They thought a three-day break would be just the thing the New Jersey Devils needed to get the engine rolling in the second game of a home and home against the Pittsburgh Penguins (23-8-5) at the Prudential Center.
The opening chapter was promising as PA Parenteau and Adam Henrique put the Devils up 2-1 after one period. Evgeni Malkin was the lone scorer for the Penguins evening the game with his 15th before New Jersey went ahead again.
But it was Taylor Hall’s hustle that produced results early as his forecheck nabbed him an interception at the Penguin blue line and his subsequent splitting of two defenders ended with a neat feed to Parenteau who tapped it past Marc-Andre Fleury for the goal.
Hall was instrumental again, as he dug the puck from left of goal and passed it out setting up two passes and on the rebound was embedded in the trenches shielding the shot from Fleury’s eyes. But Marc would shut the Devils out the rest of the way.
The game turned through the dominating play of Sidney Crosby who tied the match with his 25th goal of the season and added his second assist of the game, this one to Justin Schultz to put Pittsburgh ahead 3-2 and restore order to the hockey universe. Not bad for a guy who missed the opening eight games this season with a concussion.
“You see a lot of his goals this year are deflections and tips,” Hall observed, “In the new NHL, team’s are so good at defending, you’ve got to find new ways to score, and he’s obviously doing that this year.”
The third session, however, confirmed that the Devils are not one of those good defending teams as the Penguins added two more goals to take a commanding 5-2 lead with the Swede Carl Oliver Hagelin and Bryan Rust ruining Devil goaltender Cory Schneider in the process and sweeping both games from the reeling Devils (13-15-7).
The Devils couldn’t even take advantage of a four-minute high sticking penalty that left Hall bloodied with just under six minutes remaining.
Victory by the numbers. Tonight's WINfographic: https://t.co/VdNTWBUMMO pic.twitter.com/7fAzunJXKG
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 28, 2016
Don't mess with @CarlHagelin. pic.twitter.com/Vc5sgkRJcB
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 28, 2016
Fun fact: Sidney Crosby has 25 goals this season (an NHL-best). No other player has 20. pic.twitter.com/ciZnBTvSOl
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 28, 2016
Hear from Cory Schneider, Taylor Hall, and John Hynes following Tuesday's 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh. #PITvsNJD https://t.co/4MuyXEB2KF pic.twitter.com/NX1yZPS44M
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 28, 2016
Final from The Rock. #PITvsNJD pic.twitter.com/fm4xni3stv
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 28, 2016
The #NJDevils head to the first intermission leading 2-1 thanks to goals from @PAParenteau and @AdamHenrique! #PITvsNJD pic.twitter.com/AmHKgDYSW8
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 28, 2016