Pittsburgh Penguins bounce back 5-2 against New Jersey Devils -NHL Update
It was pretty surprising to see a team like Pittsburgh get dominated in their last matchup against Ottawa Senators, 8-4. Penguins bounced back and showed they were not about to lose consecutive contests, conquering New Jersey Devils, 5-2, Sunday night, March
25, 2012, at the sold-out CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"After giving up eight goals, not playing the way we wanted, it was a good way to bounce back," said Sidney Crosby.
Sidney Crosby continued to increase his scoring for the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, bringing it up to 25 points (4 goals, 21 assists) now.
Pittsburgh also became the second team in the Eastern Conference to grab 100 points in the season and secured a playoff spot as well, now only one point below the leading New York Rangers team. If Penguins manage to overtake the Rangers for the top Eastern
and Atlantic Division spot, it could definitely be regarded as one of the biggest turnarounds this season.
Chris Kunitz got the first of the night in the opening minute of round-one off an assist by Evgeni Malkin. New Jersey captain, Zach Parise, levelled the match with his 30th of the year on a Devils breakaway followed by the tie-breaker from Jordan
Staal at 19:04.
Pascal Dupuis found the open opportunity to extend the lead at 15:34 into the second while Ilya Kovalchuk made it a one point game in the final 20-minute period of regulation.
The Crosby and Malkin duo got to work in the last period as the former found the loose puck and sprung loose to fire it past New Jersey goalie, Martin Brodeur, while Malkin secured the contest with his 46th of the year at 18:28.
Travis Zajac made a comeback on the New Jersey team after playing only eight games this season due to a Achilles surgery. He was playing his first game since January 2, 2012.
"I felt pretty strong for most of the game, and as the game went along I definitely felt a lot better," said Zajac. "I knew Kovy was around the back door so I just kind of threw it there and it was just a little bit of a lucky play."
Penguins are ready to take over the top Eastern Conference spot as they have the next against New York Islanders at home on Tuesday, while New Jersey Devils hope for a comeback and end to their two-game slump against Chicago Blackhawks the same day.
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