Maple Leafs have devil of a time with Parise, Zajac
Written by on Friday, January 29th, 2010 in Latest News.
It has been a fantastic week for Ron Wilson, U.S. Olympic head coach, but not so much in his role as Toronto Maple Leafs’ bench boss.
New Jersey Devils forward Zach Parise, who will play for Wilson in February at the Winter Games in Vancouver, scored twice and added two assists in his team’s 5-4 overtime win over Toronto on Friday night.
Parise set up Travis Zajac for the game-winning goal against the NHL’s worst penalty-kill unit as Maple Leafs defenceman Luke Schenn served a hooking minor.
“We just wanted to set up the box,” said Zajac, who recorded four points in a single game for the first time in three-plus NHL seasons. “I fed it down to Zach and he just made a nice return pass into my wheelhouse. I was just able to get a excellent shot. It’s been tough scoring goals lately and it was fantastic to get some breaks and some chances.”
The Devils, who had scored just 12 goals in an eight-game slide, snapped a two-game losing skid and improved their record to 35-16-2. They also kept pace with the NHL Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals, who downed Florida 4-1 on Friday night and lead New Jersey by six points, but the Devils have a game in hand.
In an effort to spark his offence, New Jersey head coach Jacques Lemaire went Dainius Zubrus, playing only his third game after missing 30 with a broken knee cap, up to the top line with Parise and Zajac.
Zubrus added a goal and two assists to give the Devils’ No. 1 line 11 points. The unit had accounted for 15 of New Jersey’s 26 goals in its previous 13 games, mostly with Langenbrunner in Zubrus’s place.
“It seemed like every shift we were getting a least one scoring chance,” said Parise. “That makes the game a lot more fun. It felt excellent to place some goals in. We let them back in there, but it does feel excellent to get some offence going.”
0-9 in overtime
On Tuesday, Wilson watched as U.S. Olympian Dustin Brown set up three goals for the Los Angeles Kings in their 5-3 victory over Toronto, which has a 0-9 record in OT this season.
Parise was a handful from the get-go as he had registered a game-high six shots by the halfway mark of Friday’s contest. In 18 minutes, 24 seconds of ice time, he had nine shots and a plus-2 rating.
With his 24th and 25th goals of the season, Parise has reached the 25-goal plateau in four consecutive campaigns and tops the Devils with 55 points in 53 games this season.
Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson robbed the Minnesota native of a hat-trick goal no less than four times in the second period before he was pulled in favour of Vesa Toskala at the 11:47 mark after yielding three goals on 19 shots.
Wilson said the go was not a reflection on Gustavsson.
“I just chose to change things up, to change our momentum,” Wilson said. “I didn’t like the way was game was going. It wasn’t his fault at all. It worked.”
Parise, who entered Friday’s action with five goals and six points in his last six starts at the Prudential Center, opened the scoring for New Jersey at 7:10 of the first period, 59 seconds after rookie defenceman Carl Gunnarson notched his first NHL goal to give Toronto a small-lived 1-0 lead.
Less than seven minutes later, Parise made Leafs blue-liner Ian White pay for his second giveaway of the period. Zubrus intercepted White’s cross-ice pass attempt and fed Parise, who beat Gustavsson on a one-timer.
Guilty of turnovers
While the Devils celebrated, White smashed his stick against the post, shattering the shaft in frustration.
“He was guilty of making a couple of turnovers and they buried them,” said Wilson of White. “Zach Parise, if he gets opportunities like that, smells blood and he’s right to the net and boom, it’s in.”
The Devils made it 3-1 midway through the second on Zubrus’s third goal of the season and first since Oct. 29.
The teams exchanged goals before Alexei Ponikarovsky and Matt Stajan, each the subject of rumours as the March 3 trade deadline nears, pulled the Maple Leafs even with 91 seconds left in regulation.
Patrick Davis added his first NHL goal while Canadian Olympian Martin Brodeur, who lost three times to Toronto last season, stopped 25 of 29 shots in his 32nd straight start.
Tough guy Colton Orr also scored for the Leafs, matching a career high with his second goal of the season.
The Devils and Maple Leafs hook up two more times over the next week — Feb. 2 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto and Feb. 5 at New Jersey.
Toronto returns home to face Vancouver in a Hockey Day in Canada matchup on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
With files from The Associated Press
Zach Parise celebrates his second goal of the first period against the Maple Leafs with Devils teammate Mark Fraser. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)