*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
The key for the Pittsburgh Penguins as of late has been scoring goals en masse to win games. The offense was just enough this time around. Teddy Blueger scored, Mike Matheson scored, and the Penguins defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Sunday night in Newark, NJ.
It's now up to 7 straight wins for the Penguins, who now possess a 17-8-5 record this season, good for 4th place in the Metropolitan Division. This time around it was the depth scoring that carried the load for the Penguins, with some of their stars like Sidney Crosby not getting on the scoresheet. During this 7 game win streak, Pittsburgh has outscored their opponents 26-10 so far.
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said that "I just like the compete. I like the attitude. These guys, I think, they really care for one another. I think they play hard for one another. Just the compete and the resilience that I think the group has displayed here throughout most of the season."
Starting the scoring was Blueger, who scored shorthanded 9:19 into the game to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead. That stayed intact until 1:03 into the second period, when Danton Heinen scored his 9th goal of the season to make it a 2-0 Penguins lead. Just 1:17 later, the Devils got on the board thanks to the 4th goal of the season by Janne Kuokkanen, making it a 2-1 game after two periods.
The winning goal for the Penguins came 9:31 into the 3rd period, when Matheson scored his 3rd goal of the season, assisted by Chad Ruhwedel and Dominik Simon. On the power play at the 11:12 mark of the 3rd period, Nathan Bastian converted for the Devils, scoring his 4th goal of the season, thanks to assists by Dougie Hamilton and Pavel Zacha. That was all the Devils could muster, as the 3-2 score became final.
Asked about the game as a whole, Blueger said "It wasn't pretty. I don't think we had our best. We were pretty good at times, but it just seemed like there wasn't a whole lot of rhythm, especially offensively for us. So it was just kind of digging in deep and finding a way to get it done."
In goal for Pittsburgh and getting the win was Tristan Jarry, continuing his rebound season. Jarry turned aside 17 of the 19 shots on goal the Devils got, good for a .895 save percentage for the night. With the win, Jarry's record improves to 15-5-4 in 24 starts this season.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Devils have been in free fall. They've now lost their last 6 games, and they've lost 15 of the last 18 games they've played, with 12 of them coming in regulation. Now, they have a 10-15-5 record, 7th place in the crowded Metropolitan Division race.
Talking about the loss and the losing streak, Bastian said "Some nights, maybe a week or two ago, we were completely out of it, and then nights like tonight, we easily could've found a way to win. There's little things. Another shorthand goal is obviously super frustrating for us, but we played pretty good the whole night. It would have been nice to be rewarded for tonight."
The Devils started the 5th different goalie to play for them this season in this game. Jon Gillies got the nod, making his second start of the season and first for the Devils after being traded by the St.Louis Blues for future considerations. Gillies saved 19 of 22 shots the Penguins sent his way, good for a .864 save percentage. Gillies's record drops to 0-1-1 in two starts.
The Penguins and Devils had their rematch on Tuesday in Pittsburgh postponed, so the Penguins won't play again until Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, with Jarry likely to start again. The Devils will not play again until after the Christmas break, when they are scheduled to play the Blues on December 27.
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