New Jersey Devils get fourth straight over Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 -NHL Update
New Jersey did not let the rankings affect their game performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday night, February 5, 2012, as the Devils dominated Penguins for the fourth straight time this 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, 5-2, at the
Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
Ilya Kovalchuk has been a dominating factor for New Jersey, especially ever since the 2012 NHL All-Star Game came to a close and the second half of the regular season kicked off. He has elevated his game which has meant improvement for the Devils ever since.
"He's a heart and soul guy," Devils’ David Clarkson said. "He flies out there. He's always been a guy who finds the net and makes plays. He's a positive guy in the room, whether we're winning or losing. It's great to see him doing well, and that's why we're
doing well."
Ilya Kovalchuk and Anton Volchenkov gave New Jersey a comfortable lead by scoring back-to-back in the opening period.
Volchenkov finally put his first goal of the season up on the scoreboard.
The second period got even more exciting for the thousands of fans in the Prudential Center as Dainius Zubrus scored the Devils third straight of the night while being shorthanded while Matt Niskanen added Pittsburgh’s first on the power play with captain,
Zach Parise, taking New Jersey to 4-1 entering the third and final period of regulation.
Pittsburgh tried hard to counter back with Evgeni Malkin potting the power play goal at the 11:43 mark as Anton Volchenkov was booked for high-sticking but David Clarkson’s 20th with less than a minute to go finalised the match.
"Everybody talked about how we can't play against teams that are on top of us," Devils’ forward, Ilya Kovalchuk, said. "I think we sent a little message to the League – all the teams – that we're right there and they just have to be careful."
The Devils will certainly be looking for a fifth straight win against the New York Rangers on Tuesday while Pittsburgh Penguins are off to Canada in order to face the Montreal Canadiens on the same day.
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