With Penguins defenseman Christian Ehrhoff back in Pittsburgh being evaluated for a concussion, Simon Despres was elevated to the top pairing alongside Kris Letang.
“When we put Despres and Letang together, we were trying to see if he can bump up a little bit,” said Penguins head coach Mike Johnston. “I thought he handled the minutes well, and certainly the checking responsibility. It gave us a little more balance to our defense pairs, so that we didn’t have to have (Paul Martin) and Letang play together without Ehrhoff in our lineup.”
Despres responded to the challenge, skating for 23:01 and had a team-high five shots on goal, the last of which caromed off the far post behind Devils goaltender Cory Schneider 2:21 into the overtime period to give the Penguins a 2-1 victory. It was Despres’ first career game-winning goal.
“I thought we deserved the win,” said Despres after the game. “We tried really hard, we had a lot of shots on net, we played good defensively. They scored the first goal, but we stayed at it and showed a lot of the character in this locker room.”
The Devils scored first, on a Steve Bernier wraparound at 6:08 of the third period. With the Penguins peppering the Devils goal with shots while fighting through New Jersey’s vaunted trap, it seemed as if the Penguins would be shut out for a second consecutive game.
Schneider was outstanding throughout the game and finished the night with 41 saves. The Penguins had chance after chance throughout the game, and had several shots hit the post.
Chris Kunitz finally broke through with a power-play goal at 16:49 of the third. Kris Letang assisted on both goals for the Penguins. He has assisted on all seven goals of the team’s goals over the last three games.
The Penguins outshot the Devils 43-14, and their 43 shots on goal was their second-highest mark of the season. The Pens are 4-0 this season in games in which they’ve taken 40 shots.
“We were smart,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby when he was asked what was the key to his team’s success. “They’re a solid team, they play well defensively, but we played with the puck a lot and generated a lot of chances.”
Marc-Andre Fleury fought off 13 Devils shots — and more than likely, some boredom — to earn his 23rd win of the season.
The Penguins are now 3-1 against the Devils this year and have clinched the season series. The teams will meet for the fifth and final time on Tuesday, March 17 in New Jersey.
With the win, the Penguins (28-13-8) are now back to within a point of the first-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils, meanwhile, continue to watch their faint playoff hopes slip away. They are now 13 points behind the fourth-place New York Rangers.
Photo credit: NHL
