Dec 20, 2002 3 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Joe Nieuwendyk ended a 20-game streak without a goal and also set up New Jersey’s second goal, and the Devils ran Pittsburgh’s losing streak to a near-record 10 games by winning 3-1 Thursday night. Ivor Tverdovsky and Brian Gionta also scored as New Jersey, a lethargic 3-0 loser to Ottawa on Wednesday, ended a three-game losing streak – and, at least for one night, rumors Nieuwendyk might be traded.

Nieuwendyk, a former Stanley Cup star for Dallas, scored a day after Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said he felt confident he was about to come out of his slump. Nieuwendyk hadn’t scored since Nov. 2 against Chicago.

With Nieuwendyk finally contributing, the Devils ran the Penguins’ losing streak to close to historical lengths.

This is the Penguins’ second 10-game winless streak since the end of last season, when they went 0-8-1-1 in their final 10, but that streak included a tie.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Penguins have had only one longer losing streak in their 35-year history, an 11-game streak from Jan. 22, 1983, through Feb. 10, 1983, the year before Mario Lemieux arrived.

What makes the current streak significant is Lemieux is healthy and playing, although he went a third straight game without scoring. Until Tuesday, when he didn’t score in a 5-2 loss at Phoenix, the NHL’s leading scorer hadn’t gone more than one game without a point.

The Penguins haven’t won since beating Buffalo 4-1 Nov. 29, losing their last six on the road and their last four at home. Their lineup has been depleted by injuries that have cost them two of their top four scorers, forward Aleksey Morozov and defenseman Dick Tarnstrom, and at one point sidelined more than 40 percent of the veteran players on their roster.

Since starting 7-2-2, the Penguins are only 4-12-1-4.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead with 3:08 gone, a rarity during the streak, on Milan Kraft’s first goal of the season. But, obviously weary from a winless five-game road trip, they managed only 15 more shots on Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur.

Nieuwendyk tied it about 10 minutes later, stealing an ill-advised pass from along the left-wing boards by Ville Nieminen and quickly stuffing a shot past Jean-Sebastien Aubin.

Nieuwendyk then set up Tverdovsky’s third of the season, a slap shot from the right point past a screened Aubin early in the second. Gionta got his seventh midway through the period, a seemingly harmless shot from along the goal line that deflected off defenseman Jamie Pushor’s skate and into the net.

The Devils had 34 shots to the Penguins’ 16, the 15th straight game Pittsburgh has been outshot.

NOTES: F Alexei Kovalev is Pittsburgh’s second leading scorer, but is a minus-20. … New Jersey won despite going without a power play goal for the 11th straight game. … New Jersey has allowed 63 goals in 30 games. … The Devils had scored only 13 goals in their previous eight games. … Pittsburgh is 0-9-0-1 during its streak.