Devils nip Penguins for 8th straight win

The New Jersey Devils ran their winning streak to eight games with a hard fought 4-3 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night at the Meadowlands. Jamie Langenbrunner tied the game with under a minute remaining in regulation, and then beat Pens goalie Marc Andre Fleury with a minute remaining in the extra session for the game winner.

The night got off to a shaky start for New Jersey, who headed to the locker room after the first period down 2-1 despite outshooting Pittsburgh 19-7 in the first frame. Devils goalie Scott Clemmensen would eventually settle down, but in the first he allowed two goals within 20 seconds to stake Pittsburgh to a 2-0 lead. Maxime Talbot from Ryan Whitney and Rob Scuderi got the scoring underway, with Sidney Crosby scoring seconds later assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora. Bobby Holik got the Devils on the board just over two minutes later when he put the puck in the net on a setup from Brendan Shanahan and Mike Rupp.

After a scoreless second period, New Jersey fell behind 3-1 at 8:35 of the final frame when Crosby set up linemate Malkin for his 20th goal of the season. Brendan Shanahan shaved the margin to a single goal when he scored his third of the season on the power play from Brian Gionta and Dainius Zubrus. This set the stage for Langenbrunner’s heroics, tying the game at the 19:29 mark assisted by Zach Parise and Travis Zajac. The game winner four minutes into the overtime session was set up by Zajac and Andy Greene.

After the game, Brendan Shanahan suggested that the team’s comeback heroics in their past two games were a sign of the team’s strength of character:

"Obviously we came back last night and tonight. I noted to somebody last night that was the first time we've been behind so I don't think we're winning remarkable comeback games. For the most part, what I have seen is all secure victories. It's nice to be able to win in different ways."

Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby expressed his disappointment in losing a game late despite being outshot 43-16.

"You have to play right through and finish games off. There was a lot of time left on the clock and they had a chance to tie it in a one-goal game so we have to make sure we finish teams off."

With the victory, the Devils extended their Atlantic Division lead over the New York Rangers to five points. They’ve also narrowed the gap between themselves and Eastern Conference leading Boston to 11 points and play the Bruins twice before the end of the regular season.