New Jersey Devils shockingly defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-0
The 698th game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series saw the New Jersey Devils play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Prudential Centre. The match was expected to be a pretty much one sided encounter with Pittsburgh Penguins challenging
for the title while New Jersey Devils look to move out of the last position.
The match saw the New Jersey Devils shocking the NHL fans with a 2-0 win against the Penguins. Both goals were scored in the first period. Though Pittsburgh Penguins dominated the final period and had plenty of chances to score but they failed to convert
them into goals and resultantly lost the match. Martin Brodeur, goalie of the Devils was the star selection of the match with his 23 saves, save percentage of 100%.
The period began with New Jersey Devils attacking right from the word go. Choking the opposing defence, Devils got numerous scoring chances early. The home side was content on winning and scored through Brian Rolston from a brilliant long range strike in
the 2nd minute to get into the lead.
Pittsburgh Penguins managed to come up with some attacks as well after the goal and it looked as if they were back as they started to come up with some fluent pieces of play. However, there was a sudden shift in momentum which saw the New Jersey Devils grab
the opportunity and score once again in the 10th minute through Nick Palmieri from a brilliant backhand shot.
After the goal, both teams preferred sitting and enjoying possession rather than relentlessly attacking. This strategy saw them waiting for spaces to develop which did happen, but no goals were scored as the period ended with the New Jersey Devils leading
2-0 going into the break. The first 20 minutes of play saw Devils making 9 goal attempts while Penguins made 6 goal attempts.
The second half saw both teams starting off slowly. With each passing minute, the game caught pace and the attacks also started to intensify. There were scoring chances for both teams at the start of the period, but the frontline failed to convert them into
goals.
Chances were rare during the opening part of the period and dried up as the period neared the ten-minute mark. However, as the period neared its end, the shots started to increase once again with both teams concentrating on scoring.
However, no goals were scored as the period ended goal-less with the New Jersey Devils benefiting from the previous goals and leading 2-0.
The final period of the match saw the Pittsburgh Penguins absolutely show their class with some excellent passing and shooting abilities. Not only this, they constructed some brilliant attacks which saw them coming across scoring chances.
The Devil’s goal keeper, Martin Bordeur, made saves from everywhere and ensured that no goals would be scored against him. The final 20 minutes of match saw Pittsburgh Penguins making 10 goal attempts while New Jersey Devils made just 3 goal attempts with
no goal scored. The match ended with the New Jersey Devils winning the match 2-0 much to the surprise of everyone and set the home crowd wild.
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