Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Pens strong in 1-0 loss to Devils

The Pens first game post-trade deadline saw a strong defensive performance, allowing but a single powerplay goal to the Devils. Unfortunately for Fleury and the Pens, Martin Brodeur pitched his 12th shutout of the season, including stopping a flurry of chances on a late Pens PP.

None of the new acquisitions were available to play; Gary Roberts was in the building, and held a first intermission press conference. The Pens overall outplayed the Devils, but could not get the puck past Brodeur. The strong play was in stark contrast to recent games (5-1 and 6-5 losses to the Lightning and Islanders, and a series of 4+ goals allowed wins before that), but it left the Pens nothing to show for it in the standings. They remain at 75 points with 62 games played, 33-20-4-5, now in the 5th seed, having been passed by Ottawa.

The Magic Number is 31 on losses by Toronto, Carolina and Montreal tonight.

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