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Brodeur, Devils cool Penguins off, 4-1

by Tony on 10/24/09 at 10:45 PM ET
Comments (4)

There would be no comeback tonight.

With all due respect to the Florida Panthers, it’s not quite the same trying to come back from a two-goal third period deficit against Tomas Vokoun and the Panthers as it is trying against future Hall of Famer Marty Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils.

It was vintage Brodeur and a vintage Devil-ish performance, as the Devils played a great game on both ends of the ice, while perhaps taking advantage of a weary Penguins team in a 4-1 win at a quiet Igloo tonight.

Brodeur stopped all but one of the 33 shots on goal the Penguins threw at him.  He was getting close in the third period to tying Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record of 103 shutouts, until Alex Goligoski finally got a puck past Brodeur after a frenzied Penguins attack midway through the third period.

The Devils had their infamous trap in full effect tonight, as virtually shut down the Pens’ high-flying forwards.  But it wasn’t simply a defensive effort for the Devils tonight, as they were also very aggressive on the forecheck and were the quicker team to many a loose puck, which resulted in the majority of their goals tonight.

The Devils got a fortunate break midway through the first period to get on the scoreboard first.  Mark Frasor fired a one-timer from the slot that Marc-Andre Fleury stopped, but in his attempt to glove it, actually swatted it right into his own goal for Fraser’s 1st NHL goal and a 1-0 Devils lead at 9:50.

They doubled their lead in the second period on a powerplay after a Mike Rupp boarding penalty.  Rod Pelley’s wrister was again stopped by Fleury, but trickled through his pads, where Nick Bergfors was there to bang it home to make it 2-0.

The Devils got the all-important third goal only 26 seconds into the third period after a poor clearing attempt by Kris Letang resulted in a steal.  Zach Parise launched a slapper from the left slot that Fleury stopped, but Travis Zajac corralled the rebound and backhanded the puck past Fleury to make it 3-0.  It also didn’t help Fleury that he was bumped into by David Clarkson, after a push from Brooks Orpik.

Goligoski’s goal from the right slot after a Pascal Dupuis slapper from the right point cut the Devils’ lead to 3-1 at 9:36, but the Devils sealed their win late in the game after more good work along the boards resulted in an open Parise going to the goal and patiently lofting a backhander past Fleury for the final score of 4-1.

Notes:
- Another gooseegg for the powerplay, going 0-for-4.  I really hope that I don’t start reading the “no Gonchar” articles.  This powerplay’s ills is far more than just not having Gonchar out there.
- Tonight was easily Goligoski’s best game as a Penguin.  Not only getting the first goal, but he was all over the ice.  Great to see his confidence rising with every game he plays.
- As could probably be expected, former Devil Mike Rupp led the team in hits tonight with six.
- Both teams finished 50/50 on faceoffs, but Sidney Crosby won 11 of 18, while Jordan Staal won 7 of 11.
- Evgeni Malkin was credited with two giveaways, but that’s being awful conservative.  It was at least twice that much.  Geno has been trying to dangle through the whole defense, and it’s only resulting in turnovers.

The Penguins get a needed break now for a few days until Montreal comes to town on Wednesday night.

Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
 Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,

Comments

Thanks for writing objective articles..  It is refreshing to see game observations and recaps that aren’t completely tilted towards the team the writer is routing for.

Posted by brooke from NJ on 10/24/09 at 11:41 PM ET

I’m not sure the Devils were that much better than the Penguins tonight. They just capitalized on the very few chances they had. I absolutely despise the way New Jersey plays. But Brodeur was better than Fleury and the Penguins power play was inept.

Posted by cs6687 on 10/25/09 at 12:02 AM ET

Thanks Brooke, not being being a journalist, I guess I only know of one way to write.  Nice to hear it’s objective.

@cs - Yeah, frustrating to watch the trapping game, but as I said in the article, the Devils were the better team offensively last night as well…

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 10/25/09 at 08:10 AM ET

I really hope that I don’t start reading the “no Gonchar” articles.  This powerplay’s ills is far more than just not having Gonchar out there.

I agree, the power play has been mdeiocre with Gonchar. His absence has no very little to do with it’s problems.The Pens need to fix the power play. It has to be a weapon. There is just to much talent out there to be clicking @ 18.4%. They should be way over 20%. close to 25%.
That said, the Devils played a great road game and showed just how frustrating the trap can be once they had the 2 goal lead. They’re a much better team with the lead than they are when the score’s even or they’re behind.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 10/25/09 at 12:56 PM ET

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Welcome to The Confluence, a Pittsburgh Penguins blog since 2006.  Originally at Blogspot, then at MVN, The Confluence has over 1000 articles reporting Penguins news as well as jumping on my soapbox to opine constructive Penguins criticism.  My posts are regularly linked by hockey websites such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Empty Netters and Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy, and I’ve done guest blogger spots on such websites as the New York Times.  I invite you to spend a little time and peruse the archives at all of the sites for some of my better work.  I am a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer, but don’t confuse me with my fellow Chief at A2Y.

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