The Penguins have their last game of 2011 as they play the New Jersey Devils on the road at 3:00 PM Saturday. The game will be shown on ROOT Sports, and you can listen to the radio broadcast on 105.9 FM.
The Devils have won eight of their last 11 games, although four of those wins have come in overtime or in shootouts. Their last matchup was a 3-1 victory over the Sabres on Wednesday.
The Penguins are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, but they had four straight wins before that. Evgeni Malkin has 12 points in the Pens' last five games.
The Pens and Devils last faced one another on January 22. The Pens won, 4-1, thanks to two goals from Jordan Staal. John Fischer at In Lou We Trust notes that a key to that game was the Pens dominating in the neutral zone, so that's something to watch for in Saturday's game as well.
A big reason why the Penguins looked so good against New Jersey in their game way back in October was due to the play in the neutral zone. The Devils struggled to move the puck consistently through it. The Penguins picked up those turnovers and mistakes by NJ and put the Devils on their heels for it, especially in the third period.
Marc-Andre Fleury will start in goal for the Penguins. Also, Deryk Engelland is back after serving a suspension for leaving his feet to hit a player in the head.
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