Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves and the Penguins shut out the New Jersey Devils 2-0 at Consol Energy Center. The shutout was Fleury's fourth of the season and 42nd in his career. He has two shutouts in his past four starts; Fleury made 22 saves in a 5-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 17.
Pittsburgh won their final three games entering the All-Star break and tied New Jersey for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
With Kyle Palmieri in the penalty box for tripping, Sidney Crosby opened the scoring with his 17th goal of the season. Kris Letang took a slap shot that ricocheted off Patric Hornqvist in front of the net and to Crosby on the right side. Crosby sent a wrist shot past Andy Greene and a diving Cory Schneider for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead with 4:33 remaining in the first period. Crosby, who is on a seven-game point streak (five goals, five assists), has scored at least one goal in seven consecutive home games. He has scored 32 points in his past 29 games. The goal ended Schneider's shutout streak against the Penguins at 135:27. He had two straight shutouts against them and last allowed a goal against Pittsburgh on Jan. 30, 2015, when Simon Despres scored 2:21 into overtime for a 2-1 Penguins win. Schneider was disappointed with the team's effort following a four-game winning streak, saying the loss left a sour taste in his mouth entering the break.
The Devils had two power plays in the first, but failed to get a shot on either. They controlled the majority of the period, holding a 10-2 shot advantage at one point, but couldn't solve Fleury. New Jersey coach John Hynes said the Devils cannot afford to play incomplete games if they are to remain in the Stanley Cup Playoffs race.
New Jersey's best chance came 8:31 into the first when Joseph Blandisi and Palmieri went on a 2-on-1 facing Brian Dumoulin. Blandisi passed over a sliding Dumoulin to Palmieri, who tipped a shot on net, but Fleury slid across to make a split-pad save before stopping Blandisi's rebound chance.
Phil Kessel extended the lead to 2-0 with his third goal in three games. Carl Hagelin carried the puck into the offensive zone and deked Eric Gelinas before slipping a pass that Kessel shot past an outstretched Schneider with 4:39 remaining in the second period. Hagelin has an assist in four of his five games since being traded to the Penguins from the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 16. He has at least one point in six of his past seven games and in seven of his past nine.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who lost his first four games, is now 9-7-4 since replacing Mike Johnston on Dec. 12.
Pens Quotes
Marc-Andre Fleury: "I was a lot busier at the start of the game. After that, I thought we dominated the play a lot, so it was definitely a lot quieter. … Some [shots] I could see. Some [hit] a couple posts. That was big. I thought the guys helped me out too. It always helps when you can see a puck leave a guy's stick. You have a good idea where it's going."Sidney Crosby: "They're really strong defensively. They're disciplined. When they get a lead, they play a pretty comfortable game that way. So, their goalie keeps them in it and he did again tonight, but it was definitely good to get a lead and give ourselves some breathing room there. They still believe in the way they play [when the Devils allow the first goal]. Especially with an early lead, you're not going to get them out of their comfort zone too much, but I think you notice a difference in the third period when they have to start pinching a little bit more."
Mike Sullivan: "I think we're making progress. I've said that since day one. We didn't get the results early. We're starting to get some results. … The points we get before this break are critically important to putting us in a position coming out of this break. One of our games got postponed, so we ended up playing seven games. We had 14 potential points. We ended up getting 10 out of 14 points, which is a pretty good body of work."
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