Pirates 5, Nationals 4: When one of A.J. Burnett’s teammates gets a game-winning hit in extra innings, the headcase pitcher dashes back to the locker room to grab a can of shaving cream, spray it generously in some kind of container (often just a hand towel) and race back to the field to smash it into his heroic teammate’s face in a foamy celebration. It’s a weird habit, but also a more pleasant memory than the three years of cruddy pitching Burnett gave the Yankees. Burnett’s in Pittsburgh now, and last night he got to do his shaving-cream pie trick when the Nationals, who had just eked out a lead in the top of the ninth, collapsed in the bottom.

After another solid start by Jordan Zimmermann—he gave up two runs on three hits in seven innings—the Nationals and Pirates were tied at two runs each. The Pirates went up 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth, but the Nats surged back into the lead in the top of the ninth on a two-run home run by Adam LaRoche, playing his first game back since missing the last four. But Henry Rodriguez couldn’t hold the lead in the bottom of the frame. The closer’s stuff was as fast as ever—his fastball topped out in the high 90s—but after yielding a pinch-hit single, a wild pitch allowed the runner to advance to third base. With two out, the Pirates’ Rod Barajas received a 96-mile-per-hour inside fastball, but did to Rodriguez what no batter since last August had done: He knocked it over the wall. The Pirates won, and out came A.J. Burnett and his shaving-cream party. “Tough loss, man,” LaRoche told the Post after the game. Indeed.

Win This, Please: Last night, the New Jersey Devils dispatched the Philadelphia Flyers in their second-round playoff series to advance to the NHL Eastern Conference finals. Game 6 of the other semifinal series starts tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Verizon Center, with the Capitals hoping to stave off elimination at the hands of the Rangers, who took a 3-2 series lead on a heartbreaking overtime loss Monday night. No one wants a Devils-Rangers matchup in the Eastern Conference finals, not even me.