PITTSBURGH — In the first two periods Thursday, the Penguins often looked like a team that hadn’t played in three weeks and was missing its captain.

But their goaltender kept them in the game. And the third period brought the type of all-around dominance that has propelled Pittsburgh into playoff position deep in the season.

The Penguins beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-1, at PPG Paints Arena in their first game following the Olympic break. It was also their first game without Sidney Crosby, who’s expected to be sidelined for at least four weeks with a lower-body injury suffered at the Olympics.

Three of those Pittsburgh goals came in the final frame, turning a tight game into a blowout victory that pushed the Penguins to 30-15-12 on the season and maintained their second-place position in the Metropolitan Division.

“We started to find our rhythm a little bit more,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “And that’s what you want to see when you have a tight game at that point.”

His team wasn’t great in its first period after the break. But Arturs Silovs was. Drawing the first post-Olympics start over Stuart Skinner, the Team Latvia netminder made several tough saves.

He carried that momentum into one of his finest performances of the season. Silovs stopped 28 shots, saving an incredible 2.76 goals above expected, according to Sportlogiq.

Muse praised the recent Olympian’s play but did not sound like he’s planning to switch from the game-to-game goalie rotation with Skinner.

“We’ll continue to reevaluate things on a day-to-day basis when it comes to everything in the lineup,” Muse said. “But both guys, they’ve been working, and they’ve been doing a really good job there for us.”

So did New Jersey netminder Jacob Markstrom. But Tommy Novak beat him for a 1-0 Penguins lead at the first intermission. Pittsburgh’s current top-line center tipped in a Kris Letang bomb on the power play to bail the home team out of a sloppy period.

The second period brought more Silovs brilliance — including a pad save on a Jesper Bratt spin-o-rama attempt followed by a rebound stop on Cody Glass.

But the Devils punched through the equalizer anyway. Paul Cotter deflected in a Dougie Hamilton shot on a delayed penalty about five minutes into the second.

The Penguins’ penalty kill — led by Silovs — was the star of the middle frame. They denied four Devils power plays in the period and all five in the game, while generating multiple short-handed breakaways.

“There’s a massive momentum swing you get every time you get a short-handed chance because it’s a momentum swing against the power play,” Muse said. “And so all those ones … even though they didn't go in, that changes the feel.”

Pittsburgh then picked up its play in the third, challenging Markstrom early in the period before Connor Clifton rifled in a shot from the circle for a 2-1 lead. His blue-line partner Ryan Shea had drawn iron for at least the second time in the game. But the rebound went straight to Clifton, and he scored his second of the season.

And 50 seconds later, the Russian connection struck again. Evgeni Malkin placed a stretch pass on a platter for Egor Chinakhov, who showed off his blazing speed and beat Markstrom on the breakaway.

“Unbelievable. I like to play with [Malkin],” Chinakhov said. “He, all the time, sees very open ice. I just need to skate on the ice, and that’s it."

That was Chinakhov’s ninth goal in 19 games as a Penguin — several assisted by Malkin. But it was Chinakhov’s first goal as a father. His wife gave birth to their daughter earlier this week.

The Penguins finally converted one of those short-handed opportunities on an empty-net goal from Blake Lizotte with about two minutes remaining. Lizotte also became a father over the break.

It was over when ...

Chinakhov buried the breakaway chance to push his point streak to four games and the Penguins’ lead to 3-1. He leads Pittsburgh in goals since entering the lineup Jan. 1.

Stat of the game

— 2: Evgeni Malkin’s assists in the game, the first coming on Novak’s opener. It might not be some gaudy total. But it’s the type of productive night the Penguins will need to survive Crosby’s absence.

Around the boards

— It was Crosby’s first missed game of the season.

— Defenseman Kris Letang was activated from injured reserve Wednesday after he broke his foot shortly before the Olympic break. He had been skating with the Penguins since they resumed practice last week.

— Letang skated in a defensive pair alongside Sam Girard in his first game as a Penguin. President of hockey operations Kyle Dubas acquired Girard and a 2028 second-round pick from Colorado in return for defenseman Brett Kulak, who had been Letang’s partner on the blue line.

— Forward Avery Hayes made his home debut in his second NHL game after the Penguins recalled him from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League earlier this week. He skated alongside Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust on Crosby’s typical line.

— The Penguins honored the Olympians from both teams before the game. Devils forward Jack Hughes, who scored the golden goal for the U.S. in overtime against Canada, received a loud ovation, including some “USA” chants.

“It was such a good tournament,” Muse said. “It’s great to have best-on-best back again at the Olympics.”

— The Penguins unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference on the Devils’ lone goal. Silovs said he has “no idea” what goalie interference is and guessed the goal would have been waved off at the Olympics.

It didn’t look like an obvious interference call. Muse joked about his lack of success on those challenges this year before explaining his reasoning.

“Sometimes … I want to back up our goalie,” he said. “And I didn’t think he got a totally fair shake there making that save.”

Up next

The Penguins’ packed post-break schedule continues with a quick road trip to New York. They will play the Rangers at 12:30 p.m. Saturday before returning to Pittsburgh for a 1 p.m. Sunday game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

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