Matchup: New Jersey Devils at Penguins, 7:38 p.m. today, Mellon Arena.

TV/radio: FSN Pittsburgh/ WWSW-FM (94.5).

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Martin Brodeur for Devils.

Penguins: Have lost 12 of their past 13. ... Their 141 goals against are most in NHL. ... Beginning a stretch of four games in six days.

Devils: Had 15 points in past 16 games before last night's game against Washington. ... Were 9-10 in one-goal games. ... Have won two of three against Penguins with a 14-8 goal edge.

Hidden stat: Penguins have scored first just nine times; New Jersey has scored first 22 times and is 11-7-4 in those games.

Don't all raise your hands at once.

In fairness, although the Penguins' power play hasn't been stellar, the perception of its performance is skewed after the failures in the third period of Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to Toronto. They had two minutes of five-on-three play and two minutes of five-on-four late in a tie game at home and couldn't score.

Overall, the Penguins ranked 19th in the league with a power-play conversion rate of 15.6 percent going into last night's games.

New Jersey was eight notches lower, 27th, at 14.2 percent, before its game last night against Washington.

The Devils undoubtedly were in a deeper funk.

The Penguins at least got their two goals against Toronto on the power play. New Jersey had just four power-play goals in 100 chances in 14 games entering last night.

That 4 percent rate is easy to figure even for the math-challenged, but solving the Devils' problem is much harder.

"You shake your head every time," New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur told the Newark Star-Ledger. "I'm in the net, trying to stay positive about it.

"Maybe we should start declining power plays. It's been that way for a month now. It's hard to understand because we work hard on it."

The missed opportunity to beat Toronto hit the Penguins hard, but their confidence doesn't seem to be shaken as much as New Jersey's.

If the Devils continue their power-play drought, it could be a boost for the Penguins' special teams.

"If our [penalty killers] gets some confidence, then one special team feeds off of the other and, hopefully, we can get the power play going," Penguins winger John LeClair said after practice yesterday.

Both teams are missing parts on the power play.

For the Penguins, it's playmaker Mario Lemieux, who is out of the lineup because of an irregular heartbeat. There was some criticism that the power play was too predictable with everything bent toward Lemieux's side of the ice, but the statistics don't bear that out.

With Lemieux, the Penguins are 30 for 180 on the power play, 16.7 percent. Without him, they are 5 for 45, 11.1 percent.

"Definitely we miss Mario on the power play, but he's not there," said Michel Therrien, who is 0-4 since assuming the Penguins coaching job.

Therrien said with or without Lemieux, it's not that complicated.

"We try to make it very basic," he said. "The game hasn't changed that much. You need to make good decisions, make high-percentage plays all the time so that it's two-on-ones. You want to have traffic in front and you want to take quality shots."

For New Jersey, the missing element is depth at the points.

General manager Lou Lamoriello, who is 1-3 as interim coach, hinted to reporters that he might make a roster move. He also is looking at winger Patrik Elias at the point -- but Elias is day to day after a bout of hepatitis A.

Therrien believes the Penguins' power play will come around, just as other parts of the team's play has.

"The results aren't there, but we're not far," he said. "The work ethic is better. Our play five-on-five is much better. We've cut down on the [opponent] shots. We've cut down the [opponent] scoring chances. We still have to work on some details, but I know success will come."

It could come as early as tonight if the difference in the game comes down to power-play goals. After all, the Penguins did ring up two against Toronto.

"I hope they're going to give us two goals [tonight]," Therrien said, smiling.

NOTES -- Defenseman Rob Scuderi cleared waivers and will join the Penguins today from their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton minor-league club. Scuderi had no points in 10 games with the Penguins before being reassigned. He had eight assists and a plus-11 rating in 13 games with the Baby Penguins. ... There might be another move today as winger Ryan VandenBussche was placed on injured reserve with a cervical (neck) strain and Shane Endicott was limited in practice because of sore left leg from blocking a shot Tuesday against Toronto. VandenBussche joins Lemieux, Matt Murley (shoulder strain) and Brooks Orpik (broken foot) on IR.