Letang's shootout goal gives Penguins victory
PITTSBURGH -- Kris Letang scored the only goal in the shootout after Sidney Crosby saved the Penguins by tying the game with 14 seconds left in regulation, and Pittsburgh escaped with a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
Michael Cammalleri scored two goals, Keith Kinkaid stopped 46 shots and the Devils were in control most of the game until Crosby grabbed the puck out of a pile of players in front of the crease and lifted it into net with time winding down for his 15th goal in 16 games.
Letang had the Penguins' three best scoring chances in overtime, only to be denied each time by Kinkaid, but the defenseman -- Pittsburgh's third shooter in the shooter -- slid a backhander past the goaltender. Penguins goalie Matt Murray made saves against PA Parenteau, Cammalleri and Travis Zajac in the shootout.
The Penguins went 0-for-5 on the power play and gave up a shorthanded goal to Vernon Fiddler, but Crosby's goal prevented them from dropping successive games in regulation for the first time since losing their first four under coach Mike Sullivan in mid-December 2015. They were coming off a 6-2 loss to Minnesota on Friday.
Evgeni Malkin assisted on all three Penguins goals as Pittsburgh improved to 15-0-1 following a loss over a 95-game span dating to Sullivan's first week on the job. Murray (27 saves) is 5-0 following a Penguins loss this season.
The Devils, 5-4 overtime losers to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, lost again despite Cammalleri's ongoing scoring streak. He has four goals and eight points in three games since missing six because of his daughter's illness.
The Penguins didn't score despite getting 19 shots in a first period in which Cammalleri scored the only goal, but that quickly changed in the second period.
Penguins rookie forward Jake Guentzel scored his third goal in four games since being called up from the minors only 1:23 into the period on a rebound of Malkin's backhander from just in front of the crease.
The Penguins took the lead only 1:15 later as Tom Kuhnhackl got loose on a short breakaway, fooling Kinkaid so badly as he shifted from his forehand to his backhand that the puck slid off his stick and past the goalie without him needing to shoot it.
But as quickly as the Penguins took the lead on Kuhnhackl's first goal of the season, they gave it back.
With Pittsburgh on a power play resulting from former teammate Ben Lovejoy's high-sticking penalty, Phil Kessel gave the puck away in his own zone. Fiddler took advantage to slide a soft backhander past Murray from the right circle at 4:00 even with Letang draped on a shoulder.
Fiddler's first goal was New Jersey's second of the season short-handed.
Cammalleri restored the Devils' lead with a power play goal at 9:19, a one-timer from the right circle that eluded Murray to the stick side.
Cammalleri beat Murray similarly on his first goal, a wrist shot that sailed by defenseman Trevor Daley and Murray 3:33 into the game.
NOTES: Former Penguins D Ben Lovejoy and F Beau Bennett, now of the Devils, faced their former team for the first team since Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup last season. ... The teams met for the first of five times this season. The next meeting is Dec. 23 at PPG Paints Arena. ... Devils F Taylor Hall (torn meniscus) is skating but will remain out another 2-to-3 weeks. ... New Jersey began a four-game road trip. ... The Devils scratched C Reid Boucher and C Jacob Josefson. Pittsburgh held out D Brian Dumoulin, a move apparently resulting from the 6-2 loss to Minnesota on Friday, and LW Tom Sestito. Penguins RW Patric Hornqvist remained out with a concussion.