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Penguins hope to bounce back vs. Devils

Dec 10, 2008 - 11:39 AM Pittsburgh (15-8-4) at New Jersey (14-8-2) 7:00 p.m. EST

NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins are stocked with offensive stars. It's the defensive lapses that make coach Michel Therrien mad.

The Penguins will be looking to snap a two-game slide when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh held a 3-1 lead against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday before allowing a pair of second-period tallies and the game-winner late in the third.

Therrien did not take the loss well.

"At 3-1, we started to play horribly," he said. "It's pretty simple. We weren't playing bad until we got the lead at 3-1. After that, we were horrible. We gave them the game. We couldn't get the puck out on the second goal.

"Excuses are for losers. You can have excuses - we are missing players, we've played a lot of games. As far as I'm concerned, they should play for 60 minutes and they aren't playing for 60 minutes right now."

The highlight for the Penguins, however was the play of Ruslan Fedotenko, Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora. The line hooked up for a pair of goals, with Fedotenko finding the net both times.

Malkin's two assists gave him 45 points, extending his NHL lead over teammate Sidney Crosby, who boosted his total to 41 with an assist against the Sabres.

The Devils are one of the hottest teams in the league, going 7-1-0 over their last eight contests.

A notoriously low-scoring team, New Jersey has exploded on offense, averaging 3.85 goals per game in the seven victories.

The Devils just capped a five-game road trip and playing the next three at home, where they are 7-4-1.