The penguin continues to heat up and takes down the free-falling demon.

Connor Clifton and Egor Chinakhov scored three goals, 50 seconds apart during the third period, to help the Pittsburgh Penguins, without superstar Sidney Crosby, beat the visiting New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Thursday night.

Tommy Novak opened the scoring, Evgeni Malkin had two assists and Blake Lizotte added an empty-netter for the Penguins, who returned from the Olympic break to improve to 15-3-3 since Dec. 28.

Arturs Silovs had a strong performance for Pittsburgh, making 28 saves.

It looked like he wouldn’t be able to step up without Crosby, who will miss at least four weeks after sustaining a lower-body injury while playing for Canada in the Milan Cortina game earlier this month.

With the game tied at 1-1, Pittsburgh attacked New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom (31 saves), and Clifton missed the iron on Ryan Shea’s shot from the top of the circle, putting the Penguins ahead with 13:30 remaining. Less than a minute later, Malkin sent the puck through the neutral zone for Chinakhov to collect, then broke free and eventually went for a forehand backhand to beat Markstrom.

Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who are second-to-last in the Eastern Conference standings and have lost a season-high five straight, part of a 1-7-0 rut. New Jersey, which failed to convert on any of its five power play opportunities (four in the second period), has been outscored 15-4 over its last five contests.

The Penguins opened the scoring with 1 minute and 9 seconds left in the first period. Thanks to a precision pass on the power play, Novak redirected Kris Letang’s one-timer from Markstrom’s pass to Malkin.

But New Jersey responded at 4:56 of the second period. In somewhat similar fashion to the delayed penalty and Pittsburgh’s opening score, Dougie Hamilton’s drive glanced off the legs of Cotter, breaking a 23-game goal drought in the process.

U.S. Olympic hero Jack Hughes had an assist for the Devils.

–Field level media