New Jersey Devils vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Fleury notches 5th Shutout of the Season
December 2, 2014
Marc-Andre Fleury's fifth shutout of the year led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 1-0 victory over division foes, the New Jersey Devils. It was the second victory over the Devils, but in a much different manner than their first encounter of the season.
On October 28, the Penguins scored seven unanswered goals to come back from a 3-1 deficit and win by a score of 8-3. The contest featured goals from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Steve Downie, and Craig Adams, just to name a few. A recap of that contest can be found here.
One player from the aforementioned list would turn out to be the hero in this contest. That player's name is Evgeni Malkin. Malkin scored the lone tally of the contest at 2:32 of the third period. Streaking up ice, Blake Comeau fed Malkin with a blind spin-o-rama pass to the stick of Malkin, who slid the puck on his backhand between goaltender Cory Schneider's legs for his 12th goal of the year. Jayson Megna would pick up his first assist of the season as well.
The second period came with a bit of controversy as Robert Bortuzzo leveled a defenseless Jaromir Jagr. While the hit looked clean initially, upon further review, the NHL suspended Bortuzzo two games for his late hit on the veteran winger. There was no penalty called on the ice and Jagr would not return to the game.
The game was a typical Penguins-Devils tilt, focusing much on defense and neutral zone play. Heading into the third period, the Devils were outshooting the Penguins 18-15, and ultimately ended the game with the shot advantage 29-23, but failed to sneak one past Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury, who leads the NHL in shutouts (5), has tied a career best in only his 19th start of the season.
Fleury increased his record to 14-4-1 while Schneider falls to 9-11-3 on the year.
The Penguins return to action Thursday night as they square off against Ryan Miller, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and the Vancouver Canucks with a 7:00 P.M. puck drop scheduled.
Marc-Andre Fleury's fifth shutout of the year led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 1-0 victory over division foes, the New Jersey Devils. It was the second victory over the Devils, but in a much different manner than their first encounter of the season.
On October 28, the Penguins scored seven unanswered goals to come back from a 3-1 deficit and win by a score of 8-3. The contest featured goals from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Steve Downie, and Craig Adams, just to name a few. A recap of that contest can be found here.
One player from the aforementioned list would turn out to be the hero in this contest. That player's name is Evgeni Malkin. Malkin scored the lone tally of the contest at 2:32 of the third period. Streaking up ice, Blake Comeau fed Malkin with a blind spin-o-rama pass to the stick of Malkin, who slid the puck on his backhand between goaltender Cory Schneider's legs for his 12th goal of the year. Jayson Megna would pick up his first assist of the season as well.
The second period came with a bit of controversy as Robert Bortuzzo leveled a defenseless Jaromir Jagr. While the hit looked clean initially, upon further review, the NHL suspended Bortuzzo two games for his late hit on the veteran winger. There was no penalty called on the ice and Jagr would not return to the game.
The game was a typical Penguins-Devils tilt, focusing much on defense and neutral zone play. Heading into the third period, the Devils were outshooting the Penguins 18-15, and ultimately ended the game with the shot advantage 29-23, but failed to sneak one past Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury, who leads the NHL in shutouts (5), has tied a career best in only his 19th start of the season.
Fleury increased his record to 14-4-1 while Schneider falls to 9-11-3 on the year.
The Penguins return to action Thursday night as they square off against Ryan Miller, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and the Vancouver Canucks with a 7:00 P.M. puck drop scheduled.
