Penguins 2, Devils 1 FINAL

Former Devil Bill Guerin retired Monday after 18 seasons, and was honored in a pregame ceremony.

On most nights, shutting down six Penguins power plays and holding them to two goals on home ice ought to be enough for a win.

But it wasn’t for the Devils, who managed only Brian Rolston's power-play marker in Monday’s 2-1 loss at Pittsburgh.

“We’re not generating enough offense,” said head coach John MacLean. “We limited them to some chances, we killed off some penalties, our goalie played well. We even got a goal on the power play. We’re just not generating. We need more goals.”

Johan Hedberg made his seventh straight start and recorded 32 saves. Martin Brodeur (right elbow) has not played since Nov. 18, but backed up Hedberg and sat on the bench during the game.

The Devils (8-17-2) close out the three-game swing Friday in Ottawa. Brodeur could return to action for his first start in more than three weeks.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 stops for Pittsburgh.

“Heddy played well,” MacLean said. “He’s played well when called upon. He’s a battler and he did a good job. (Tonight’s) goals you can’t really fault him on. He kept us in. Their guy did the same down there.”

Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby scored for Pittsburgh (19-8-2). The Penguins’ 10-game winning streak is the second longest in club history (17, March 9-April 10, 1993).

Outshot 16-8 in the first period, the Devils rallied with 10 shots in both the second and third for a 20-18 shots advantage over the final 40 minutes. MacLean had no reason to question his club’s effort against one of the League’s best.

“They work hard,” MacLean said. “It’s working hard, but it’s still frustrating when you don’t win. You’re not happy about not winning.”

Rolston gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 14:20 of the first period before Kunitz and Crosby answered. Jason Arnott got off an errant shot that hit Rolston at the side of the net. Rolston was stung by the puck, but was able to flip his second of the season past Fleury.

Since converting once on their first 43 road power plays, the Devils have struck for three power-play goals on their last seven road opportunities with the man advantage.

Devils penalty killers were perfect for a second straight game, and have gone 9-for-9 in the first two games of the road trip. They were 3-for-3 at Philadelphia on Saturday. Monday's PK effort included a 34-seconds of a two-man Penguins advantage early in the third.

“It was dangerous to take that many penalties against this team,” MacLean said. “When called upon, they did a nice job. We got one on the power play early, then just weren’t able to generate another one. Would’ve been nice to get another one and tried to tie it up there.”

Crosby set up Kunitz’s one-timer that tied the game, 1-1, just 1:21 after Rolston’s tally. Crosby’s League-leading 24th of the year broke the stalemate at 12:49 of the second. He put home an Alex Goligoski rebound to extend his points streak to 16 games.

“He’s a good player,” MacLean said. “He seems to go to the right spots. He makes good plays.”
 
DEVILS NOTES
Colin White played in his 700th game. … Jamie Langenbrunner led the Devils with four shots. Adam Mair, Rolston, Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac, Anton Volchenkov and Olivier Magnan each had three apiece.