Pittsburgh Clinches Home Ice in Round 1
Pittsburgh needed to keep the foot on the gas pedal and not let up. They got off to a slow start on Thursday Night against the New
Jersey Devils, but the Penguins won 7 to 4.
The Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the Winnipeg Jets 5 to 4 which means the Penguins have home ice in the first round against them with two games remaining.
Stefan Noesen scored the first goal of the game for New Jersey. Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel scored for Pittsburgh as well in the first.
John Moore tied the game at 2, ten seconds into the second period. Josh Archibald scored a beamer, for the Penguins in the second. Under a minute later, Sidney Crosby did a back behind to Conor Sheary for a goal.
Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal for New Jersey later in the period. Patric Hornqvist also scored a power-play goal for Pittsburgh. Kyle Palmieri scored for New Jersey with under 2 minutes left in the second period.
In the third period, the Penguins scored on a short-handed by Matt Cullen and a power-play goal by Nick Bonino.
Matt Murray stopped 34 shots for Pittsburgh. Cory Schneider stopped 21 shots for New Jersey. He had a rough night, and has been all season long.
Trevor Daley returned from injury for the Penguins and he skated well. Pittsburgh swept the season series 5-0.
