Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur reacts after giving up a a goal to Sidney Crosby of the Penguins.
Crosby nails winner as Penguins keep riding high, close gap on East-leading Devils
Saturday, February 17, 2007
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- How can a hockey team tell when things are going its way?
Sometimes, there can be a few subtle clues.
Like when the fourth-line left winger just can't make it to the bench for a line change and ends up getting a goal.
And when a defensive defenseman who has not scored in 110 games -- and has done nothing to suggest he will do it in the next 110 -- beats the best goaltender in the game with a long-range wrist shot a couple of minutes later. Then can't give the goal away, no matter how hard he tries.
And especially when the team finds itself on a 13-0-2 roll, as the Penguins are in the wake of their 5-4 victory against New Jersey at Continental Airlines Arena last night.
The victory gave the Penguins (31-17-9) sole possession of fourth place in the Eastern Conference -- they actually leapfrogged Atlanta for third place in total points, but division-winners are guaranteed the top three seeds -- and, more important, moved them within five points of the Atlantic Division-leading Devils.
The Penguins are hardly a lock -- or even a reasonable bet -- to overtake New Jersey, even though they have a game-in-hand on the Devils. But the fact that it is a mathematical possibility at this point is little shy of remarkable.
"We were pretty far away not too long ago, and now it just seems like we can win our division," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. "We just have to keep going, keep winning, keep getting points, and we'll see."
Mind you, the Penguins make every point an adventure. After blowing multiple-goal leads in each of the previous three games, they failed to protect three separate three-goal advantages last night, although the Devils never pulled even after the Penguins got the first goal.
"We're not going to be able to beat good teams toward the end of the year if we keep doing this," defenseman Rob Scuderi said. "We'll take the win but, at the same time, it's becoming a bigger and bigger issue."
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 3:02 of the opening period, when left winger Jarkko Ruutu didn't have a chance to get off the ice when his line was replaced by the Penguins' No. 1 unit.
That meant Ryan Malone couldn't make it off the bench for that shift -- and that Ruutu was in position to steer a Josef Melichar shot past Devils goalie Martin Brodeur.
"I wanted to go change, but then I realized to go deep, that there was nobody in front," Ruutu said.
If that goal surprised the Devils -- and it clearly did -- the Penguins' second one absolutely had to stun them as Scuderi threw a shot past Brodeur from along the boards at the top of the right circle.
Scuderi immediately told the officials that Malone had deflected in his shot -- "It was pretty obvious that it was tipped," he said -- but the scorers did not find video evidence to support his contention and gave the goal to Scuderi, whether he wanted it or not.
The goal was his first since March 7, 2004, and pretty much filled his quota for the decade.
That gave the Penguins two goals on their first three shots and Melichar, who hadn't had a multiple-point game all season, two assists in a span of two minutes, 17 seconds.
Jordan Staal put the Penguins up by three at 17:54, thanks to a slick setup. Linemate Michel Ouellet had the puck behind the New Jersey net and slipped it to Staal, who was near the left side of the crease and stuck it inside the far post for his 24th.
The Devils finally broke through at 7:29 of the second, when defenseman Brian Rafalski beat Fleury with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.
Sidney Crosby ended his eight-game goal drought by tossing a shot past Brodeur from above the right dot at 10:27 -- "I knew it would finally go in, so it was nice to get that one," he said -- and after Patrik Elias made it 4-2 at 12:33, Ruutu scored at 16:52 to lock up his first two-goal game as a Penguin.
But Zach Parise's power-play goal at 2:38 of the third made it 5-3, and New Jersey pulled within one when Fleury let a long shot from Travis Zajac bounce off his glove and tumble into the net at 8:50.
"Someone put Vaseline on my glove, I think, before the third," Fleury said, smiling. "I should have made the save. It just slipped out. I should have had that."
Yeah, he should have. But his mistake was frustrating, not fatal. And the Penguins, incredibly, are in position to contend for a division title during the final 25 games of the regular season.
"I don't think it's something we need to worry about," said Crosby, who finished with a goal and an assist to raise his league-leading points total to 90. "We all realize we play them three more times. We're just worrying about getting as many points as we can and wherever that brings us, so be it."
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(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com. )
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