick Diodato can be reached at nicholas.diodato@student.shu.edu.

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