Pittsburgh “Penguins” lost to New Jersey “Devils” with 2:4 (1:0, 1:3, 0:1).
It was Pittsburgh’s fourth loss.
The Latvian forward spent 11 minutes and 53 seconds on the ice in this match, of which four minutes and 16 seconds he played in the minority. Blügers made one shot on goal, used one power play, intercepted the puck once and won 53% of the shots.
In the 15th minute, Yevgeny Malkin put the home team in the lead, but at the beginning of the second period, after a foul by Blüger, Jack Hughes equalized for the visitors.
Jeff Carter put the Penguins in the lead again in the middle of the period, to which the guests responded at the end of the period with a goal from Dougie Hamilton and a goal from Nico Hischier in the minority – 3:2 in their favor.
Five seconds before the end of the match, Hughes scored his second goal of the match, sending the puck into an empty net.
Hamilton (1+1) and Dawson Mercer (0+2) also scored two points each.
In the home team’s goal, Tristen Gerry saved 24 of 27 shots, while Vitek Vaneček finished with 25 shots for the New Jersey team.
With 44 points in 36 games, the “Penguins” are seventh in the Eastern Conference, while the “Devils” are fourth with 48 points.
The Pittsburgh team will play their next game on Monday, when they will meet the Boston “Bruins” on the road.
Meanwhile, Canadian forward Connor McDavid scored five points in Seattle’s road victory for the Edmonton Oilers.
The “Oilers” defeated the Seattle “Kraken” as guests, who were forced to admit the superiority of the Edmonton club with 2:7 (0:4, 2:2, 0:1).
McDavid scored the last goal of the game midway through the third period, and assisted on two goals by Zack Hyman in the majority and goals by Darnell Nurse and Jesse Pulijuervi in the same formations.
McDavid extended his hitting streak to 17.
The NHL reports that he needed just 37 games, the first since Mario Lemieux (25 games) and Jaromir Jagr (34) for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995/96. reaching the 70-point mark in the season so quickly.
It was McDavid’s eighth NHL game with at least five points since joining the league in 2015. Among the hockey players still playing, this is the best result shared with “Penguins” forward Yevgenii Malkin, who has been playing in the NHL since 2006.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four assists, Hyman had three points with one assist, Klym Kostin scored twice, and guard Nurse also had one assist.
In goal, Stewart Skinner made 36 home runs, while Daniel Sprong and Brandon Teneve scored for Seattle.
Another Oilers star, Leon Draisaitl, missed the game with an injury.
The visitors scored the first three pucks in the goal guarded by Patrik Grubauer in three minutes and 55 seconds.
The Oilers are sixth in the Western Conference with 42 points in 37 games, while the Kraken are ninth with 40 points in 34 games.
