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Penguins notch first victory of season, 3-1 over Devils
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NEWARK, N.J. -- The Penguins defeated New Jersey, 3-1, at the Prudential Center today for their first victory of the season.
Backup goalie Brent Johnson made his first start of the season and earned the victory.
The Penguins lost all six of their games against New Jersey last season.
The Devils dressed just 17 players today because of salary-cap issues.
They did not have the cap space needed to accommodate replacements for defenseman Anton Volchenkov (nose) or forwards Brian Rolston (back) or Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, who were not available for the game.
The Penguins, meanwhile, were without their most physical defenseman, Brooks Orpik, who did not play for reasons that team officials declined to discuss until after the game.
They also lost defenseman Zbynek Michalek because of an apparent injury to his right shoulder after he absorbed a hard hit from Devils forward Rod Pelley as the middle of the second period approached.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski got the only goal of the opening period at 18:56, when he beat Devils goalie Martin Brodeur with a slap shot from the top of the left circle for his second of the season.
Mark Letestu scored his second in two games at 2:32 of the second, as a Kris Letang shot caromed off him and past Brodeur one second before a tripping minor to Devils forward Patrik Elias was to expire.
Johnson lost his shutout bid at 8:20 of the third, when Jason Arnott beat Letestu cleanly on a faceoff -- Letestu's stick broke during the draw -- and pulled the puck to Patrik Elias, who threw a shot past Johnson from the top of the left circle.
Defenseman Paul Martin, an ex-Devil, steered the puck into an empty net with 10.9 seconds left in regulation to close out the scoring.
First Published October 11, 2010 6:28 pm
