The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the breach of the second half of their 2025-26 season Thursday, facing the New Jersey Devils at PPG Paints Arena in their 42nd contest of the campaign.

And they did so with a marvelous reinforcement in the form of the spectacular Evgeni Malkin.

The superstar forward joined his teammates after missing the past 15 games because of an unspecified shoulder injury.

Aided by Malkin’s presence, the Penguins extended a season-best winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory against their Metropolitan Division rivals.

Activated from injured reserve earlier in the afternoon, Malkin scored a power-play goal after opening the contest on the left wing of the second line. He was eager to join a squad that had strung recent success in his absence but admitted to some rust in his return.

“I feel a little bit nervous and I can’t breathe,” Malkin said. “But after first (period), I play so much better. I think we all play better. Huge goal, power play, five-on-three. But gives me confidence (in) the next games. I’m just glad how my shoulder is feeling the whole game. (Very) important for me. Goal important but my body is (the) most important thing.”

Perhaps the most prominent name in the lineup for the Penguins on Thursday — at least based on how often his nickname was chanted — was goaltender Stuart Skinner.

Serenaded by calls of “STUUUUUUUuuuuuu …” for much of the evening, Skinner made 28 saves on 29 shots as his record improved to 14-11-4. He extended an individual winning streak to three games.

“It was pretty fun in there,” Skinner said. “I definitely felt the support the whole game. I think the guys felt the support the whole game. It was a loud building tonight and definitely got us going, especially at the start. So, yeah, it was nice. Keep it going.”

The Penguins have gone in the right direction since the NHL’s three-day holiday break (Dec. 24-26). When they emerged from the respite, they were in 14th place of the Eastern Conference (out of 16 teams) with a 15-12-9 mark and 39 points.

Following Thursday’s triumph, they are now 21-12-9 with 51 points and have settled into the conference’s first wild card seed.

But given how much parity the NHL has engineered with the salary cap, the Penguins know they can’t take a breather.

“If you see (the standings), all teams (are) tight,” Malkin said. “But we need focus every game. We can’t just give easy games.”

Malkin didn’t have a completely easy return. There was some adjustment just in that he was deployed as winger on the second line with rookie Ben Kindel at center and Egor Chinakov on the opposite wing.

On Thursday, Malkin and Chinakhov alternated wings. For the bulk of his dazzling 20-year career, Malkin has predominantly been deployed at center.

“First period, I play left wing but third period, you see, I play right wing,” Malkin said. “I need a little bit of time. It’s not easy changing your position. A long time ago, I played wing, I think. After the first, I think I take a couple of pucks, use my stick handling, it feels a little bit better for sure. A huge goal for me. I hope we play same the next game too.”

Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson opened the scoring 6:39 into the game with his fourth goal of the season.

Accepting an exchange from the defensive blue line near the home bench from linemate Sidney Crosby, forward Rickard Rakell roared through the neutral zone and gained the offensive blue line. Entering the offensive zone at the center point, Rakell flicked a backhanded pass to the right wing for Karlsson, who rushed up the boards. Advancing below the near faceoff dot, Karlsson elevated a wrister to the near side that glanced off of goaltender Jake Allen’s left shoulder and found an avenue into the cage. Rakell and Crosby had assists.

Even with the lead, the Penguins didn’t exactly have an outstanding start to the contest. They were outshot 11-7 in the first period.

The Devils had a marvelous opportunity to tie the game with a breakaway attempt by forward Jesper Bratt at 8:44 of the opening frame, but Skinner snuffed out those ambitions with a stick save.

“I felt good right off the get-go,” Skinner said. “Got a few shots pretty early on, which always get you into it a little bit quicker. So yeah, I just felt like after making a couple of the first saves, I was feeling really good.”

The hosts took a 2-0 lead at 5:23 of the second period via forward Connor Dewar’s eighth goal.

After Dewar was penalized at the 3:16 mark for high-sticking defenseman Brett Pesce, his teammates successfully killed the ensuing power-play opportunity for the Devils, limiting them to two shots over two minutes.

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Following a failed dump-in by the Devils, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang corralled the puck in the left corner of the defensive zone and fed a short-area pass to Rakell in the near circle. Turning his attention up ice, Rakell snapped a stretch pass to Dewar, recently liberated from the penalty box. Embarking on a breakaway from New Jersey’s blue line, Dewar approached the net and fired a wrister through Allen’s five hole for his second goal in three games. Rakell and Letang logged assists.

“I had lots of time,” Dewar said. “Just thought I could freeze him a little bit and shoot five hole. That was on the pre-scout (meeting). It worked out.”

Malkin’s ninth goal at 19:07 of the second frame came during a five-on-three power-play sequence.

Off some perimeter passing in the offensive zone with Karlsson, Crosby slid a pass from the high slot to the right faceoff circle, where Malkin thunder-clapped a signature one-timer over Allen on the near side. Crosby and Karlsson claimed assists.

Defenseman Luke Hughes accounted for the Devils’ only offense with his fifth goal during a power-play scenario 2:55 into the third period.

Taking a pass at the center point of the offensive zone, Hughes dished the puck to the top of the left circle for Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Faking a shot, Hamilton one-touched it back to Hughes, who stroked a one-timer that beat Skinner’s blocker. Ex-Penguins forward Stefan Noesen supplied a screen on the sequence. Hamilton and forward Jack Hughes had assists.

The Penguins’ fourth line got in on the act again when forward Blake Lizotte found his fifth goal at 13:26 of the final frame.

Allen played a puck behind his cage but wound up turning it over. Dewar accepted the charity on the right half-wall and one-touched the puck to the near circle for Noel Acciari, who proceeded to set up Lizotte for a tap-in from the left of the crease. Assists were accumulated by Acciari and Dewar.

When all three components of the Lizotte-Acciari-Dewar line — or the “LAD Line” as acronym-minded teammates refer to it — are in the lineup, the Penguins are 14-3-3 this season.

“The three of them, they know one way,” coach Dan Muse said. “It’s led with the work. It’s direct, fast, it’s hard to play against. And you’re seeing them get rewarded with offense now, too.

“They find a way to create.”

The Penguins’ last winning streak of six or more games was a seven-game sequence from Dec. 1-15, 2022.

What can the 2025-26 edition of the club accomplish over the final 40 games of the regular season (if not beyond)?

“When we lose, you say, ‘What do you think?’ When we win, you say ‘What do you think?’” Malkin quipped with a reporter. “More fun when you win. You see every line play amazing. Now, we have depth, all lines. Everybody back. No injuries. Skinner played amazing. Power play work. (Penalty kill) work. Stay focused. Just play right.

“We know we (are) good guys here, a good group. We know how we play. Just have fun every night.”

Notes:

• Rakell (197 points) surpassed forward George Ferguson (195) for 44th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Karlsson (142 points) surpassed forward Keith McCreary (141), defenseman Marcus Pettersson (141), forward Vic Hadfield (140) and defenseman Kevin Hatcher (140) for 64th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Karlsson also surpassed Pettersson as the highest-scoring Swedish-born defenseman in franchise history.

• Skinner (3-3-0) moved into a tie for 46th place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list, surpassing John Curry (2-2-0), Roy Edwards (2-8-4), Brian Ford (2-6-0) and Mathieu Garon (2-1-0).

• Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton and forward Kevin Hayes were healthy scratches.

• Prior to the game, the Penguins recognized Jack McGregor, a former state senator who founded the franchise that entered the NHL in 1967, along with Peter Block. McGregor died Tuesday at the age of 91.

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