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Jets resume homestand vs. Devils

Dec 3, 2011 - 4:01 PM (Sports Network) - The Winnipeg Jets will play the third of five straight games as the host when they take on the New Jersey Devils Saturday evening at MTS Centre.

The Jets dropped the opener of their residency versus Ottawa before rebounding with Thursday's 1-0 victory over Phoenix. Ondrej Pavelec made 33 saves for his second shutout of the season and eighth of his career. It was the first time Winnipeg hosted the former Jets franchise that left the city in 1996 to become the Coyotes.

Bryan Little scored the game's only goal 6:53 into the first period, as the Jets earned just their fifth win in 13 games (5-5-3). The Jets are 6-4-0 as the host this season and will also welcome the Bruins and Hurricanes to town on the residency.

"Fun to be a part of a game like that. I think the crowd was really into it," said Little. "It was back and forth. I think we traded a few too many chances with that team than we'd like but, you know, Pavelec shut the door for us and played great."

Little has seven goals and four assists over his past 11 games.

New Jersey, meanwhile, will try to stop a three-game losing streak when they resume a four-game road trip tonight.

The Devils fell to 0-2 on the trek following a 6-1 loss at Colorado and a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Minnesota Friday night. They scored first on Zach Parise's seventh goal. but the Wild responded with three straight goals to take the lead for good. Ilya Kovalchuk also found the back of the net in the busy first period for the Devils, who are 7-7-0 away from home.

"That was tough. It seems like right now when we make mistakes it's in the back of our net," Parise said. "Mistakes are going to happen in the game, it's just right now they're going in the back of our net."

Future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur started in net for the Devils and was pulled 8:17 into the first period after allowing three goals on four shots. It was the second-shortest outing in his 19-year career. His shortest was an eight-minute start on January 1, 2011 against Carolina. Brodeur was lit up for all six goals against the Avalanche Wednesday.

Johan Hedberg allowed one goal on 12 shots the rest of the way. New Jersey will close out the road swing Tuesday in Toronto. Hedberg is expected to be in net tonight against the Jets.

Saturday's game between the Devils and Jets is the second of four meetings this season. New Jersey won the first matchup by a 3-2 score in overtime on Nov. 5 at the Prudential Center thanks to Adam Henrique's second goal of the night just 1:28 into the extra period.

New Jersey has won four straight and seven of the last eight meetings.