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Fedotenko, Fleury vanquish Devils

Dec 27, 2008 - 4:05 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Ruslan Fedotenko continued to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a boost and Marc-Andre Fleury took care of the rest.

Fedotenko scored what stood to be the game-winner midway through the second period and Fleury made 37 saves as the Penguins blanked the New Jersey Devils, 1-0, on Friday.

Playing his fifth straight game in the wake of returning from a groin injury that kept him out for 13 contests, Fleury stopped 12 shots in both first and second periods and 13 in the third to notch his first shutout of the season and 12th career.

"(Fleury) was phenomenal tonight," Fedotenko said. "Credit him for the victory. When he's on his game like that, we just need to make sure they don't get second opportunities."

Evgeni Malkin increased his league-leading points total to 59 with an assist and Petr Sykora was also credited with setting up Fedotenko's first-period tally for the Penguins, who improved to 5-6-1 in December.

Scott Clemmensen turned aside 17 shots, but the Devils were shut out for the second straight contest at home for the first time in franchise history. On Tuesday, they suffered a 2-0 loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins.

"Six periods in a row we haven't scored, so obviously we're a little frustrated because we expect to win every night," Clemmensen said. "We outshot them 2-to-1, not many quality scoring chances against me. I think if we keep playing the way we have the past couple of games, we're going to win a lot of hockey games."

It also marked the first time New Jersey was blanked in back-to-back games since January 26-27, 2006, when it fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, respectively.

The Devils had been riding a 12-3-1 streak into the showdown, and Clemmensen lost for just the third time in regulation since taking over as the full-time starter in place of the injured Martin Brodeur.

Clemmensen's only blemish came with 7:09 left in the second as Sykora and Malkin exchanged passes before giving way for Fedotenko, who fired a hard wrister from the slot and extended his points streak to six contests.

"It was a great play," Fedotenko said. "In the neutral zone, I was trying to skate ahead of (them), just gave him a little more room. I was going to shoot but (Malkin) was coming out as the trailer, so I was just trying to hit him but he gave it to me right back. He kind of made a save but it went through."

Fedotenko has also registered four goals and nine points in that span.

Pittsburgh entered having given up 11 power-play goals in its last six games, but held New Jersey scoreless over five opportunities with the man advantage.

"We had opportunities and some quality scoring chances here tonight," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We haven't given up much defensively, but we got to capitalize on our opportunities when we need to."

"Our effort was there, we worked hard, competed hard, played well defensively for the most part. We did a good job killing penalties."

The Devils nearly forged a 1-1 tie with 4:06 left in the second, but David Clarkson's attempt was waved off upon review.

Clarkson unleashed a shot at Fleury, who was unable to control the rebound and laid on his back while the puck was loose under him. It appeared the puck barely slid into the goal, but defenseman Mark Eaton's skate stopped it from completely crossing the red line.

"They called it no goal and I didn't think on the replay it was conclusive evidence to overturn it," Eaton said. "I just saw it out of the corner of my eye."

Fleury also felt fortunate the goal was disallowed.

"When you're a goalie, it's always dangerous," Fleury said. "(The Devils) are always around the net. Especially in the third, I think they had an open net and they missed. It was a good break for us. I think our (defensemen) made a lot of saves for us which is good."

New Jersey outshot Pittsburgh, 37-18, overall and by a 13-5 margin in the final session.

"Obviously tonight, we out-chanced them pretty good," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "It's not the way you want to do it against these good teams. We had opportunities to win this game and we need to play better in these big games."