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Pens top Devils in regular-season home finale

Apr 6, 2011 - 5:05 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Pascal Dupuis had two goals while Jordan Staal notched a goal and an assist, as Pittsburgh beat New Jersey, 4-2, in the regular season home finale for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh remained in the hunt for the Atlantic Division title, closing within a point of Philadelphia, which lost to Ottawa on Tuesday.

"It's a good feeling," Staal said of the win. "Obviously, we're still just trying to win games. We just have to control what we can do and let the standings do the rest."

Chris Kunitz added a goal for the Eastern Conference's fourth-place Penguins, who got 22 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury.

Brian Rolston and David Steckel both lit the lamp for the Devils, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention with a 3-1 home loss Saturday to Montreal.

Johan Hedberg let in all four goals on 27 shots in the loss.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead with 2:23 left in the first, on a goal set up by James Neal's drop pass to Staal at the top of the zone. Staal then drove toward the net, holding off a defender before roofing a soft shot past Hedberg for the power-play tally.

Fleury was looking good in the second after he stoned a Rolston shot with just under six minutes left, but he let in Steckel's shot from the left slot a little over a minute later to tie the game at one.

However, 63 seconds later, the home team answered with Dupuis' rebound jam off Maxime Talbot's wrist shot from the right circle.

It took just 1:31 into the third for Pittsburgh to extend its lead to 3-1. Tyler Kennedy slipped a pass to Kunitz, who streaked in front of the net and backhanded a shot past a diving Hedberg.

Rolston's one-time blast from the point, though, cut it back to one three minutes later, and the Devils had a chance for the equalizer with a power play during the final two minutes of regulation.

However, Dupuis netted a shorthanded goal with 61 seconds left -- as Hedberg was on his way to the bench for an extra attacker -- to seal the victory.

Game Notes

The Penguins finished 25-14-2 in their inaugural campaign at the new CONSOL Energy Center. Pittsburgh sold out every regular-season home game for the fourth straight year. The overall sellout streak, counting playoffs, is now at 206 games -- dating back to February 14, 2007...New Jersey is just 16-22-2 as the visiting team this season...Pittsburgh won the season series, 4-1-1...Steckel's goal was his sixth of the season and first for New Jersey.