PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Devils tested rookie Marc-Andre Fleury early and often and came away with a much-needed win.
Defenseman Brian Rafalski and Brian Gionta each beat Fleury for their first goals of the season as the Devils snapped a three-game winless streak with a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
New Jersey was playing for the first time against Fleury - Pittsburgh's highly touted top overall draft pick. The Devils attacked the inexperienced 18-year-old, registering 34 shots, 26 in the first two periods.
"Fleury's a good goaltender," New Jersey coach Pat Burns said. "He is a young and energetic goaltender. He is definitely a star in the future in this league."
Rafalski opened the scoring at 14:17 of the first period and Gionta added the go-ahead goal in the third. Scott Gomez passed across the crease and the puck deflected off Gionta's left skate and past Fleury's glove side with 7:20 remaining.
The goal was reviewed by officials but counted after they decided Gionta did not kick the puck intentionally.
"I just drove to the net, hit a stick and then off the skate," Gionta said. "I knew it wasn't on purpose. Fleury's a pretty good goaltender. He is great side to side. He gets his pads wide, covers a lot of space in there."
Gomez and Patrik Elias each recorded two assists for the Devils, who avoided losing three straight regulation games for the first time since March 2002.
"The last games that we played, it was easy to pick on us," Burns said. "But we were getting 30 shots a game and we were not giving up too many shots. That is why we are not panicking.
"We worked for those bounces we got. Gionta sacrificed himself to go to the net. Bounces are going to go your way when you do that.
Martin Brodeur stopped 17 shots as New Jersey improved to 8-3-0 in the last 11 meetings with Pittsburgh.
"Brodeur has played very good. Again tonight, he made some big saves," Devils right wing Jamie Langenbrunner said. "It feels good to win one of these close games. When you win, it's easier to take. Hopefully, we get going in the right direction."
Fleury stopped 32 shots and lost for the third time in four starts. He has faced more than 30 shots in each of his appearances.
"Everybody's working hard," he said. "You don't like to see results like this, but we had a chance to win. What counts is the final score - 2-1 them."
"Fleury kept us in the game again," Penguins left wing Martin Straka said. "We need to get him more support. When you only score one goal, it's tough to win many games."
The Devils recorded their first goal after Gomez won a faceoff, getting the puck to Elias, who passed to Rafalski along the right boards. Rafalski unleashed a wrist shot that hit a skate in front of the net and eluded Fleury.
Fleury recovered and kept the Devils scoreless during a challenging second period in which he faced 14 shots.
The Penguins tied it with 6.5 seconds left in the period, when Mario Lemieux made a touch pass between two defenders to set up a 2-on-1 between Mike Eastwood and Straka. Eastwood skated to the left faaceoff circle and backhanded a pass across the crease to Straka, who caught Brodeur out of position.
"I got an awesome pass from Mike Eastwood, just tried to put it in the net," Straka said.
Lemieux recorded his 1,698th career point, two shy of becoming just the sixth player in league history to reach 1,700.
