Stuart Skinner dominant in net as Penguins beat Devils to extend winning streak to six

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 8, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — Some games have a sound, and the Penguins’ win against the Devils on Thursday was one of those games.

It sounded like boos were raining down at PPG Paints Arena for most of the night. But Penguins fans were anything but upset with their team’s performance. They were simply showing support for Pittsburgh’s goaltender, Stuart Skinner.

Chants of “STUUUU!” sounded from the rafters after each of the veteran netminder’s 28 saves as he led the Penguins to a 4-1 win against New Jersey. It was Pittsburgh’s sixth consecutive victory since the holiday break, the second-longest active streak in the league behind Tampa Bay.

After a rocky start to his Penguins tenure — he was acquired in the mid-December Tristan Jarry trade — Skinner has now won three straight, allowing just one goal in each game.

The Penguins (21-12-9) made life tough on him in the first period, turning the puck over again and again to create golden chances for New Jersey. But he had the answers each time.

He stymied Jesper Bratt on a clean breakaway about nine minutes into the period, unleashing a vigorous round of his signature chant. He made 11 saves in the period to bail out his undisciplined team.

But for all their defensive mistakes, the Penguins’ offense quickly gave Skinner a one-goal lead with a little preview of February in Italy.

Rickard Rakell shuffled the puck to his Swedish Olympic teammate Erik Karlsson streaking down the wing in the first period. Karlsson rifled a wrister over Jake Allen’s glove at the 6:39 mark for his fourth of the season.

Sidney Crosby pushed his point streak to eight games with an assist on Karlsson’s opener.

Rakell had a hand in the second Pittsburgh goal as well, springing Connor Dewar for a breakaway after he exited the penalty box. The fourth-liner converted through the five-hole 5:23 into the second period.

Dewar is quietly up to eight goals on the season, tied for fifth on the team.

And Evgeni Malkin triumphantly announced his return with a 5-on-3 missile from the circle to put the Penguins up 3-0 late in the second period. He had looked rusty, although very energetic, before that in his first game since Dec. 4.

But the 39-year-old looked like the player who racked up 29 points in the first 26 games on that power-play goal.

New Jersey finally broke through on a power-play goal of their own 2:55 into the third period, as Luke Hughes powered one past Skinner from the point.

But the Penguins’ netminder made several impressive saves immediately after to quell the Devils’ momentum, and Blake Lizotte gave the Penguins some breathing room when he tapped in a beautiful backdoor feed from Noel Acciari to put Pittsburgh up 4-1 with less than seven minutes remaining.

It was over when ...

New Jersey looked out of sorts for most of the night, coming off a 9-0 loss to the Islanders two days before. So when Malkin hammered home the 5-on-3 goal, the Penguins’ lead felt fairly safe even with their history of collapses.

Stat of the game

— 1,087: Crosby’s career assists after he had two helpers Thursday (the second was on Malkin’s power-play goal). That put him past Wayne Gretzky in Edmonton for the second-most with one team in NHL history. The Penguins captain trails only Ray Bourque with Boston (1,111), per Penguins PR.

Around the boards

— Malkin returned to the lineup after missing the past 15 games with an upper-body injury.

— Forward Ville Koivunen was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the team announced Thursday. The move gives the 22-year-old the opportunity to continue playing when he would likely be out of the lineup due to Malkin’s return and his own struggles to produce — despite solid advanced stats, he has five points in 27 games this season.

— Defenseman Caleb Jones skated with teammates Thursday morning. He has been out with a lower-body injury since Oct. 23, when he crashed into the boards at Florida. He’d been in the lineup for seven of the first eight games, with largely solid results.

— The Devils’ 9-0 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday featured a horrible performance from goalie Jacob Markstrom, who gave up a historically bad 7.39 goals above expected according to Moneypuck. The Penguins faced Allen instead — who made 33 saves in the Devils’ 2-1 shootout win against the Penguins on Nov. 8. He had some excellent stops Thursday as well, but it was far from enough.

Up next

The Penguins will practice on Friday before the second half of a two-game homestand against Calgary at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.