In Pittsburgh Monday night, the Penguins continued their slide from before the All-Star break with a 6-3 loss to the visiting New Jersey Devils.
Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves for the Devils to get the win.
“We match up well against them. We played good team defense,” Kinkaid said. “It’s just one of those things. I guess we match up well against them. We always have our ‘A’ game. … Everyone looked fresh. Everyone was moving. Everybody was flying out there and playing good defensively.”
Keith Kinkaid’s 37 saves paced Devils to Monday night win – file hoto courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
Six different skaters struck for New Jersey including Travis Zajac who had a goal and three assists in the win.
“He’s so consistent in the way he plays,” Devils head coach John Hynes said of Zajac, who had four points in a game for the fourth time in his NHL career. “He’s mentally engaged. He does the right things systematically all the time. He’s so competitive on the puck. He’s one of these guys that he wins a lot of the hard areas of the game. Usually when you do that, it allows you to control the game.”
Damon Severson, Brian Boyle, Blake Coleman, Kyle Palmieri, and Pavel Zacha all struck for the Devils.
“I thought we were skating really well right from the start. We seemed to manage the puck pretty well there and handled the pressure early and won some wall battles and created a few odd-man rushes. We played in their zone a lot there,” the Devils’ Andy Greene said after the win.
The Pens dropped to 26-17-6 after losing for the fourth time in five games.
“We knew the game we were up against,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Every team in this league plays hard. Give [the Devils] credit; they played hard tonight, they defended hard. I think we have to do a better job in those areas of our game so that we can bring more consistency. When we talk about forging an identity, those are the very things that we talk about.
“For me, the foundation of the game is just rooted in competitive spirit. You have to be willing to invest emotionally first and foremost. When you do, that’s usually when players and teams are at their best.”
Derick Brassard, Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust scored for the Pens.
[WATCH: All Devils vs. Penguins highlights]
Matt Murray made 26 saves for the loss.
“I think the urgency and desperation and work ethic [weren’t there],” Sidney Crosby said. “There should be a lot of energy from our group; didn’t seem like there was. … We’ve got to go out there and do it. We can say everything we want to say and say all the right things, but you have to go out there and do it. I think we all understand.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.