Penguins Keep Devils Down in 4-2 Win

Recap by Penguins Featured Contributor Patricia Beninato

The bad news--Sidney Crosby didn’t score his five-hundredth goal against the Devils at Newark’s Prudential Center.

The good news--to paraphrase Linkin Park, in the end, it didn’t even matter.

Sid did notch his 409th career multi-point game, and Bryan Rust, Brian Boyle, and Mike Matheson also had two points apiece as the Penguins defeated the Devils 4-2.

No matter the venue, Pens/Devils matchups tend to be entertaining, and this one was no different. However, those hoping for a scorefest would be disappointed in the goal-free but fast-paced first period. Devils netminder Jon Gillies--(did you know that he’s six-six?) Bob Errey only mentioned that, oh, like NINE HUNDRED TIMES during the game--blocked a lot of shots, as did Tristan Jarry.

The Devils broke the scoring drought at 7:02 in the second period, when Jack Hughes snapped one past Jarry’s stick side, assisted by Yegor Sharangovich (for a second there I thought he was related to one of the Pittsburgh Russian lawyer twins) and Pavel Zacha. Mike Matheson, who’s definitely stepped up his scoring game this season, answered at 13:16 with a pinpoint slap shot over Gillies’s glove, helped out by Chad Ruhwedel and Brian Boyle. The period ended on a Penguins power play engendered by my favorite penalty, too much man on the ice.

The Pens didn’t score on the PP after it finished at the beginning of the third period, but a mere 36 seconds in, white-hot Bryan Rust tipped one in to give the Pens the lead for the first time in the game, assisted by Kris Letang and Sid. The lead lasted the grand total of oh, two minutes, as Nico Hischier got in a snap shot courtesy of Tomas Tatar and Damon Severson. 

But Brian Boyle (YES ERREY, WE KNOW, HE’S SIX-SIX TOO) wasn’t having it. He caught a great rebound from Matheson, who in turn intercepted a nice pass from Zach Aston-Reese, and put it past Gillies to regain the lead. And the Pens kept that lead for the rest of the game, fighting off the Devils’ buzzing, pesky D and Jake Guentzel handing out milkshakes with an empty-netter with a little over a minute left to clinch the victory, with Sid and Rusty helping out.

Now that we’re in the second half of the season, things mean more. Yes, the Pens are three-for-three since the All Star break, but Evgeni Malkin still looks a bit uncertain, Kasperi Kapanen and Evan Rodrigues have been noticeably quiet point-wise, and although he’s been outstanding, Jarry’s going to get worn out if he doesn’t get more than an odd break here and there. With today’s win, the Penguins are on top of the Metropolitan Division. It’s not panic button time by any means, but the problem for the Pens hasn’t been the regular season, but the postseason, which is coming.

Or we could just sip our milkshakes and see if Sid can notch number 500 on Tuesday, against the Flyers, and on Jaromir Jagr’s fiftieth birthday.