NEW YORK — The New Jersey Devils dished out another 3-1 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday to solidify their place at the top of the Eastern Conference. A day after beating division rivals Pittsburgh by the same score in New Jersey, the Devils repeated the trick on Penguins' ice thanks to goals from Ilya Kovalchuk and David Clarkson, who took his tally to nine for the season. The win was the Devils' fifth in a row and improved their record to 8-1-3, while the Pens dipped to 8-5. James Neal scored the lone goal for the Penguins during a power play in the final period. Blackhawks 3, Predators 0: Marcus Kruger and Jonathan Toews each scored 66 seconds apart in the second period, and the Chicago Blackhawks remained the NHL's lone undefeated team in regulation by beating the Nashville Predators. Patrick Kane also added a goal in the third as the Blackhawks won their fourth straight game and improved to 10-0-2 overall. Goalie Corey Crawford got Chicago's first shutout of the season and the sixth of his career, making 17 saves. Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne had won four straight starts and hadn't allowed an even-strength goal since Jan. 28. But that streak ended at 316 minutes, 40 seconds when Roman Josi kicked the puck, trying to clear it, right to Kruger near the high slot. Kruger snapped a shot over Rinne's stick for his second goal of the season at 6:14. Edmonton 3, Columbus 1: Magnus Paajarvi scored a go-ahead shorthanded goal with 3:10 remaining and Devan Dubnyk made 39 saves as the visiting Oilers snapped a five-game losing streak. R.J. Umberger scored his first goal of the season to tie it in the third for Columbus, which lost despite outshooting the Oilers, 40-14. Boston 3, Buffalo 1: Patrice Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal on a third-period power play for the visiting Bruins. The Bruins (8-1-1) are off to the team's best start over its first 10 games. NY Rangers 5, Tampa Bay 1: Carl Hagelin had two goals and an assist, and Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves as the host Rangers extended Tampa Bay's losing streak to four games. Red Wings 3, Kings 2: Jonathan Ericsson's goal with five seconds left, less than a minute after Los Angeles had tied the score, gave Detroit its third win in four days. Jimmy Howard made 45 saves, his highest total in more than a year, for the host Red Wings. — Agencies
