The time off this week did not benefit the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were defeated 3-0 last night by the New Jersey Devils. The loss, on the Pens home ice, snapped a six-game winning streak. Sidney Crosby also had his 12-game scoring streak snapped. Devils goaltender Scott Wedgewood earned his first NHL victory in his second career start, stopping all 39 Penguins shots.
The Pens remain four points out of second place in the Metropolitan Division with nine games remaining. They visit Detroit for a 2pm face-off Saturday. Pre-game on WISR 680am is 1:30pm. The Pens visit the New York Rangers Sunday night.
The Pens have struggled on the power play since Evgeni Malkin’s injury. They were 0-for-3 last night, and are 3-for-46 without Malkin. Slow starts to games have also been a problem for the Pens. The Devils scored less than a minute into last night’s game. Then made the score 2-0 on a power play half way through the first period.
After missing the past 42 games, Beau Bennett returned to the ice from injury for the Pens last night.