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 Only three minutes were left in regulation and Devils goaltender
Cory Schneider was having the game of his life, stopping shot after
shot -- 41 in all.
Despite their recent struggles overall and in New Jersey, the
Penguins were not ready to give up. They had a simple, collective
message.
"Just stay with it," said Pittsburgh left winger Chris Kunitz, who
scored the tying goal on a power play with 3:11 left in regulation.
Kunitz set the table for defenseman Simon Depres to score the winner
with 2:39 left in overtime, giving the Penguins a come-from-behind
2-1 victory over the Devils on Friday night at the Prudential
Center.
"The way things have been going lately, we could have just accepted
this as a loss, but we all stayed with it," said Kunitz, whose 15th
goal of the season was the first shot to get past Schneider all
night. "That was the key. We stayed with it, stayed focused, kept
the pressure on."
 Penguins coach Mike Johnston said, "We talked about that, the last
couple of days, that most importantly, we had to stay with it. We
were playing our game. We played a good game. We didn't flinch after
they scored. We did whatever it took to get the game-tying goal."
After Kunitz scored to send the game to overtime, Despres sent a
soft wrist shot from the point that just snuck in off the post with
traffic on front of Schneider, who apparently didn't see the shot.
The victory enabled the Penguins (28-13-8) to snap a five-game
losing streak to the Devils in Newark and win for only the fourth
time in 16 games during the last six years at the Prudential Center.
It was just the Penguins' second win in their last seven games.
"It was all about keeping focus on what you're doing, staying with
it," Pittsburgh center Brandon Sutter said. "We knew that there was
a lot of time left to get the tying goal and then whatever happened
after that, we would take. We just wanted to give ourselves a
chance."
The loss snapped a modest two-game win streak for the Devils
(18-22-9).
The Devils had taken a 1-0 lead on a goal from right winger Steve
Bernier with 14 minutes left, an unassisted wraparound goal to snap
a scoreless deadlock, his fourth goal in the last five games.
And for a while, especially with the way Schneider was playing in
net, it appeared as if the one goal would stand up.
"That's probably one of the better goaltending performances I've
seen in a long time," Devils interim head coach and general manager
Lou Lamoriello said. "He gave us a chance to win. It's a shame that
he didn't get the win. He deserved to win."
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But the Devils can lament the fact that they had only 14 shots on
goal -- seven of which came in the first two periods. Penguins
goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to make only 13 saves to collect
his 23rd win of the season.
"We can't rely on Schneids to save us every night," Devils veteran
center Patrik Elias said. "It is what it is. We didn't deserve to
win, no matter how we look at it. We have to do a better job of
scoring. We can't sit back and just expect our goalie keep us in the
game. We have to be hungry."
The Devils have to regroup with Florida coming in Saturday night.
"It's past," Lamoriello said. "It's over. It's a game. We didn't
generate any offense. We didn't have any offensive chances. We had a
lot of unforced turnovers and errors. We gave them a chance to win.
You have to shoot the puck to get opportunities. It's as simple as
that."
NOTES: Veteran C Maxim Lapierre centered the Penguins' third line
for the second straight game after he was acquired in a trade with
the St. Louis Blues for C Marcel Goc on Tuesday. The 29-year-old
Lapierre is having a down season (two goals, seven assists in 45
games), but his playoff experience could come in handy down the
stretch. Lapierre is also excellent on faceoffs, winning 54 percent
of his draws, better than any other Penguins player. Lapierre is a
strong physical presence who has gained a reputation for being an
agitator. ... Friday's game was the second of a five-game homestand
for the Devils, who will be home for 20 of their final 34 games this
season. ... Devils G Cory Schneider started his NHL-best 43rd game
in goal this season. ... The Devils activated RW Tuomo Ruutu from
injured reserve. Ruutu had the flu. ... Devils RW Jaromir Jagr also
returned to action after acknowledging that he indeed had the mumps
before the All-Star break, the sixth Devils player to contract the
illness this season.
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