Friday, November 23, 2007
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Forget about the New Jersey Devils’ early season flirtation with a faster-paced offense. They’re back to doing what they do best: trapping, defending and getting excellent goaltending from Martin Brodeur.
Zach Parise scored two power-play goals to support Brodeur’s 501st NHL victory, and the Devils held on despite Pittsburgh’s strong third period for a 2-1 win Wednesday night.
Parise scored five seconds after the Devils’ two-man advantage ended in the first period, then took advantage of a tripping call on Penguins captain Sidney Crosby to score again off Jamie Langenbrunner’s rebound early in the third.
The last-place Penguins lost their sixth in seven games and eighth in 10 games and are 8-11-2 after winning 47 games last season.
New Jersey is 3-0 in Pittsburgh this season and leads the season series 3-1. By winning, New Jersey (9-10-2) moved two points ahead of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division.
“It’s frustrating, I’m not going to sit here and say it isn’t, but at the same time there’s nothing we can do but keep battling, keep going,” Crosby said. “It’s adversity and we’ve got to make sure we stay on the same page. I wouldn’t change a whole lot about our game right now, honestly.”
This game, he wishes he could change. Crosby was so irate with the tripping call, he was penalized again for unsportsmanlike conduct while leaving the penalty box.
New Jersey couldn’t take advantage of that power play and, instead, the penalty may have gotten the slumping Penguins going following two flat periods in which Brodeur faced only 16 shots and Pittsburgh had a lone power play.