Pittsburgh, PA (My Sportsbook) - Sidney Crosby scored his 30th goal of the season and assisted on another, as the Pittsburgh Penguins continued to improve their playoff chances with a 6-1 rout of the slumping New Jersey Devils.

Chris Kunitz also had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who are now tied with Philadelphia for fourth place in the East with 92 points. The Flyers, who lost to Toronto on Wednesday, still hold one game in hand.

Crosby extended his points streak to 16 consecutive games.

"We didn't change the way we played or let up at all, which was good," said Crosby. "We had to make sure we kept doing the same things."

Jordan Staal, Bill Guerin, Matt Cooke and Evgeni Malkin also contributed to the offense with a goal apiece. Hal Gill and Sergei Gonchar each had a pair of assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the win.

Brian Gionta scored the lone goal for the Devils, who have lost six straight for the first time since November 2-14, 2000. Martin Brodeur was not his usual self, allowing all six goals on 37 shots to fall to 1-5-1 since becoming hockey's all-time wins leader.

The Devils are still six points ahead of the Penguins and Flyers for the Atlantic Division lead but fell three points behind Washington for the second position in the conference.

"It's just like the rest of them," said Devils right wing Jamie Langenbrunner. "When things are going like this we have to find a way to stay positive and keep battling."

The Penguins struck first quickly, as Cooke took the puck from behind the net, skated out in front and put it underneath Brodeur at 5:55.

It didn't take much longer for Pittsburgh to extend its lead. Guerin took a wrist shot from the right circle that snuck past Brodeur's glove just 36 seconds later.

The Devils cut their deficit to one later in the period. Dainius Zubrus wristed a shot that was initially saved by Fleury, but Gionta was there for the rebound, slamming the puck underneath the goaltender's legs at 11:22.

The Pens, though, restored their two-goal lead on Malkin's wrister from the right circle with 2:49 left in the opening frame while on the power play.

Crosby made it a 4-1 game on his 30th goal of the year at the 9:35 mark of the second, and Staal made it a four-goal game 13 seconds later after grabbing a rebound out in front and depositing it past the out-of-position Brodeur.

Kunitz added a goal in the third to complete the rout for Pittsburgh.

Game Notes

Idle Carolina sits just one point behind Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the standings...The Penguins have won six of seven overall but have only one more home game out of their remaining five...The teams split the season series, 3-3...Pittsburgh hasn't won the season series between the clubs since 2000-01...Malkin has 299 career points.