PITTSBURGH — Marc-Andre Fleury matched idol Martin Brodeur save for save through three periods. And overtime. And through two rounds of a shootout.

Fleury finally won with his third shootout save.

James Neal scored in the third round of a shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Friday night in a game dominated by Fleury and Brodeur.

“He is a very competitive goalie and he wants to be the best in the league,” Penguins forward Jordan Staal said about Fleury. “Obviously, Brodeur is a future Hall of Famer, and ‘Flower’ is up for those games.”

Fleury made 21 saves for his third shutout of the season and 19th of his career. He also stopped Brian Rolston, Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias in the shootout.

Brodeur extended his NHL shutout record to 116 with his sixth of the season. He made 26 saves and stopped Alexei Kovalev in the shootout. Kris Letang missed the net leading off the tiebreaker.

“I always think of it as more of a duel against their players than their goalie,” said Fleury, who grew up in Quebec a fan of fellow French-Canadian star Brodeur. “But it was fun, though.”

The Devils fell 10 points behind eighth-place Buffalo in the Eastern Conference, a scenario that led Kovalchuk to say, “I think we’re done.”

The Penguins, on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, moved within two points of idle Philadelphia in the race for both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference leads.

Also on Friday:

Canucks 3

Thrashers 1

ATLANTA — Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots and Vancouver set franchise records for road wins and points in a season, beating Atlanta.

Senators 2

Capitals 0

OTTAWA — Craig Anderson made 31 saves for his second shutout, Colin Greening and Erik Condra scored in Ottawa’s victory over Washington.

Sabres 4

Panthers 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jordan Leopold and Drew Stafford scored 13 seconds apart in the third period and Buffalo moved closer to securing a playoff spot.

Hurricanes 4

Lightning 3

TAMPA, Fla. — Erik Cole scored two goals to help Carolina beat Tampa Bay. Cole put the Hurricanes up 2-1 with a power-play goal at 8:23 of the second period and added an unassisted backhander 6:50 into the third.