NHL: Penguins lose to Devils at home

March 9, 2007

The Pittsburgh Penguins, after three shootout victories from Sidney Crosby, were finally dealt a loss, Thursday night. The Penguins had a hard time against the Devils as, once again, the Devils brought their best and the Penguins simply fell short. In the first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead off an Evgeni Malkin Power Play goal, with Mark Recchi and Sidney Crosby assisting. It wasn't until the second period that the Devils really turned up the heat, scoring two unanswered goals by Andy Greene on the power play, his first in the NHL, and Sergei Brylin's goal, with Patrik Elias, Brian Rafalski, John Oduya and Scott Gomez assisting. In the final period, the Penguins rallied back to tie the game after Sergei Gonchar scored a goal on the power play, with Jordan Staal picking up the assist. But Marc-Andre Fleury let another puck past, and the Devils took the lead. Late in the third, on a great individual play, Evgeni Malkin picked off the puck in the Devils zone and set up Michel Ouellet for a beautiful goal to tie the game once again and send it in to overtime. After a stalemate in the overtime period, Patrik Elias (the only shooter to score) would win the game for Devils in a hard fought game. The Penguins managed to pick up a point against the Atlantic Division leading Devils. Both teams will have Friday off before the Penguins battle the Rangers and the Devils face the Sabres on Saturday.

Three Stars of the Game

 * #1 - Sergei Brylin,C, NJ - One Goal
 * #2 - Evgeni Malkin,C, PIT - One goal and One Assist
 * #3 - Patrik Elias,C, NJ - One Shootout Goal and One Assist