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Monday, Mar. 13 7:30pm ET
Devils cap 3-3-1 road trip with victory | |||||
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BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils, in a scoring slump for more than a month, twice opened two-goals leads before holding off Pittsburgh 3-2 Monday night on Bobby Holik's goal off a Penguins player's skate. The Devils, trying to hold off Toronto and Philadelphia to keep their nearly season-long lead in the Eastern Conference, had scored more than two goals only twice in 12 games before taking a 3-1 lead in the second period. Holik scored the game-winner at 17:36 of the second, stealing the puck near the blue line and shooting it off Penguins forward Ian Moran's skate blade as Moran skated across the crease. Tyler Wright had an assist and scored to cut New Jersey's lead to 3-2 late in the second period. But the Devils tightened up defensively while allowing the Penguins only one shot in the first 15 minutes of the third period to finish 3-3-1 on their longest road trip of the season. The Devils, attempting to win their fourth consecutive conference regular-season title, were 3-7-2 in their previous 12 games before beating Pittsburgh for the third time in four games. By winning, the Devils (40-22-8) assured themselves of a fourth consecutive 40-victory season. The Penguins are 2-7-2 without the injured Jaromir Jagr, who needed surgery last month on his left thigh and may not play again until late in the season. Not surprisingly, the Penguins aren't generating much offense without the NHL's leading scorer. They have gone 16 consecutive games without scoring more than three goals, their longest such streak since the 1970-71 -- only their fourth season in the NHL. Defensemen Krzystzof Oliwa and Scott Stevens each made nice plays offensively to help New Jersey open a 2-0 lead, a rarity of late as the Devils have struggled to score. Oliwa took Denis Pederson's drop pass behind the net and centered to Jay Pandolfo, who jammed the puck into the net at 2:16 of the first period for his sixth goal. Less than four minutes later, Stevens grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and sped it up the ice to Sergei Nemchinov, who one-timed it over Jean-Sebastien Aubin's left shoulder from the top of the left circle. Aleksey Morozov made it 2-1 later in the first period with his 11th goal and assisted on Wright's goal in the second period. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur won his 38th game of the season, nine short of Bernie Parent's NHL record of 47 in a season. The Devils have 12 games remaining. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard New Jersey Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse RECAPS Edmonton 3 Atlanta 0
New Jersey 3 AUDIO/VIDEO   Bobby Holik gets his own rebound and puts it in the net.avi: 538 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||