PITTSBURGH — The Devils played excellent second and third periods, but Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury ensured New Jersey would regret its terrible first period.
Fleury made 30 of his 37 saves over the final two sessions, stopping the Devils again and again as the Penguins edged them for a 3-2 win at the CONSOL Energy Center.
“We were clearly the better team the last 40 minutes,” Devils goalie Cory Schneider said. “Fleury made some real big saves and was definitely, by far, the better goalie tonight.”
Patrik Elias and Dainius Zubrus scored 56 seconds apart early in the second period, but the Devils dropped to 1-4-1 in their past six.
After Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, the Devils controlled the remainder of the game. But Fleury was sharp.
Perhaps his best saves came on Steve Bernier — twice, with a pad and then his stick while sprawling — with 14:40 to play in regulation. Fleury then denied Damien Brunner on a partial breakaway minutes later.
“We’re a pretty good team — we’ve just got to get our minds into it from the start of the game and start skating right off the hop,” the Devils’ Dainius Zubrus said. “When we do that, when we play 60 minutes, we can play against anybody.”
Pascal Dupuis got Pittsburgh off to a lightning-quick start, scoring 41 seconds into the game, and Chris Conner and Jayson Megna also scored in the first for Metropolitan-leading Pittsburgh, which has won seven of eight. The Penguins also extended their home winning streak to seven games.
The Devils’ frenzied final push couldn’t topple the Penguins, who avoided the fate of allowing a goal to an opponent that had its goalie pulled for the third game in a row.
“We took our foot off the pedal in terms of how we played and how we executed with the puck,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. “We were a little careless in how we managed the puck.”
Dupuis’ goal set the tone, coming off a misplay by Schneider.
Chris Kunitz carried the puck into the zone and flipped a fluttering puck on net as he crossed the blue line. Schneider had trouble covering it, and Dupuis eventually poked it in for his fifth of the season.
“Obviously, just an inexcusable goal,” Schneider said. “That can’t happen at this level. It’s not fair to my teammates to put them down 40 seconds into the game.”
Conner then made it 2-0 at 7:55 when Brandon Sutter sprung him alone in the slot and he used a wrist shot beat Schneider for his second goal of the season.
Megna, a rookie in the lineup only because of injuries and the suspension of winger James Neal, scored for the second time in four games — his fourth overall — with 5:20 to play in the first.
But the Devils took 15 of the first 16 shots of the second period and had a 19-5 advantage in shots in the period overall. After the first intermission, New Jersey outshot Pittsburgh 32-11.
The Devils got to Fleury twice. Elias scored 3:24 into the second after a failed Devils power play. Zubrus then pushed a fluttering puck that was sitting on the goal line into the net after a Jaromir Jagr shot deflected off Megna’s leg, making it difficult for Fleury to handle.
“The second and third we started moving our feet, and that’s how we started creating some chances,” Zubrus said.
Fleury is second in the NHL in home wins and goals-against average, and third in save percentage at home.
“After [the third goal], we didn’t play the way we wanted,” Megna said. “We need to play a complete game after that, and I think ‘Flower’ made it stand up for us.”