Devils beat Penguins; Fleury stops 21 shots

The Pittsburgh goalie's play couldn't overcome his team's anemic offense.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Brian Gionta and John Madden scored and Martin Brodeur rediscovered his touch in the net after two disastrous starts to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
Brodeur allowed only a deflection goal by Jani Rita in the first period and New Jersey (34-24-8) snapped a two-game losing streak in which the Devils were outscored 12-4 in losses to Pittsburgh and the New York Islanders. The defending Vezina Trophy winner was yanked from both games.
Goalie's play
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 21 shots for the Penguins (16-38-12), including two breakaways by Patrik Elias, but couldn't overcome his team's anemic offense. Pittsburgh managed just four shots from the end of the first period to the midway point of the third period, and finished the game with 14.
Gionta, who surpassed his personal best for goals in a season (21) two-and-a-half months ago, scored his team-leading 36th goal of the season and fed Elias for what should have been another goal as the Devils began to assert themselves in the second period.
Madden jumped on a rebound of a shot by Elias and lifted a shot over Fleury's right shoulder with 5:51 elapsed in the second to tie the game at 1.
Gionta then used his speed to put the Devils ahead. After a faceoff in the Devils end, he picked up the loose puck and split the Pittsburgh defensemen, then outskated Ryan Whitney into the Penguins' zone and beat Fleury with a high slap shot.
In the final minute of the second, Gionta fed Elias on a clean breakaway, but Fleury flopped to make the save as Elias tried to shift to his backhand at the last moment. It was Elias' second unsuccessful breakaway of the game.
Rita had given Pittsburgh the lead midway through the first period, aided by a miscue by Madden, who misplayed a pass by Paul Martin in the Devils' zone. Rita came in from a tight angle to Brodeur's right and fired a shot that deflected in off a mass of bodies in front of the goal.
Notes
Devils C Jason Wiemer, acquired last Thursday from Calgary for a fourth-round draft pick, made his first appearance for New Jersey. ... New Jersey has not scored more than three goals in regulation in 10 consecutive games. ... The Penguins fell to 7-20-5 on the road this season. Entering the evening, only Columbus (23) and Florida (21) had more road losses, and seven NHL teams had not lost 20 games overall.
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