Tough to Swallow

Fresh off of a rather demoralizing defeat at the hands of the Sabres last night, the Penguins make the trek to Newark to battle the Devils in what still promises to be a highly competitive contest. Even with their loss last night, a win in this game will tie the Pens with the Devils for most points in the Atlantic division and the Eastern Conference as well as the best record in the league with the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks. Tonight’s contest will have a bit of a revenge theme to it as the Pens look to duplicate the feat produced by the Devils who traveled to Pittsburgh and took all three meetings this year from the Penguins in their own building. With the loss from one night ago still in their minds, Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby expressed his frustrations with the results of last night’s game saying: “A three-goal lead and we didn’t put it away. That’s what happens when you let teams hang around. We worked pretty hard and probably deserved better.” Despite deserving better, the Penguins were unable to beat Patrick Lalime who was a wall in net after replacing starter Ryan Miller early in the 2nd period for Buffalo. Tonight however, the key will be finding ways to move the puck through the clogged neutral zone through the vaunted Devils trap. Getting the first goal in the Devils building would make the task seem a bit more doable as well even though the Pens managed to score the first, second, and third goals of the game last night only to fade down the stretch. Perhaps the biggest obstacle between the Penguins and a victory tonight is shaking the thoughts of last night out of their minds and taking care of the task at hand here against the Devils

As Marc-Andre Fleury started the game last night, veteran backup Brent Johnson will be called upon here in this one when the Penguins look to rebound and give Johnson some support in this contest. The puck is out the official’s hand and things get started with former Devil Mike Rupp registering the game’s first shot as the Penguins look to bring a shooter’s mentality to the game tonight peppering the great Martin Brodeur with pucks. At the other end, Johnson flashes the leather early to snag a shot from Dean McAmmond and draw a whistle only to have the ensuing draw lead to the game’s first goal as Nicklas Bergfors shoots from a crazy angle down near the goal line and the puck finds its way through traffic and into the Pittsburgh net for a 1-0 New Jersey lead. Bergfors has been phenomenal against Pittsburgh in every game this year scoring goals and contributing to the Devils in any way possible. The Devils again are on the attack employing the Penguins philosophy against Pittsburgh throwing pucks at the Pens netminder from any and all angles. Pittsburgh creates a great chance getting three whacks at a puck on the doorstep as Matt Cooke took the biscuit to the crease, but even on an extra whack from Jordan Staal the puck stays out of the net. Pressure from New Jersey resumes as the puck is carried into the Penguins end and shots by Brian Rolston and Mike Mottau are denied by Johnson before a penalty for holding is called on Maxime Talbot putting the Devils on the power play for the first time on the night. The penalty expires harmlessly as Talbot leaves the box and the Pens are having difficulty exiting their zone as Rolston tries to sneak a puck by Johnson who drops to his pads to deny the threat. McAmmond gains control of a puck that comes free near the Pittsburgh blue line and carries in on Johnson who cuts down the angle on top of his crease and makes a solid pad stop on the Devils forward. The congestion in the neutral zone has thoroughly frustrated the Penguins in the first frame as the Devils outshoot Pittsburgh 12-9 in the 1st period.

Chip and chase will have to be the method that the Pens employ to break down this New Jersey trap as there has been no space to skate from blue line to blue line preventing any organization for Pittsburgh. Period two gets underway with a positive sign for the Pens as Kris Letang gets himself started a bit throwing a nice shot on net in transition forcing Brodeur to make a quality glove save in the process. Things continue to look up for the Pens as they are looking much more organized in their movement through the neutral zone and entering the attacking zone as another good chance is had by Craig Adams and denied by the blocker of Brodeur. Pittsburgh continues to bring the energy as Evgeni Malkin is swerving all over the ice retrieving pucks and creating chances as Ruslan Fedotenko gets a good shot on Brodeur and a second whack by Bill Guerin is denied as well. The Penguins are definitely getting to their game here in the 2nd as they are getting more pucks to the net and playing with a lot of energy outshooting the Devils 7-1 approaching the midway point in the second frame and really finishing their checks this period as well. Another nice shift is had by Malkin putting in the time chasing pucks from boards to boards and running the gauntlet once in transition for the Pens. Malkin again carries the biscuit through traffic weaving around defenders with some brilliant stick handling before his shot on net is turned aside by Brodeur with ease. A fracas in front of the net results in offsetting penalties to Rupp and Rolston both sent off for roughing to create some four on four action. Brodeur again denies Malkin with his toe at the one end before Johnson is called upon in Pittsburgh’s goal and he makes a fabulous pad stop on Travis Zajac moving across the crease to deny Zach Parise’s rebound opportunity as well. Johnson has been quite active in net tonight coming out trying to match Brodeur’s always sterling stick handling at the opposite end of the rink. Johnson continues to be large for the Pens as he comes up with another big stop on Jamie Langenbrunner who takes a pass from the neutral zone and streaks in on net.

