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Devils and Pens clash in Steel City

Jan 7, 2012 - 4:26 PM (Sports Network) - Patrik Elias had a night to remember on Friday and his performance helped power the New Jersey Devils to an impressive victory.

Tonight, Elias and the Devils will try to move past the sliding Pittsburgh Penguins in the Atlantic Division, as the clubs meet at Consol Energy Center in the Steel City.

Elias, playing in his 1,000th career game, assisted on Ilya Kovalchuk's go- ahead goal midway through the third period on Friday, and the Devils beat the visiting Florida Panthers, 5-2. Elias finished with a goal and two assists and joined Ken Daneyko and teammate Martin Brodeur as the only players to reach the 1,000-game mark as career-long Devils.

Since being selected in the second round of the 1994 draft by the Devils, Elias has gone on to become New Jersey's all-time regular-season leader in just about every single offensive category.

"I was pretty excited to play this game. Even if it's your first NHL game I think the adrenaline and excitement is the same," Elias said.

Kovalchuk had two goals for the Devils, while Adam Henrique and Zach Parise both had a goal and an assist. Johan Hedberg made 22 saves for the victors.

New Jersey's win over the Southeast Division-leading Panthers ended a two-game slide and moved the Devils into a tie with Pittsburgh for third place in the Atlantic. At 46 points, the Pens and Devs are still 10 behind the New York Rangers for first place in the division.

While the Devils were disposing of the Panthers in Newark, the Penguins lost Friday's 3-1 home decision to the Rangers. It was the third consecutive loss for Pittsburgh after a four-game winning streak.

The Devils handed Pittsburgh one of its losses on the current slide, as New Jersey posted a 3-1 home win over the Penguins on New Year's Eve. Kovalchuk supplied the offense with a goal and two assists, Brodeur made 29 saves to improve to 9-1-1 in his last 11 starts against Pittsburgh.

The Pens and Devils have split a pair of meetings this year and Pittsburgh has taken five of eight overall in the series. New Jersey has dropped four in a row in the Steel City, including a 4-1 setback at Consol Energy Center on Oct. 22.

Pittsburgh fired 38 shots at Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on Friday, but only one got past the steady Swede. Ben Lovejoy scored the lone goal of the game for the Penguins and Marc-Andre Fleury gave up all three goals on 21 shots in the loss.

"Right now we have to be better in every aspect of the game," said Lovejoy. "We're playing mediocre hockey and that's never going to get it done."

The Penguins' injury concerns continued to grow on Friday, as Pittsburgh center Jordan Staal left last night's game with around five minutes to play after getting the worst of a knee-on-knee collision with New York center Mike Rupp. Staal, who has 15 goals in 34 games this year, had to be helped off the ice by teammates. There has been no update on Staal's status for tonight.

In addition to Staal, the hobbled Pittsburgh club is still without Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Arron Asham among others due to injury. The Penguins did get defenseman Paul Martin and forward Richard Park back from IR in Friday's game.

For the Devils, defenseman Anton Volchenkov has missed the last three games with a lower-body issue, while forward Travis Zajac has sat out the last two with a sore Achilles. Both players are questionable for tonight.

The Devils enter tonight with an 11-9-1 record on the road, while the Pens are 11-4-2 as the host.