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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils lured the Pittsburgh
Penguins into their trap -- again.
|  | | New Jersey goalie Marin Brodeur lunges to make one of his 24 saves against Pittsburgh. |
New Jersey's neutral-zone trap kept Jaromir Jagr scoreless and
the Devils beat Pittsburgh on a Randy McKay goal for the second
time in less than a month, winning 3-1 Wednesday night.
Jagr, the NHL scoring leader, had four goals and five assists in
two games. But, slowed by the trap and a sore upper leg that kept
him out of practice Tuesday, he was held without a point for the
sixth time in 38 games.
"We didn't let Jagr get anything," said goalie Martin Brodeur,
who stopped 24 of 25 shots. "We slowed it to a crawl. There was no
pace to that game. It was unbelievable. They'd go back and look for
the perfect play with Jagr and (Alexei) Kovalev, and that was OK
with us."
Jagr had six shots in a team-high 26 minutes, 21 seconds.
"You've got to find a way to stop him and his line," the
Devils' Bobby Holik said. "That's the only way to win."
The Devils took over the Atlantic Division lead by two points
over idle Philadelphia. The third-place Penguins slipped 11 points
behind and a game below .500 in losing for the third time in their
last 14 home games.
Coach Herb Brooks was unhappy the Penguins kept trying to play
their uptempo style against a team that clearly wouldn't let them,
limiting their scoring chances and their ability to pick up speed
in the open ice.
"We're trying to paint the Sistine Chapel, and we should be
trying to paint the garage," Brooks said.
New Jersey is 4-0-2 in its last six, including road wins at
Ottawa and Pittsburgh in a three-game span.
"We had a mission coming into the game; we weren't going to let
it open up," Brodeur said. "I thought we played one of our good
games this year. They had a few chances, but they're pretty
skilled, so you know they're going to get some. But I thought we
were really disciplined."
McKay broke a 1-all tie at 2:32 of the third, taking Holik's
short pass and wristing a shot from the top of the right circle
between Jean-Sebastien Aubin's pads to the short side.
"You give me that kind of shot 10 times in a row and 10 times
I'll stop it, it just happens sometimes," Aubin said.
McKay also beat the Penguins 2-1 Dec. 7, when Pittsburgh
looked so helpless against the Devils' trap that general manager
Craig Patrick decided to fire coach Kevin Constantine two days later.
Wednesday's game was a near replay, with the Devils swarming to
the neutral zone to contest every Pittsburgh up-ice rush and
prevent the Penguins from generating any speed into the New Jersey zone.
Pittsburgh, 9-4 under Brooks, took a 1-0 lead at 15:51 of the first on Aleksey Morozov's sixth goal -- and fourth in three games
against New Jersey -- but rarely generated much offensive momentum after that. Morozov deflected Michal Rozsival's slap shot from the right circle.
The Devils outshot the Penguins 35-25 and had edges of 12-6 in
the first period and 12-8 in the second.
"We forgot to shoot the puck," Matthew Barnaby said. "We
forgot to shoot that black thing. I'm upset with the way we played.
They lull you to sleep, we played right to their scheme. They
clogged up the middle, and we played right into their hands. We played their game plan."
Patrik Elias tied it at 3:10 of the second, stationing himself
at the left of the net to put in a rebound of Petr Sykora's shot
that deflected off Aubin's right leg.
Sykora added an empty-net goal at 19:55, his 12th goal of the season.
Brodeur earned his 22nd win, or all but one of New Jersey's
victories. Despite the consecutive road wins, New Jersey remains
under .500 -- 7-9-3 -- away from home after setting an NHL record with 28 road victories last season.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
New Jersey Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Penguins ponder new arena, renovating old one
NHL returns to Japan next season with Penguins-Predators games
RECAPS
NY Rangers 3
Toronto 2
New Jersey 3
Pittsburgh 1
Dallas 3
Nashville 1
Colorado 4
Calgary 0
San Jose 1
Edmonton 1
Tampa Bay 3
Vancouver 3
Florida 5
Anaheim 1
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