Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette The Devils' Patrik Elias scores the winning and only goal against Marc-Andre Fleury in the shootout last night at Mellon Arena.

By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Yeah, the Penguins came from two goals down to win Sunday, but that was against Philadelphia. And the Flyers have at least as much trouble holding leads as they do getting them in the first place.

They rallied from three down in Ottawa two nights later, but there was an asterisk on that one, too. The Senators had blown third-period leads in their previous two games, and seemed hardwired to collapse like wet tissue when faced with a bit of pressure.

But the team on the other bench this time was New Jersey, and the guy in front of its net was Martin Brodeur. Few teams protect a lead as effectively as the Devils, and even fewer goalies are as stingy as Brodeur in key situations.

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No matter. The Penguins still managed to rally from one-goal deficits twice in the third period to earn a point in what became a 4-3 shootout loss at Mellon Arena.

Which means that, while the Penguins weren't particularly close to their best, they did come away with a decent consolation prize.

"We have to make sure we put ourselves in better position," center Sidney Crosby said. "But to come back like that is encouraging."

It was the Penguins' fourth shootout in their past five games, and they had won seven consecutive shootouts before losing to the Devils.

Patrik Elias secured the victory for New Jersey when he beat Marc-Andre Fleury, who had stopped Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner.

Brodeur, who reached the 40-victory mark for a league-record sixth time in his career, denied Erik Christensen, Evgeni Malkin and Crosby in the shootout.

All three shooters tried to beat him on the glove side. None came terribly close to pulling it off.

"All three shots, he gave [the glove side] to us," Crosby said. "He was waiting for us to go there, and we all went there."

And they all went back to the bench disappointed.

The loss dropped the Penguins (36-21-10) eight points behind the Devils in the Atlantic Division and, coupled with Ottawa's 5-1 victory against Toronto, leaves them two behind the fourth-place Senators in the Eastern Conference.

The Devils played with just 18 men, scratching right winger Brian Gionta because of a groin problem and losing defenseman Colin White in the pregame warmup because of an apparent hand injury.

Malkin got the only goal of the first period when he scored his 30th of the season during a power play at 6:48. He was along the goal line to the right of the New Jersey net and collected a Mark Recchi shot that had gone through the crease before throwing the puck past Brodeur.

Crosby received the second assist, his 99th point of the season.

Devils defenseman Andy Greene tied the score at 3:34 of the second, when his wrist shot from just inside the blue line sailed through traffic in front of the net and under the cross bar behind Fleury. Greene's goal was his first in 10 NHL games.

Sergei Brylin put the Devils in front with a sensational individual effort at 14:57. He was on his stomach near the inner edge of the right circle but still managed to sweep a Johnny Oduya rebound into the net.

Sergei Gonchar revived the Penguins -- and the standing-room crowd of 17,132 -- with a short-handed goal at 7:32 of the third, as he threw the puck toward Jordan Staal, who was near the right post, and it somehow eluded Brodeur and ended up in the net.

"I tried to surprise him," Gonchar said. "I guess it worked out well."

New Jersey wasn't fazed, however, and Travis Zajac put the Devils back in front at 11:38, jamming in a shot from the right side of the crease to make it 3-2.

The Devils typically go into a complete lockdown at that point, but Scott Gomez was guilty of a costly gaffe that allowed the Penguins to pull even again.

Malkin picked off a Gomez pass near the New Jersey goal line and slid the puck into the slot, where Michel Ouellet stepped into it and lashed it behind Brodeur at 17:22 for his first in 10 games.

That was the final goal of regulation, and assured the Penguins' evening would not be a total loss, in any sense. But it isn't going to take up much space on their highlights tape, either.

"We should be happy we got a point out of it," Gonchar said. "But at the same time, we shouldn't be happy with the way we played the game."