Pens fall 2-0 to Devils

Cory Schneider was the man.

That's about the most simple way to put a frustrating 2-0 loss for the Pittsburgh Penguins to the New Jersey Devils, on a St. Patrick's Day where the Pens had no 4-leaf clovers up their sleeves har har.

It was a classic Devils game- low scoring, they leaned on their goalie and he came through. Pursuant to today's NHL ref'ing standards, there were no power plays for the Penguins, and only 2 for New Jersey. Which isn't much of an excuse- it's not like the Penguins are lighting it up on the power play (and with Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist not playing, probably not likely to strike a lot) but it still could have helped.

Alas, it wasn't to be. Pretty boring, bland game with barely any really good scoring chances for each side. Jersey made the most of their opportunity (as they traditionally always seem to do) when Jacob Josefson chipped a puck past Rob Scuderi, who couldn't turn and match him in transition (shocker). Josefson rifled a shot past Thomas Greiss that just barely stayed inside the post. Beauty of a shot to break a 36+ minute scoreless tie

From there, NJD called off the dogs, with only 4 shots on goal in the 23 minutes from their first goal to their empty netter- and even then, 4 totally non-threatening ones. The Pens tried to push- with 16 shots on goal in those 23 last minutes, but just couldn't beat Schneider. The best chance came when Sidney Crosby centered a pass to an open Blake Comeau who one-timed a shot on goal. But Schneider saw it the whole way and confidently grabbed it.

The Pens couldn't find a goal, a power play, or much really to go off of. A frustrating night, but one they can put in the rear-view mirror and get on to the next one.