NEWARK Dmitry Kulikov Jersey , N.J. (AP) Sidney Crosby swung and connected for the Pittsburgh Penguins, preventing the New Jersey Devils from sweeping their four-game season series with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion.Crosby batted his own rebound out of the air and into the net 19 seconds into overtime, and the Penguins beat the Devils 4-3 on Thursday night, marking the second time in just over a week the back-to-back Conn Smythe Trophy winner has scored on a baseball swing.”I’ve seen him do it so many times, it doesn’t surprise us anymore,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. ”He’s an elite player. There aren’t too many (making) guys those types of plays. He does it time and time again. He thinks the game on such a high level and he’s such a competitor.”Kris Letang stole Taylor Hall’s pass in the opening seconds in the Pittsburgh zone and sent Crosby on a semi-break the other way. His initial shot hit the goalpost, but then the star center pulled his hands in and swatted the puck, extending his goal-scoring streak to five games.The tally was similar to one against Montreal last Wednesday in which Crosby juggled the puck once on his stick before smacking it from just below shoulder height.Crosby, who has won almost every major award in the NHL Youth Dustin Byfuglien Jersey , modestly downplayed his latest trick.”I just tried to stay with it,” he said. ”It’s fortunate it came back to me. I saw it go off post.”Pittsburgh defenseman Brian Dumoulin called the goal incredible.”It kind of leaves you in awe,” he said. ”I mean we see it a lot, but every time he does it and does something special it’s crazy to see and enjoyable. It just speaks to what an incredible player he is.”Conor Sheary, Letang and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the Penguins. Matt Murray made 28 saves.Kyle Palmieri, Hall and Blake Coleman scored for the Devils, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Keith Kinkaid had 31 saves in losing for only the fourth time in his last 16 decisions (12-3-1).”That’s a good team over there,” Palmieri said after the Devils remained three points in front of Florida in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. ”They know how to win at this time of year. We’ll take the point and reset and shore some things up for us. It’s a big weekend for us.”New Jersey has five games left in the regular season, one less than the Panthers, who lost 3-2 in overtime to Ottawa.The losses by Ottawa and New Jersey clinched playoff berths for Washington and Toronto http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-jacob-trouba-jersey , which were both idle.The game was tied three times, with the Penguins getting a lucky bounce on Hornqvist’s 25th goal that tied it with 8:34 left in regulation. His shot from just inside the blue line went through a maze of players, hit the goalpost and then bounced off Kinkaid’s leg into the net.Coleman had given the Devils the lead 5:11 into the third period. He stole a puck at the Penguins’ blue line, worked a give-and-go with Travis Zajac and then put the rebound of his own shot past Murray. It was his 12th goal of the season and third against Pittsburgh.The game was tied 1-all after the first period and 2-all after the second.Palmieri, who has four goals in his last three games, was sent on a breakaway by Nico Hischier and beat Murray between the pads at 12:19. Sheary tied it 25 seconds later after taking a cross-ice pass by Hornqvist and beating Kinkaid in close.Letang, who has goals in two straight, put Pittsburgh ahead 6:59 into the second period, beating Kinkaid from low in the right circle.Hall tied the game with a power-play goal from the right circle. It was his 34th goal.NOTES: Hischier is the first Devils’ rookie to have 50 points in a season since Adam Henrique in 2011-12. … The Penguins now have four 25-goal scorers with Hornqvist joining Evgeni Malkin (42), Phil Kessel (30) and Crosby (28). It’s the first time since 2011-12. … RW Patrick Maroon returned to the Devils’ lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Rookie RW Jesper Bratt was a healthy scratch.UP NEXTPenguins: Host Montreal on Saturday.Devils: Finish four-game home stand on Saturday against Islanders.