PITTSBURGH — In a matter of minutes, the New Jersey Devils went from leaving with no points to earning two.

Brian Gionta scored the game-winner with 2:36 to play in overtime after Patrik Elias had tied the game with 20 seconds left in regulation to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 Sunday afternoon.

"I'm sure a lot of people were counting us out with 2 minutes left," defenseman Colin White said. "We had been in this situation before and always seem to come up a little bit short. The timing could not have been better to get two points."

The Devils, who also got a goal from Jay Pandolfo, moved into sole possession of sixth place in the Eastern Conference with fourth straight win and fifth in their last six games.

"It was a great win to finish a great week," winger Jamie Langenbrunner said.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist and Ryan Whitney added two assists for Pittsburgh, which led 2-1 through most of the final 40 minutes of regulation.

"We were 20 seconds away from being able to say what a great game we played," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.

The Devils' chances for a comeback were nearly lost when Crosby had a breakaway on Martin Brodeur with 2Qw minutes remaining in regulation during a 4-on-4 situation. However, Brodeur said he noticed while studying game film that Crosby liked to shoot high during penalty shots. Sure enough, the Penguins' rookie star attempted to flip a shot to the goalie's glove side, and Brodeur made the save.

"I read it pretty well," said Brodeur, who had 24 saves for his 36th win of the season. "I just got a good piece of it with my glove."

That play allowed New Jersey to make its late-game heroics. The tying goal came while the Devils had two extra skaters after pulling Brodeur during a power play following a hooking minor to Pittsburgh's Josef Melichar with 1:26 left in the third.

After the Penguins twice missed open nets on long shots, Elias scored while in the slot when he got his stick on a puck that had been shot by Brian Rafalski at the right point. The puck hit goalie Marc-Andre Fleury but spun over his head into the net. It was Elias' 10th goal of the season.

"I saw (Rafalski) make a shot-pass and I had a lane in front of me so I wanted to get a stick on it," Elias said. "It took a long time to get into the net."