The challenge of replacing the irreplaceable Sidney Crosby is a lot of things for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Immense? Certainly.

Daunting? Absolutely.

Impossible? Perhaps.

But not complicated, at least in the eyes of his healthy teammates, who suggest all they have to do is offer a little bit more on an individual basis to collectively compensate for their captain as he convalesces from a suspected right leg injury he suffered while skating for Canada in the Olympics.

“Everybody’s got to step up,” forward Bryan Rust said. “Not just with their play but with how we handle the locker room, how we handle the ebbs and flows of the game. All those little things.”

On Thursday, they did enough things of various sizes to get a considerably positive result, a 4-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils at PPG Paints Arena.

Rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs made 28 saves on 29 shots, boosting his record to 12-7-8.

Placed on injured reserve on Wednesday morning, Crosby is expected to be sidelined for a minimum of four weeks during his recovery.

“For sure, he’s a big part of the team, but there’s guys who can step up,” Silovs said of Crosby. “If I can do it for the time (until) he comes back, we’re going to be in a great spot.”

Penguins forward Tommy Novak — entrusted with the top-line center duties as Crosby begins his recovery — opened the scoring with his 12th goal of the season 18 minutes, 51 seconds into regulation during a power-play sequence.

Off some hot potato passing around the perimeter of New Jersey’s zone, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin faked a shot, then one-touched a puck from the right circle to the high slot, where Penguins defenseman Kris Letang golfed a one-timer toward the cage. Spinning through the crease, Novak managed to deflect the puck with his stick past goaltender Jacob Markstrom’s glove. Letang and Malkin had assists.

“Quick movement around the power play,” Novak said. “Then (Letang) with the one-timer just hit my stick. It was going pretty fast. Luckily, it hit my stick and went in.”

The visitors tied the game at 4:56 of the second period via forward Paul Cotter’s sixth goal during a delayed penalty.

Accepting a pass near the right point of the offensive zone, Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton hammered a one-timer. Positioned just to the right of the crease, Cotter spun away from the shot, which managed to glance off of his right leg and get past Silovs’ glove. Hamilton and forward Jack Hughes hauled in assists.

The Penguins issued a coach’s challenge, claiming goaltender interference, but officials found no such evidence of malfeasance, resulting in a bench minor for delay of game for the Penguins.

On the season, the Penguins are 0 for 6 in coach’s challenges on the grounds of goaltender interference.

“I’m at least that right now,” Muse quipped, regarding his sextet of futility. “The goalie interference is, it’s not always clear cut. … I think a lot of it depends on where we’re at in the game.

“Yeah, I know what the record is. Honestly, I’m not too concerned with that. I think that I’ll just keep challenging until I get one, or I don’t. I’m going to go off of what I feel like is the best thing in that moment. And sometimes, too, I want to back up our goalie. And I didn’t think he got a totally fair shake there making that save.”

Silovs, who suited up for Latvia in the Olympics, was candid on what the NHL defines as goaltender interference.

“Probably in the Olympics, it wouldn’t count,” Silovs said. “Here it counts. It’s different rules. We tried to challenge, wasn’t successful.

“It’s really hard to understand what it is and isn’t (goaltender interference).”

An unconventional source restored a lead for the Penguins at 6:30 of the third period when defenseman Connor Clifton scored his second goal.

From above New Jersey’s left circle, Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea stroked a slapper that clunked off the crossbar and deflected to the far half-wall. As Markstrom struggled to locate the rebound, Clifton gathered it in and fired a slapper toward a half-open cage on the near side. Shea and forward Anthony Mantha merited assists.

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“(Shea) went off the bar and it came right to my stick for a one-timer,” Clifton said. “So, I just shot it. Not too much more than that, but we were getting some chances. Fortunate to get that goal.”

A more conventional source padded the Penguins’ lead only 50 seconds later when forward Egor Chinakov collected his 12th goal.

Securing a loose puck in front of the home bench, Malkin curled away from Devils forward Jesper Bratt and snapped a stretch pass to Chinakhov as the Devils made a clumsy line change. Taking advantage of the mishap, Chinakhov hustled in on a breakaway and deposited a wrister past Markstrom’s left leg. Malkin had the only assist.

“He’s had like four goals that look just like that this year,” Novak said. “Just flying. Little chip shots. He’s so fast. He gets so many opportunities like that. He’s bound to score a lot. It’s fun to watch.”

Penguins forward Blake Lizotte capped the scoring while short-handed with his seventh goal on an empty net at 18:01 of the third frame. There were no assists.

There will be no Crosby for several weeks.

But the Penguins offered plenty of evidence Thursday that, through a variety of increased contributions, they can thrive until he returns.

“Obviously, you can’t replace the stuff that he does, but other guys are going to get more opportunity and ice time to show what they can do,” Novak said. “Everyone wants that (in order) to step up and do something good for the team. Today was a good example of that.”

Notes:

• Defenseman Sam Girard made his Penguins debut two days after being acquired in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche. Opening the contest on the left side of the second pairing with right-hander Kris Letang, Girard logged 17:53 of ice time on 18 shifts and had a team-leading four blocked shots.

• Muse offered an assessment of Girard:

“I don’t think he gets enough credit for some of the plays defensively. That first period, especially, where I thought maybe we were putting ourselves in some tough situations – I thought he made a couple really good defensive reads, some plays at the net, good stick detail down low. Some of those, they might look like little things, but they’re really big things, and they’re really good reads. Getting up, closing at the blue line, and then I think going back for breakouts, I think that’s something that he’s really good at.

“He’s got some really good reads there in terms of his decisions, his ability. He’s got ice water in his veins (with) his ability to make those plays under pressure. I think people will see that more and more here as we go. But yeah, it’s a big two points for us, and I thought he played a good part in it.”

• Girard became the sixth player to wear No. 49 in a game of consequence for the Penguins. His predecessors (via PittsburghHockey.net):

Greg Andrusak, Matt Hussey, Brad Thiessen, Brian Gibbons, Dominik Simon

• With Crosby’s consecutive games streak of 81 snapped, forward Connor Dewar became the Penguins’ active “ironman” with 74 consecutive games played. Shea is second with 66 games. They are the only two members of the team with a consecutive games streak that extends to last season.

• With Crosby absent, only five players have appeared in all 57 of the Penguins’ games this season: Dewar, Novak, forward Anthony Mantha, Shea and defenseman Parker Wotherspoon.

• Malkin (1,392 points) surpassed Brett Hull (1,391) for 25th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Muse (30-15-12) surpassed Herb Brooks (29-21-7) for sole possession of 20th place on the franchise’s coaching wins list.

• Silovs (12-7-8) moved into sole possession of 35th place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list. He surpassed Joe Daley (11-18-6) and Rob Holland (11-22-9).

• The Penguins were five for five on the penalty kill.

• Penguins defensemen Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov, as well as forward Kevin Hayes, were healthy scratches.

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