*Photo from Yahoo! Sports*
Jesper Bratt didn't force a bad shot. Instead, he created a play by himself. He skated around the net, and did the wrap around goal. Bratt scored the OT winner, Sami Vatanen added a goal himself, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 2-1 overtime win Sunday afternoon.
Sidney Crosby got the scoring started just 3:37 into the game, scoring his 12th goal of the season to give the Penguins an early 1-0 lead. It stayed that way until 4:48 into the second period, when Vatanaen tied things at one, getting the Devils on the board with his second goal of the season. 2:50 into overtime, Bratt scored a wraparound goal to give the Devils the win.
Bratt said of his decision to go wraparound that "I saw that their goalie had everything covered for me to shoot at and I didn't want to force a bad angle shot. I tried to wrap it and I saw that one of his legs got caught and he couldn't push through to the other side. I saw my chance to wrap it around quick, and got lucky this time."
Mackenzie Blackwood got the start for the Devils, earning a hard fought win in a solid showing for the young netminder. Blackwood stopped 35 shots out of the 36 that came his way, Crosby's opening goal being the only hiccup. Blackwood increased his record to 7-8-1 with the victory, while New Jersey is still 7th in the East Division, with a 11-14-4 record.
Devils coach Lindy Ruff said of Blackwood's play that "He made big saves when we needed him. He made a couple big saves on their power play. Third period there was probably two really good opportunities that they got. There was one of a 2-on-1 when the puck jumped over our stick, and he stood tall for us."
Tristan Jarry was the losing goalie in this game, as he got the start for the Penguins. Jarry stopped 33 saves out of 35 shots, still a good showing for the second year goalie, despite the loss. Jarry's record fell to 12-8-2 this season with the loss, while Pittsburgh is 3rd in the East Division, with a 19-11-2 record.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of the loss that "We're playing a lot of games here. We just went through a stretch where we played an awful lot of hockey. So that's one of the challenges in this particular circumstance in this year with the condensed schedule. So we've got to get contributions throughout our lineup if we're going to get consistent results. We're getting consistent offensive production, obviously, from Crosby's line. But it would help if we could get some more from the bottom nine. So that's one of our challenges right now."
The Devils travel to Philadelphia to face the Flyers on Tuesday, with Blackwood slated to draw the start again. The Penguins host the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night, with Jarry expected to start.
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