Sixth Strike Sweeps Season

The Devils didn’t need the luck of the Irish to skate past the Penguins on St. Patty’s Day at the Prudential Center last night. New Jersey swept the season series against Pittsburgh with a hard-nosed 5-2 victory in Newark. Goalie Martin Brodeur’s barrage of 24 saves and a bout of Pittsburgh turnovers gave the Devils their sixth win over the Pens this season. Pittsburgh played Wednesday without star, Evgeni Malkin. The Malkin-less Pens seemed to take the night off too, after dominating the first half of the opening period. Starting goalie, Marc-Andres Fleury, was yanked from the Pittsburgh net and sent to the bench after allowing four goals on 13 shots. The victory in Newark vaulted the Devils into a first place tie with their Atlantic Division rival Penguins. The Devils also saw the return of their top defenseman, Paul Martin.
Fans in New Jersey were treated to a retro, throwback jersey night. The Devils wore their classic red, white and green uniforms in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. The Penguins were the first team to find the pot of gold, however. Chris Kunitz gave the visiting Pens a 1-0 lead at 4:01 into the contest. The eight year left wing for Pittsburgh buried a rebound behind Brodeur as the Devils got off to a slow start. The Pens outshot the Devils 26-19 but it didn’t matter. New Jersey seized control of the game by roaring back. Patrik Elias fueled the offense, picking up an assist on Dainius Zubrus’ tying goal in the first period. Elias backhanded a pass off the Pittsburgh turnover and Zurbus deked Fleury onto his back to notch the game at one. The Devils’ sparkplug wasn’t done. After Paul Martin made it a 2-1 New Jersey lead in the first, Elias scored a shorthanded goal at 3:09 in the second period. Elias picked off a cross-ice pass by Jordan Leopold for his 13th goal of the season and 3-1 Devils’ advantage.
Zach Parise pushed the New Jersey lead to 4-1 seven minutes after Elias punched in a goal. Parise’s driving rebound past Fleury was enough to ship the paltry Pens’ goalie off the ice. Fleury made just nine saves on the night. Michigan native, Brent Johnson, replaced Fleury in goal. Ruslan Fedotenko tried to help the Penguins scratch back with a Pittsburgh goal early in the third period. Fedotenko’s 10th of the season cut the deficit to 4-2, but New Jersey’s Rob Niedermeyer’s empty-netter essentially sealed the Pittsburgh loss. New Jersey has now won four of their last five games. Brodeur earned his 596th career NHL victory. New Jersey has cooked the Penguins all season and should be confident with a potential playoff meeting with Pittsburgh. The Devils have revived themselves after a slight slump. The black and red clad team are flowing offensively and shutting down speedy skaters on defense. They are primed for the playoffs if they continue to play up to the level they exhibited last night.

Parting Points: Yankee notes- Marte gets drilled by a Ryan Howard bullet and leaves the game; Joba’s improved performance keeps him in the hunt for the fifth rotation job.

Thursday tune- “Beautiful Disaster”- 311

Let the games begin—March Madness has officially kicked off!