NEWARK — The big tests keep coming for the New Jersey Devils, and they continue to pass with flying colors.

Just two days after their big home overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens, the Devils needed a shootout to take a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in a Sunday afternoon matinee at the Prudential Center. They remain the National Hockey League’s lone undefeated team at home with a 7-0 record.

Regardless of location, it’s been back-to-back big games, back-to-back big wins; Montreal entered that contest as the second-best team in the Eastern Conference according to the standings, while the Devils and Penguins were 1-2 in the Metropolitan Division ahead of Sunday’s games.

But, it is, however, only November. Playoff spots aren’t handed out for another five months, and it’s another eight weeks before the Stanley Cup comes back out of hiding.

So, how much value is there to the group in facing these kinds of tests so early in the year?

“We’ve had lots of them,” said Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe. “Those two games coming back from the road, those are real good teams, but I feel like every team we’ve played is really good. Even some of the games that we’ve played where you think it’s a team that didn’t make the playoffs or whatever it is last year, you look now and those teams are surging. Everyone’s good, every game is good.

“We’ve met our fair share of challenges, obviously, and they have elite players on this (Pittsburgh) team here today, Montreal has elite players, we’ve seen a number of other teams that we’ve managed really well in the early going of the season…that’s all good for our team.  I don’t think any of that sort of stuff phases us. Obviously, we’re hoping on the other side that the other team is talking about us in that way.”

Goaltender Jake Allen, who stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced on Sunday — not including both shootout attempts, including the game-sealing save on Sidney Crosby — echoed similar sentiments about how, at least internally, they’re all big tests in the NHL now, regardless of placement in the standings.

“Obviously we’ve played some good teams; Colorado twice, Edmonton,” he said. “We had a tough stretch in California, and we knew we wanted to come home and regroup and rebound, and so far, we’ve done that. You could ask every player in the league, there’s no bad teams anymore. Every team is a good hockey team, and every team can beat you on any given night.

“I think that’s our mindset right now, you don’t take anyone for granted and every game is important.  We see at the end of the year, playoffs are separated by one or two points, so it’s crucial every night.”

RANGERS CONTINUE HOME STRUGGLES

For as well as things have gone at home for the Devils, it remains the exact opposite for their Hudson River rivals, the New York Rangers. In the back end of a local doubleheader, the New York Islanders embarrassed the Blueshirts, 5-0, on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, sending the Original Six franchise to an 0-6-1 record in Manhattan despite a 7-1-1 mark away from the Big Apple.

Five of those home losses? Shutouts, Sunday included. So, even though the overall record of what’s essentially NHL .500 isn’t cause for concern, their play at home is, and the frustration of that reality was very evident in the Rangers locker room after the game.

“Obviously, today wasn’t a good game by us,” said forward Mika Zibanejad. “When you don’t score goals, you’re not going to win. We’re getting a lot of saves, and those two guys are giving us a chance to be in the game, but we need to find a way to score goals, honestly.  There have been so many games where we’ve played well, haven’t really played well, it doesn’t really matter. It’s a zero on the board. Find a way to score goals. I don’t care how it looks, what it looks like, just get a win.”

Defenseman Adam Fox wasn’t far behind in his remarks.

“More of the same for us at home,” he said. “I think (it was a) good start for the first five-six (minutes), and then, we got away from it with odd-man rushes. Not close to where we should be at.  We’d nip it in the bud a couple games ago if we knew exactly (what the issue was), maybe it’s subconscious at this point, where we’re gripping it a little tight at home and looking for one.  We just play like a different team on the road than at home.”