Pittsburgh Penguins fire blanks again, lose to Devils in New Jersey
Nov 16, 2013; Newark, NJ, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save on New Jersey Devils right wing Michael Ryder (17) during the second period at the Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered yet another bad loss as this team just looks lost right now.
The Penguins (12-8-0, 24 points) have now lost four of their last five after a 4-1 defeat in New Jersey. They opened up the season 7-1, but ever since then they have been a below-.500 team.
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur made 27 saves and former Pittsburgh great Jaromir Jagr scored two of goals to hit 688 for his career. New Jersey (7-8-5, 19 points) rebounded from Friday’s 2-0 loss to Los Angeles to please the fans at Prudential Center.
The Penguins dominated the first period, outshooting the Devils 10-2, but New Jersey’s Andy Greene got the only goal of the frame when his bouncing shot trickled past Marc-Andre Fleury in the final minute before intermission.
In the second period, the Penguins tied it up when Chris Kunitz scored on a breakaway at 4:18, taking advantage of Marek Zidlicky’s missing a pass at the Pittsburgh blueline. The goal was unassisted.
Devils defenseman Adam Larsson scored with 1:38 left in the period on an open shot from the top of the left circle to put the home team back on top. The Penguins went into the third period down 2-1, which wasn’t bad, but the worse was yet to come for them.
Jaromir Jagr took over late, scoring twice in the final six minutes against his old team. He stole Kris Letang’s pass and beat Fleury with an accurate wrist shot to make it 3-1, then took the puck away from Kunitz and fed a backhand into an empty net with 1:17 to play.
Pittsburgh had two power plays in the third period after killing Sidney Crosby’s double-minor for high-sticking, but Brodeur made several above-average saves to keep New Jersey in front. The Penguins went 0 for 4 on the advantage in the game, despite firing a combined 11 shots on those opportunities.
The Penguins host first-place Anaheim (15-5-2) on Monday night at Consol Energy Center.