The Pittsburgh Penguins’ skaters only showed up for one period of play on Friday night. Fortunately, their goaltender was available to play all three.
Pittsburgh scored three goals in the first period then held on to defeat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at Consol Energy Center. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 37 of 39 shots including a couple of ten-bell saves in the third period to preserve the one goal lead.
Pascal Dupuis got the Penguins on the board right away with a goal less than a minute into the game. Chris Kunitz softly dumped the puck in from the blue line and it took a funny bounce on goaltender Cory Schneider. With Schneider scrambling to freeze the puck, Dupuis came in and poked it into the net for one of the oddest goals of the season.
Chris Connor scored to increase the lead to two for the Penguins. Joe Vitale forced a neutral zone turnover and chipped the puck up to Brandon Sutter. Connor raced for the net and Sutter found him all alone for the goal.
Jayson Megna added his fourth of the season to give the Penguins a seemingly commanding 3-0 lead. Matt Niskanen set up Simon Despres for a one-timer. Schneider made a kick save on Despres’s slapper but Megna pounced on a juicy rebound and slid the puck just past the outstretched pad of the goaltender.
The game appeared to be headed towards a big victory for Pittsburgh, but the Devils came back in the second period and scored two goals within a minute apart.
Patrik Elias tipped a sharp angle shot by Anton Volchenkov past Fleury to get the Devils on the board. Just 56 seconds later, Dainius Zubrus pounce on a loose puck behind the goaltender to cut the score to 3-2.
The third period was all Marc-Andre Fleury. New Jersey out shot Pittsburgh 13-6 in the final frame but Fleury was able to do everything in his power to keep the puck out.
His best save of the night, and probably the season, was against Steve Bernier early in the third period. Bernier tried to throw the puck toward the goal mouth for a tap in but Fleury made the save. The puck was kicked out to Bernier who had a wide open net but Fleury dove and made a tremendous stick save.
Just a few minutes later, Fleury stonewalled Damian Brunner on a breakaway.
- After outshooting the Devils 12-7 in the first period, the Penguins were outshot 32-11 in the final two periods.
- Evgeni Malkin was held without a point for the first time in ten game.
- Marc-Andre Fleury has a league-leading 18 wins this season.
Three Stars
- Marc-Andre Fleury
- Chris Conner
- Dainius Zubrus
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
