The Pittsburgh Penguins fell to the New Jersey Devils last night 4-2 at PPG Paints Arena.
Forward Jack Hughes had two goals, defenseman Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist, forward Nico Hischier had a shorthanded goal, and goaltender Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves for the Devils. The Devils improve to 23-11-2 after losing their two previous games. Forwards Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Carter scored, and goaltender Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for the Penguins. The Penguins drop to 19-11-6 on the season and are now 0-2-2 in their last four games and 1-3-2 in their previous six.
At 14:26 into the first period, Malkin got past the defense and scored on a breakaway to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead. This goal gave him his 1,180th career NHL point, which made him pass his hero Sergei Fedorov for second place all-time among Russian-born NHL players. Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has the most, with 1,452
Just over three minutes into the second period, the Devils thought to have tied the game at 1-1 after a shot by Hamilton beat Jarry. Still, the goal was called back for goaltender interference after forward Erik Haula made contact with Jarry. Less than three minutes later, Hughes officially tied the game at 1-1 on the power play. Hamilton would get his 400th career NHL point with an assist on Hughes’ goal. At 12:30, Carter would give the Penguins the 2-1 lead after Carter’s feed to defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joesph went off Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and past Vanecek. At 17:37, Hamilton scored off a wrist shot to tie the game up at 2-2 and grab his 401st career NHL point. He has 123 goals and 278 assists in 705 career NHL games. With less than a minute to go in the period, Hischier scored on a wrist shot shorthanded to give the Devils the 3-2 lead. The Devils improved to 18-0-1 when leading after the second period this season.
Just over nine minutes into the third period, Haula would receive a double-minor for high-sticking Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The Penguins were unable to score during the four-minute power play. Hughes scored his second goal into the empty net with five seconds left in the game. It was his 20th goal of the season and his 13th goal in his past 16 games.
Devils’ defenseman Damon Severson would lead all skaters with 30:41 of ice time and over 12 minutes of that time coming on the penalty kill. The Penguins went 0-for-9 on the power play. Their next game is Monday in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park. The Penguins were also without defenseman Kris Letang. He suffered a lower-body injury in the Penguins game against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday and is day-to-day.
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