Penguins avoid being swept by Devils, beat New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. >> Bryan Rust scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the second period and the Pittsburgh Penguins continued their playoff push and avoided the embarrassment of being swept by the lowly New Jersey Devils with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night.

Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, Nick Bjugstad and Zach Aston-Reese also scored for Pittsburgh, which has won four of its last five in its bid to make the playoffs for the 13th straight year. The streak is the longest active playoff run in the NHL.

Matt Murray made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period, to help the Penguins salvage the final game in the four-game season series. PANTHERS 4, SABRES 2 >> Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals and an assist to lead Florida over Buffalo.

Aleksander Barkov had a goal and two assists, Jayce Hawryluk also scored and Frank Vatrano had two assists for the Panthers. James Reimer made 32 saves in his third straight start. The Panthers won their third straight and are 9-4-0 in their past 13 games.

Jack Eichel and Vladimir Sobotka scored for the Sabres and Linus Ullmark stopped 37 shots. Buffalo has lost three straight games.

RANGERS 2, HURRICANES 1 >> Vladislav Namestikov scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, giving New York a win over Carolina.

Connor Brickley also scored for the Rangers, who earned a split of a four-game road trip and handed the Hurricanes just their third loss this month. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 43 shots to get his 17th win of the season.

Jordan Martinook scored and Curtis McElhinney finished with 24 saves for Carolina, which had won six of its previous seven games — including its first road win over the Rangers since Oct. 2010.

Sabres’ Okposo diagnosed with another concussion

BUFFALO, N.Y. >> Buffalo forward Kyle Okposo has sustained his third concussion in less than three years.

The team announced the diagnosis on its Twitter account Tuesday, a day after Okposo was sent home for follow-up medical tests. Okposo, 30, was hurt Friday, when he was felled by a punch to the face during a fight with New York’s Tony DeAngelo in the third period of a 6-2 loss to the Rangers.

Okposo did not return to play against the Rangers, but was cleared to travel with the Sabres to open their three-game trip at New Jersey Sunday.