­If the Devils ought to win the Atlantic Division, they must not lose focus. They must not allow divisional foes to come back from two separate one-goal leads. When Pittsburgh visited the Prudential Center after the All Star break, the Penguins were lacking their own firepower. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby crashed into the boards in mid-January and will miss 6-8 weeks with a high ankle sprain. The Devils had a lead not once but twice, before collapsing late in the second period, eventually losing 4-2.

New Jersey jumped on the board first with some unlikely help. Michael Rupp cashed in his first of the season after Jordan Staal committed a hooking infraction. The Devils pressured until Rupp found the loose puck and tallied his first goal since March 30, 2007. Dainius Zubrus and Patrik Elias assisted on Rupp’s power play effort.

Staal ensured the Devils would not take the fifth meeting between these two teams.

Merely 1:12 into the middle frame, Staal found the back of the cage with help from the Devils defensemen. Travis Zajac made a careless mistake of passing the puck to Johnny Oduya, who was positioned to Brodeur's left. The puck accidentally went off Oduya and into the net.

The score remained knotted at one apiece until Rupp caught a lucky break.

Devils center Rod Pelley won the faceoff, immediately dropping the puck behind him where Rupp was situated. Rupp’s shot was headed to the corner before it deflected off Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and past goalie Ty Conklin. Rupp had not scored twice in a game since 2003-04’s campaign in which he tallied two goals twice (Dec. 16 and Oct 30).

Rupp’s even strength goal at 13:49 gave New Jersey its second lead, which lasted one minute and two seconds.

The Devils committed a costly turnover in their own end, resulting in Christensen’s seventh from Maxime Talbot. Brodeur tried to play the puck before Talbot captured it and fed Christensen on the goalmouth.

Pittsburgh continued its second period onslaught 92 seconds later.

After killing off two penalties, the Devils seemed exhausted and lackadaisical, allowing Penguins Ryan Malone’s first of two past Devils netminder Martin Brodeur.

The Penguins might have entered the final period in front 4-2 if not for Brodeur and his marvelous glove.

But, the Devils self-destructed, allowing three unanswered for the second straight contest.

Malone answered to Sergei Brylin’s inexcusable third period hooking penalty with his 13th of the season. Petr Sykora and Sergei Gonchar were credited with assists on Malone’s at 5:21, which placed Pittsburgh ahead 4-2.

The Devils, who finished with merely five shots in the final 20 minutes, have now lost four of five at home after winning nine of previous 10.

The Devils managed three third-period shots in their previous contest before the All Star break. Montreal quickly turned that game, a two-goal deficit into a 4-3 win with three unanswered third-period tallies.

New Jersey must recover in a hurry as four of the next five games are scheduled at the Rock.

With the loss, New Jersey dropped to 28-19-3, while Pittsburgh increased to 28-18-4.

The New York Rangers visit the downtown Newark arena on Friday. Pittsburgh continues its road trip to Atlanta.

Notes:

Jamie Langenbrunner (flu) and Jay Pandolfo (pelvic/abdomen) remained sidelined with their respective injuries. Pandolfo did return to practice yesterday, according to Tom Gulitti, Bergen Record Devils beat writer

Can Janssen and Sheldon Brookbank were healthy scratches while Andy Greene returned to the lineup after missing the last three as a healthy scratch (Tom Gulitti).

The Devils scored on the power play for third straight game. But, they also allowed another opponent to score on the man advantage. They are now 17-13-1 when a foe scores on the 5-on-4, 5-on-3 type situations.

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