— PITTSBURGH (AP) Lost amid Sidney Crosby’s latest attempt to win the NHL batting title and Evgeni Malkin’s one-on-three brilliance during the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ clinical dismantling of the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 is this: The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions played pretty well in their own end Austin Czarnik Jersey Womens , too.That may be the most frightening aspect going forward for the Flyers and the other 14 teams hoping to end Pittsburgh’s run at history.While it’s easy to point to Matt Murray’s 24 saves – including a fabulous diving stop on Philadelphia’s Scott Laughton in the first period that preserved a one-goal lead and set the stage for the blowout to come – it’s the little things the Penguins did that caught the attention of head coach Mike Sullivan.Pittsburgh blocked 24 shots before the puck even got to the net. The defensemen in front of Murray turned Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds into a bystander. Philadelphia went on the power play four times and failed to produce a single scoring chance.Yikes.”It was just a commitment to defend and play the right way,” Sullivan said.One the Penguins understand they’ll need to repeat in Game 2 on Friday night. For all of their dominance on Wednesday night, it still only counts as one. Last spring they drilled Ottawa 7-0 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals to go up 3-2 in the series only to lose Game 6 two days later.”We know we’re going to see their best,” said Crosby, whose third career playoff hat trick in Game 1 started with a backhanded swat out of the air from in front that knuckled past Philadelphia’s Brian Elliott and into the net to put the Penguins up five.It’s unlikely the Flyers could play much worse. Coach Dave Hakstol publicly endorsed sending Elliott back out for Game 2 in the immediate aftermath despite giving up five goals on 19 shots before getting pulled. Hakstol declined to elaborate on his plans Thursday, though he’s well aware Elliott’s play was not Philadelphia’s only issue.”We just had too many holes and if you have holes in your game, that team is going to drive a truck through them,” Hakstol said.Philadelphia returned to the playoffs this spring thanks in part to its resilience. The Flyers went nearly a month between victories while enduring a 10-game losing streak that spanned November and early December and then dropped seven of eight to start March before sprinting to third in the crowded Metropolitan Division.”Nothing’s easy this time of year,” Elliott said. ”A close loss feels the same as a lopsided one. We all didn’t get to this level by not going through some type of adversity like this. It’s just a matter of fact of going back to work and having the confidence we can definitely be better than we were.”Another loss would put Philadelphia in a perilous spot going home. The Flyers haven’t beaten Penguins once all season, getting outscored 27-11 in the process. Going down two games would require them to take down the reigning champions four times in nine days. Good luck with that.”We’ve got to be sharper Josh Morrissey Jersey ,” Hakstol said. ”That usually means you’ve got to be quicker and execute a little bit better. You can probably apply that to a lot of our game.”Some things to watch Friday night:—Wild at Jets, Winnipeg leads 1-0 (7:30 p.m. EDT, USA)It took Winnipeg nearly two decades to win the franchise’s first playoff game. If the Jets can do it twice in three days, they’ll have firm control against sloppy Minnesota.The Wild let a third-period lead get away in Game 1, with the Jets getting the tying goal and the winning goal off Minnesota giveaways. The Wild understand they need to be smarter in their own end. Minnesota has won just one series in franchise history after dropping the first two games.”I think in reality we had seven pretty bad minutes from the time we scored the second goal to the third goal,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”But it was a pretty even game after that. And I think we can play a lot better.”The young Jets feel likewise. Having a crammed and raucous Bell MTS Place certainly helped.”You saw the crowd last night, it was unbelievable,” said 22-year-old defenseman Josh Morrissey. ”We had a lot of energy built of that. For us, it was a big comeback win and we won and we’ve got to keep going.”—Kings at Golden Knights, Vegas leads 1-0 (10 p.m. EDT http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-kyle-connor-jersey , NBCSN)The expansion Golden Knights looked every bit ready for the playoffs when they rode goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a 1-0 victory in Game 1. The Kings will be without defenseman Drew Doughty for Game 2, suspended by the NHL for an illegal check to the head of Vegas forward William Carrier.Doughty appeared lower his shoulder into Carrier’s head, connecting with his jaw, sending the Golden Knights wing to the locker room for the remainder of the game.”I thought it was a bad hit, but it’s not for me to decide,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ”The referee didn’t think it was a penalty but I’m sure people will look at that hit and make a decision on it.”The Kings outhit Vegas 68-59, though some Los Angeles players scoffed at the notion Game 1 was an overly physical.”It was a physical game, (but) I don’t think there was nearly as many hits as the stats credited,” Los Angeles wing Dustin Brown said. ”Some buildings you can kill a guy and not get credit for a hit.”—