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EVENTS
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PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- If this was Jaromir Jagr's last home game as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was an inauspicious finale. Jagr and the Penguins were shut out for the second straight game and pushed to the brink of elimination in the Eastern Conference finals by the New Jersey Devils, who got two more goals and an assist from defenseman Brian Rafalski in a 5-0 victory. Martin Brodeur stopped 21 shots and tied an NHL record with his fourth shutout of this year's playoffs, keeping once-potent Pittsburgh without a goal for 134 minutes, 41 seconds. "Our guys are coming together at the right time, really working together," Brodeur said. "We've held them down tremendously. When we play well, we have a lot of offense and play good defense." Throughout the playoffs, Jagr has fueled rumors the Penguins will trade him during the offseason. Bothered by a shoulder injury, the five-time NHL scoring champion has been held without a point while the Devils built a three games to one lead in the best-of-seven series. On Saturday afternoon, Jagr registered just two shots, one more than Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh's owner who was reunited with his long-time linemate. "I'm just here and I'm trying to play here," Jagr said. "I don't have any answers for anything that has happened here. It's getting worse and worse. It's the most frustrating since I started playing in the NHL." No lineup change could slow New Jersey, which appears poised to return to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Devils can wrap up the series at home on Tuesday night. "This is the way we always wanted to play in the playoffs," said New Jersey captain Scott Stevens. "They may be the best team that I've played against," Lemieux said. "It's definitely frustrating at times. They played two perfect games here. ... We made some adjustments, but nothing seemed to work. Early in the game, we had chances on power plays but couldn't get a goal there. They take away many options, they just control the ice. New Jersey's a great team." Rafalski has emerged as New Jersey's secret weapon, personally outscoring Jagr and Lemieux in this series with three goals and four assists. He leads all defensemen with seven playoff goals and 14 points. The Devils continued to get production from their "A" line as Patrik Elias had a goal and two assists and Petr Sykora and Jason Arnott each chipped in a goal and an assist. New Jersey came out flying, outshooting Pittsburgh, 9-0, in the game's first five minutes. But the Devils went nearly 11 minutes without a shot after they were forced to kill three straight power plays. The Penguins would have had a four-minute advantage after Scott Gomez received a double-minor for high-sticking Martin Straka with 6:29 remaining. But Jagr came out of the locker room and returned to the ice before play was whistled dead, drawing a penalty for too many men on the ice. New Jersey broke through with 1:49 to go in the period as Elias made a between-the-legs deflection of Scott Niedermayer's wrist shot from the blue line, tipping the puck over rookie goaltender Johan Hedberg's right shoulder for his seventh playoff goal. Pittsburgh had its best stretch early in the second period as Brodeur was forced to stop three shots by Josef Beranek, who was playing alongside Jagr and Lemieux. But Rafalski made it 2-0 at 7:58, snapping a shot from the blue line past Hedberg, who was distracted as Arnott dueled in front of the net wth Penguins defenseman Hans Jonsson. Sykora grabbed a share of the league lead with his eighth goal. Rafalski kept in a clearing attempt at the right point and passed into the slot to Arnott, who deflected the puck to Sykora. His wrister darted over Hedberg's left shoulder with 4:26 left in the second. Arnott got a lucky goal 4:17 into the third. Niedermayer drew three defenders in the slot but got the puck to Arnott, whose backhanded centering attempt hit Jonsson's left skate and caromed under Hedberg's glove. Rafalski got New Jersey's fourth power-play goal of the series to cap the scoring with 6:46 left. After Sykora passed off the right boards, Rafalski fired a one-timer from the blue line over Hedberg's glove. Rafalski's production has increased since coach Larry Robinson separated him Stevens, his regular defense partner. "Rafalski has played great. It's what we had hoped for when we made the change," Stevens said. "It just shows how much he can do when I'm not out there." Hedberg made 25 saves for the Penguins, who had never been shut out in back-to-back playoff games. On Thursday, Brodeur handed Pittsburgh its first home shutout loss since 1975. |
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