Niclas Bergfors had a goal and two assists and the Devils closed within a victory of tying the NHL record of 10 consecutive road victories to start a season, beating the slumping Penguins, 4-1, last night.

Zach Parise added a goal and an assist, Travis Zajac had three assists, and Martin Brodeur made 25 saves as New Jersey improved to 9-0 on the road. The Devils can tie the road streak record, set by Buffalo in 2006-07, Monday in Philadelphia.

“Honestly, I don’t even pay attention to that record,’’ said Bryce Salvador, who had an assist. “We’re just really trying to be consistent. We’re hoping the road play starts rubbing off at home and we’ll start a good streak there, too.’’

New Jersey, 4-4 at home, won its seventh in a row overall and, with 26 points, tied idle Washington for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby ended a career-worst five-game scoreless streak by assisting on Ruslan Fedotenko’s goal in the first period, but the Stanley Cup champions lost their fourth in a row.

Red Wings 3, Canucks 1 - Henrik Zetterberg scored midway through the third period and Jimmy Howard made 31 saves to lead host Detroit.

Zetterberg took a long pass from Brad Stuart, slipped past the defense, and lifted a backhander over Roberto Luongo’s left shoulder for his team-leading 17th point.

Luongo made 26 saves in his first start since facing Detroit Oct. 27 when he aggravated a broken rib. After Luongo was pulled for an extra skater, Niklas Kronwall cleared the puck and got a fortunate bounce off the boards and it trickled into the empty net.

Thrashers 5, Rangers 3 - Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists in his first game back from a foot injury and Rich Peverley scored once and set up two goals in Atlanta victory at New York.

Kovalchuk had missed six games and had been ruled out of this one as late as Wednesday.

Thrashers rookie Evander Kane, who was questionable because of a foot injury, chipped in with a goal and an assist. Johan Hedberg stopped 33 shots playing in his third straight for Atlanta, which won for the fourth time in six games.

Stars 3, Sharks 2 - Stephane Robidas scored the only shootout goal to give Dallas a comeback victory at San Jose.

Dany Heatley and Ryane Clowe in a 2:11 span in the second period to give the Sharks a 2-0 edge, but the Stars tied it with a pair of goals within 1:45 in the third period.

Evgeni Nabokov had 34 saves for the Sharks, who have a point in 10 straight games.

Flyers 5, Senators 1 - Ray Emery made 22 saves in his first start against his former team, and Danny Briere scored two goals to help host Philadelphia beat Ottawa for its fifth straight victory.

Mike Fisher scored for the Senators, who have lost two straight and four of their last six.

Canadiens 4, Coyotes 2 - Marc-Andre Bergeron and Glen Metropolit scored 1:02 apart early in the third period and Montreal beat Phoenix in Glendale, Ariz.

Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta also scored, and Tomas Plekanec had three assists for Montreal. The Canadiens snapped a two-game losing streak and won for just the third time in eight games.

The Coyotes have lost four of five.

Lightning 4, Wild 3 - Ryan Malone tied it with 14.7 seconds left in regulation, and Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos scored in the shootout to give host Tampa Bay a comeback win over Minnesota.

Malone tied it at 3-3 on a backhander during a power play with Lightning goalie Antero Niittymaki off the ice for an extra skater. Stamkos scored his 13th goal of the season and added an assist.

Predators 3, Blues 1 - Jordin Tootoo scored on a wrist shot with 3:43 left to give visiting Nashville the victory over St. Louis.