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Crosby scores twice and Sabourin collects first shutout

Nov 6, 2007 - 3:47 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Dany Sabourin and the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't have to worry about blowing another two-goal lead.

Sabourin stopped 20 shots for his first NHL shutout and Sidney Crosby scored twice as the Penguins handed the New Jersey Devils their worst home shutout loss in nearly 16 years, 5-0.

Pittsburgh was coming off back-to-back losses in which it squandered two-goal leads. But there was no collapse in the finale of a four-game road trip.

"We didn't mention it after the first period, we mentioned it after the second period," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "We said that we had to learn from our mistakes. And I was really impressed by the third period we played."

Crosby opened the scoring at 12:09 of the first period, extending his career-best points streak to 13 games. The reigning Hart Trophy winner also capped the scoring just under 3 1/2 minutes into the third, chasing goaltender Martin Brodeur.

In between, Adam Hall, former Devil Petr Sykora and Erik Christensen tallied for the Penguins, who avenged a 5-4 home loss to New Jersey on October 17.

Sabourin wasn't tested much in his third start in four games. The 27-year-old did not face a shot over the final 15 minutes, 49 seconds of the second period, then turned aside only six in the third.

He also did a good job deflecting the credit.

"It was a big night for our team," Sabourin said. "Our players did a great job in front of me."

One of those saves was a lunging glove stab on defenseman Paul Martin's wrister from the top of the slot with 11 1/2 minutes remaining. Sabourin also used his glove to snatch David Clarkson's close-in shot during a power play in the final minute.

"It was awesome," veteran winger Mark Recchi said. "He's been great for us, so it was nice to see him get rewarded. He made some big saves for us at the end."

Sabourin admitted it was nice to get his first shutout against Brodeur, a fellow Quebec native.

"I'm pretty happy," he said. "When I was younger and even now, I've liked him. He's an awesome goalie and a great guy. I met him once at goalie school, he's one of the best goalies in the world. It was special for me to play against him."

Brodeur stopped 18 of 23 shots before he was replaced by Kevin Weekes. The Devils had given up only five goals in their previous three games but matched their worst home shutout setback since a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Detroit and Tim Cheveldae on January 25, 1992.

"If not for (our goaltenders), it would've been 8-0 or 9-0," New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "What we saw tonight was a total lack of professionalism. It's totally unacceptable. That's not even close. It's the players' accountability to the front of that jersey."

After the Devils totaled two shots during two early power plays, Pittsburgh needed only 29 seconds to score on its first man advantage. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar's pass from the blue line deflected down low to Crosby, who banged the puck past Brodeur.

With 3:41 to go in the opening period, Hall got a piece of defenseman Brooks Orpik's point shot to score his second goal of the season and first in eight games.

The Penguins made it three goals on four shots at 5:48 of the second when Sykora converted a spectacular pass from Evgeni Malkin, who managed to center the puck while he was being knocked to the ice.

Christensen finished off a 2-on-1 at 11:18 and Crosby finished off Brodeur early in the third off a feed from Orpik.

"It's hard for everybody's confidence to get outplayed like that," Brodeur said. "We had some great signs the last three games and how we want to play and how successful we can be. ... These efforts like tonight, I think we have to start minimizing them."