The middle period was positive for Pittsburgh as they worked the puck around quite well and got a lot of rubber on net forcing Brodeur to earn his clean sheet to this point. Still, the Pens remain scoreless and this one heads to the 3rd period 1-0 Devils as the shots are now even at 23 per team. The final twenty minutes gets going with the Penguins attacking the Devils net as Sergei Gonchar sends a hard slapper to Brodeur and the rebound chance for Crosby is escorted aside by the goalkeeper as well. A shot by Johnny Oduya down beneath the near circle is blockered away by Johnson who continues to stand tall in net for the Pens. Cooke takes a terrible penalty away from the puck as he is called for slashing to put the Pens in a defensive mode for the next two minutes. Pittsburgh kills off the penalty but the heat is still on as Johnson is forced to make a huge stop on Zajac in the high slot with his blocker. Malkin takes a puck to the shin and struggles to get to the bench so his availability may be in question for the remainder of this one. Another penalty will need to be killed off with a slash taken by Chris Kunitz whacking the stick out of the hands of Andy Greene giving New Jersey another power play. Johnson comes up huge early in the kill to shovel up a chance for Greene right on the doorstep freezing the puck. Pittsburgh will certainly be tested here as after superb chances at both ends, Crosby accidentally sends the puck into the stands in his own zone taking a delay of game penalty to put Pittsburgh down two men for thirty seconds before the first call expires. Incredible heart shown by Gonchar on the kill after being hit by a shot are having difficulty standing up he stays on the ice to thwart off a number of Devils passes on one leg before getting off on a change. Pittsburgh kills off the two man advantage and Johnson continues to look really good between the pipes for the Pens as the momentum from the kill will hopefully result in something positive at the offensive end. Malkin is wreaking havoc on the Devils with his tenacious forecheck taking pucks away behind the New Jersey net and feeding Kunitz in front whose shot is stopped by Brodeur. Furious action at both ends as a nice breakout by Pittsburgh looks like the game tying goal is destined to find the twine as Brodeur stops both Crosby and Alex Goligoski before the Devils streak the other way with a two on one forcing Johnson to deflect the Parise shot over the crossbar. The first power play of the night for the Pens comes at the perfect time as Pittsburgh will use their timeout here to discuss how to even this one up before time expires as Zajac is sent to the box for holding for the final 1:26 of regulation. The game ends quite anti-climactically as Langenbrunner takes a loose puck in on the empty net and tucks it away sealing this one up for the Devils with a 2-0 win.

What else needs to be said about Brodeur as the hyperbole has been turned into reality with his dominance this season especially against the Penguins. Despite Johnson’s great effort at the other end of the ice for Pittsburgh, Brodeur’s still running 170 plus minute shutout streak against the Penguins was just too much for them to overcome. This loss is the third in a row for the Pens since returning to the ice after the holiday layoff and let’s hope that this brief second holiday layoff to ring in 2010 brings a new team to the ice with some confidence on Saturday when the Pens do battle with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tags: Alex Goligoski, Andy Greene, Bill Guerin, Brent Johnson, Brian Rolston, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Chris Kunitz, Craig Adams, Dean McAmmond, Evgeni Malkin, Jamie Langenbrunner, Johnny Oduya, Jordan Staal, Kris Letang, Marc Andre Fleury, Martin Brodeur, Matt Cooke, Maxime Talbot, Mike Mottau, Mike Rupp, New Jersey Devils, Nicklas Bergfors, Patrick Lalime, Ruslan Fedotenko, Ryan Miller, San Jose Sharks, Sergei Gonchar, Sidney Crosby, Tampa Bay Lightning, Travis Zajac, Zach Parise