Penguins defeated by Devils
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Patrik Elias had the deciding goal in the shootout as the New Jersey Devils extended their Atlantic Division lead to eight points with a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. Andy Greene had his first career goal, and Sergei Brylin and Travis Zajac also scored for the Devils, who had lost three in a row but have reached 90 points. New Jersey beat the second-place Penguins in Pittsburgh for the second time in 10 days.
Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar and Michel Ouellet scored for the Penguins, who had won three of four but fell two points behind Ottawa for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The left-shooting Elias skated far to his right on Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury as the final shooter in the shootout. He skated from Fleury’s left to his right before flipping the puck past him.
New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur stopped Pittsburgh’s Erik Christensen, Malkin and Sidney Crosby to earn his 40th win of the season. Brodeur has won 40 games for the sixth time and became the only goaltender to win 40 in consecutive seasons on multiple occasions.
Ouellet tied the game with 3:38 to play after Malkin intercepted an ill-advised pass by Scott Gomez behind the Devils goal line. Gomez was trying to get the puck to Greene, who was behind the net.
But Malkin stole the puck and fed Ouellet, who was skating alone down the slot and one-timed a slap shot high to the stick side of Brodeur.
The game took place while the Penguins’ owners, state and local politicians and NHL officials were meeting across the state in Philadelphia in talks aimed at funding a new arena for Pittsburgh.