GAME THREAD: NHL: PITTSBURGH (6-7) at NEW JERSEY (5-8)

NHL: PITTSBURGH at NEW JERSEY

<div class="pre">-----------------------------------------
PITTSBURGH 2 2 1 --5
NEW JERSEY 0 0 0 --0
-----------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby 8 (power play)
(Petr Sykora, Sergei Gonchar), 12:09. 2, Pittsburgh, Adam Hall 2
(Brooks Orpik, Maxime Talbot), 16:19. Penalties: S Gonchar, Pit
(holding), 1:25; G Laraque, Pit (roughing), 7:35; D Clarkson, Njd
(holding stick), 11:40.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Pittsburgh, Petr Sykora 7 (Evgeni Malkin),
5:48. 4, Pittsburgh, Erik Christensen 2 (Maxime Talbot, Georges
Laraque), 11:18. Penalties: M Mottau, Njd (high sticking), 9:02; Z
Parise, Njd (high sticking), 17:27.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby 9 (Brooks Orpik),
3:28. Penalties: D Clarkson, Njd (tripping), 5:43; D Clarkson, Njd
(hooking), 10:41; E Christensen, Pit (holding), 17:39; M Talbot, Pit
(holding), 19:25.

Shots on goal:
----------------------------------------
PITTSBURGH 12 10 8 --30
NEW JERSEY 11 3 6 --20
----------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: PIT - 1 of 5, NJD - 0 of 4. Goalies :
Pittsburgh, Dany Sabourin (20 shots, 20 saves; record: 3-1-1). New
Jersey, Martin Brodeur (24 shots, 19 saves; record: 4-7-1), Kevin
Weekes (3:28 of 3rd period, 6, 6). A: 14,032. Referees: Chris Lee,
Kerry Fraser. Linesmen: Andy Mcelman, Brad Kovachik.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

PITTSBURGH NEW JERSEY
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
G Roberts 0 0 even 3 R Pelley 0 0 even 0
T Kennedy 0 0 even 0 J Madden 0 0 even 0
J Staal 0 0 even 2 B Gionta 0 0 even 4
R Malone 0 0 +1 2 D Zubrus 0 0 -1 1
E Christensen 1 0 +1 2 M Rupp 0 0 -1 1
P Sykora 1 1 +1 4 S Brylin 0 0 -4 0
A Hall 1 0 +1 1 T Zajac 0 0 even 2
M Talbot 0 2 +2 0 V Vishnevski 0 0 -4 1
G Laraque 0 1 +2 1 J Pandolfo 0 0 even 0
M Eaton 0 0 even 0 A Asham 0 0 -1 0
A Nasreddine 0 0 +1 1 D Clarkson 0 0 -3 3
R Scuderi 0 0 +1 2 P Elias 0 0 -2 3
B Orpik 0 2 +4 2 M Mottau 0 0 even 0
D Sydor 0 0 +1 1 J Oduya 0 0 -1 1
S Gonchar 0 1 +1 4 A Greene 0 0 even 0
E Malkin 0 1 +2 2 P Martin 0 0 even 2
M Recchi 0 0 even 1 S Brookbank 0 0 -3 0
S Crosby 2 0 +2 2 Z Parise 0 0 even 2
J Ruutu HEALTHY K Rachunek GROIN
C Armstrong HEALTHY
R Whitney GROIN</div>

 

NHL: PITTSBURGH at NEW JERSEY

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NHL
PITTSBURGH 5
NEW JERSEY 0</div>

 

NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Dany Sabourin and the PittsburghPenguins didn't have to worry about blowing another two-goallead.


Sabourin stopped 20 shots for his first NHL shutout and SidneyCrosby scored twice as the Penguins handed the New Jersey Devilstheir worst home shutout loss in nearly 16 years, 5-0.

Pittsburgh was coming off back-to-back losses in which itsquandered two-goal leads. But there was no collapse in thefinale of a four-game road trip.


"We didn't mention it after the first period, we mentioned itafter the second period," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said."We said that we had to learn from our mistakes. And I wasreally impressed by the third period we played."


Crosby opened the scoring at 12:09 of the first period,extending his career-best points streak to 13 games. Thereigning Hart Trophy winner also capped the scoring just under 31/2 minutes into the third, chasing goaltender Martin Brodeur.

In between, Adam Hall, former Devil Petr Sykora and ErikChristensen tallied for the Penguins, who avenged a 5-4 homeloss to New Jersey on October 17.


Sabourin wasn't tested much in his third start in four games.The 27-year-old did not face a shot over the final 15 minutes,49 seconds of the second period, then turned aside only six inthe third.


He also did a good job deflecting the credit.


"It was a big night for our team," Sabourin said. "Our playersdid a great job in front of me."


One of those saves was a lunging glove stab on defenseman PaulMartin's wrister from the top of the slot with 11 1/2 minutesremaining. Sabourin also used his glove to snatch DavidClarkson's close-in shot during a power play in the finalminute.


"It was awesome," veteran winger Mark Recchi said. "He's beengreat for us, so it was nice to see him get rewarded. He madesome big saves for us at the end."


Sabourin admitted it was nice to get his first shutout againstBrodeur, a fellow Quebec native.


"I'm pretty happy," he said. "When I was younger and even now,I've liked him. He's an awesome goalie and a great guy. I methim once at goalie school, he's one of the best goalies in theworld. It was special for me to play against him."

Brodeur stopped 18 of 23 shots before he was replaced by KevinWeekes. The Devils had given up only five goals in theirprevious three games but matched their worst home shutoutsetback since a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Detroit and TimCheveldae on January 25, 1992.


"If not for (our goaltenders), it would've been 8-0 or 9-0," NewJersey coach Brent Sutter said. "What we saw tonight was atotal lack of professionalism. It's totally unacceptable.That's not even close. It's the players' accountability to thefront of that jersey."


After the Devils totaled two shots during two early power plays,Pittsburgh needed only 29 seconds to score on its first manadvantage. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar's pass from the blue linedeflected down low to Crosby, who banged the puck past Brodeur.

With 3:41 to go in the opening period, Hall got a piece ofdefenseman Brooks Orpik's point shot to score his second goal ofthe season and first in eight games.


The Penguins made it three goals on four shots at 5:48 of thesecond when Sykora converted a spectacular pass from EvgeniMalkin, who managed to center the puck while he was beingknocked to the ice.


Christensen finished off a 2-on-1 at 11:18 and Crosby finishedoff Brodeur early in the third off a feed from Orpik.

"It's hard for everybody's confidence to get outplayed likethat," Brodeur said. "We had some great signs the last threegames and how we want to play and how successful we can be. ...These efforts like tonight, I think we have to start minimizingthem."