Devils rally to stun Maple Leafs
Written by on February 5th, 2010 in Latest News.
New Jersey Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk shoots past Toronto Maple Leafs’ Fredrik Sjostrom during the second period Friday in Newark, N.J. (Bill Kostroun/Associated Press)
Ilya Kovalchuk’s first shift and first point as a New Jersey Devil were greeted with cheers, but he and his new teammates left the ice after the second period on Friday to a chorus of boos following three unanswered goals by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Down 3-1 to start the third period, the Devils rallied to make the sniper’s debut a successful one, scoring three goals in the final 3:04 to snatch a 4-3 win.
Kovalchuk — bought from Atlanta on Thursday night as the centrepiece of a five-player trade — helped on Dainus Zubrus’s first-period goal and on Travis Zajac’s game-tying marker with 46 seconds left in the game.
Jay Pandolfo scored with 19 seconds remaining to complete the thrilling come-from-behind victory.
Tomas Kaberle and Lee Stempniak scored on the man-advantage, while Rickard Wallin scored his first-ever NHL goal, but the Maple Leafs (18-29-11) couldn’t pull off back-to-back wins against New Jersey.
The Devils’ latest addition made his mark early, notching the primary help on the opening goal by Zubrus, on a play that started with some terrible puck handling by Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson.
Behind his net, trying to clear away a Devils’ dump-in, Gustavsson had his clearing attempt batted down by Kovalchuk in the corner, who threw the puck towards the slot for Zubrus.
Despite falling to the ice, the New Jersey centre lifted his backhand shot overtop of Gustavsson’s blocker for his fourth goal of the season and staked his club to a 1-0 lead 13:20 into the opening frame.
But after the second period, the Maple Leafs were firmly planted in the driver’s seat, notching a trio of goals, two on the power play, to take a 3-1 lead.
The Maple Leafs tied the game 3:39 into the second thanks to a Tomas Kaberle goal on the man-advantage.
With Rob Niedermayer off the ice on a slashing call, Kaberle’s shot from the point deflected off the stick of New Jersey defenceman Jay Pandolfo’s and fooled Martin Brodeur on his glove side.
The Maple Leafs added their next power-play marker 6:44 later to take a 2-1 lead.
Lee Stempniak stole the puck from a Devils defender and skated the length of the blue-line before he blasted a slapper from the faceoff circle that beat a screened Martin Brodeur five-hole.
Wallin nets first as Maple Leaf
Some lax puck control by the Devils in their own end allowed Rickard Wallin to score his first NHL goal with 3:51 to go in the middle frame.
With the puck sliding through the feet of Devils defenceman Colin White in the New Jersey slot, Wallin swooped in to gather the puck, beating Brodeur through the legs to make it 3-1.
The New Jersey fans — who vocalized their happiness in the first period, cheering Kovalchuk’s first shift as well as the announcement of his help — changed their tune after 40 minutes, booing their team off the ice.
Phil Kessel, already with two assists, was looking for a goal to start the third period. Charging straight from the opening face-off into the slot, Kessel forced Brodeur to hold the fort early and keep his team in the game just seconds into the final frame.
Then it was Gustavsson’s turn to be tested. The goalie denied Zubrus with five minutes remaining, making a lunging stop, and had the New Jersey player’s knee strike him in the helmet. He was slow to get up.
With 3:04 to go, Dean McAmmond shot a backhand over the glove of Gustavsson to cut the lead to 3-2.
That marker re-energized both the crowd and the New Jersey bench. With Alexei Ponikarovski off for hauling down Zubrus on a fantastic scoring chance, the Devils’ Zajac took advantage, blasting a one-time pass from McAmmond to knot it up with 44 seconds left.
Just 25 seconds later, Pandolfo buried the rebound off a Mike Mottau shot past a shell-shocked Gustavsson to complete the thrilling comeback.
