PITTSBURGH — Jesper Bratt scored on a wraparound with 2:10 left in overtime Sunday afternoon to give the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 win over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
Sunday’s game was the third in four days against the Devils. The Penguins and Devils split the first two, which were played at New Jersey’s Prudential Center.
From the jump Sunday, the Penguins looked like a tired team. Understandable. Sunday concluded a stretch of five games in seven days for the weary Penguins. And injuries have forced coach Mike Sullivan to tax some of his top players.
After one clang off the post on the first shift and a couple other anxious defensive moments for the Penguins, they grabbed a 1-0 lead 3:37 into the game.
Prior to the goal, the Penguins methodically worked through way up the ice with a series of crisp passes. Jake Guentzel eventually whipped a pass through the crease to Sidney Crosby, who dropped to his left knee to bury an acute-angle one-timer.
That was the 12th goal of the season for Crosby, who must take on more of the scoring burden with Evgeni Malkin sidelined for the foreseeable future. He picked up a pair of assists on Saturday afternoon in a 3-1 win against the Devils.
The Devils kept hanging around, and defenseman Sami Vatanen ripped a shot from the point past Tristan Jarry to tie the score at 1-1 a few minutes into the second. The visitors drilled the post behind Jarry twice more during that period.
The Penguins, meanwhile, did little with a pair of power plays in the second. The Devils kept finding ways to fluster them when they tried to lug the puck through the neutral zone – if they even made it that far without throwing it away.
If not for Jarry, who was back in goal after watching Saturday’s win from the bench, Sunday’s game could have gotten away from the home team in a hurry.
He made a few point-blank saves in the first period as the two teams swapped chances. In the second, he shrugged off a Jesper Bratt blast with the Devils on the power play. With 3:14 left in regulation, the goalie smothered Travis Zajac’s redirect.
He finished with 33 saves but couldn’t get across to deny Bratt in overtime.
The 25-year-old has been excellent at PPG Paints Arena in 2021. Entering Sunday, he was 9-2-0 with a .931 save percentage and a 2.36 goals-against average. While Jarry was solid in Thursday’s 3-2 loss in New Jersey, his record on the road is just 3-6-1 with a .871 save percentage and a 3.55 goals-against average.
MacKenzie Blackwood was up for a battle at the other end. His 35 saves included a Kris Letang shot that he snatched with his glove with 2:05 left in regulation.
Now the players get a rare breather. Monday and Tuesday will be the first time in a month that they go two days in a row without a game. They are scheduled to host the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday and Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
