The New Jersey Devils lost their second straight on Sunday night, falling 5-2 to a hot Pittsburgh Penguins club. The Devils were down 3-1 heading into the third period, but Ilya Kovalchuk's 32nd goal of the season put the team with striking distance of tying the game. The Pens scored two straight to put the game away, however, including a doozy by Sidney Crosby.
The Pittsburgh center and captain tallied a goal for a second straight game, beating a New Jersey defender with a pass to himself off of the boards. It was just his fourth goal of the season. Evgeni Malkin scored on an empty net with 1:32 to play in regulation to ice the game.
Zach Parise was the only other Devil to beat Marc-Andre Fleury, scoring on a backhander from 15 feet out to tie the game 1-1 at the 5:10 mark of the first period. Chris Kunitz, Jordan Staal and Pascal Dupuis also scored for the Pens. Martin Brodeur faced 27 shots on net, and saved 23 of them.
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