BY JON LESNIK
NEWARK – In their two victories last week, the Devils showed the fortitude to be able to come from behind, tying the game in the third period, and then winning in overtime.
Last night against the Atlanta Thrashers— just as they had done last week against them and the New York Islanders— they spotted the opposition a lead, and then climbed out of the hole they dug.
Playing the Thrashers for the second time in four days, there was no need for an overtime period. The Devils were able to tie the game in the second period, and win it in the third. Rookie Jacob Josefson’s goal at the 4:14 mark in the third period proved a difference maker, and Ilya Kovalchuk added an empty net goal in the final seconds to give the Devils to a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Atlanta.
The victory improved the Devils record to 33-32-4 and put the Devils over .500 for the first time this season, something many Devils acknowledged they had not thought about earlier in the season.
“It is nice the way we are playing right now, and it is nice to get these wins, and battle back the way we have,” Travis Zajac said. “It is a sense of achievement the way we are playing right now, and getting to where we want to be. It’s certainly going to be interesting in the end.”
The Devils are now 23-3-2 for 48 points in their last 28 contests. They have won five of their last six games.
New Jersey came into the game eight points behind Buffalo and the New York Rangers, who are tied for 7th in the race for the final two playoff spots. The victory gave the Devils 70 points on the season. They closed to within six points of Buffalo for the eighth seed as the Sabres were defeated by Carolina. New Jersey remains eight points behind the Rangers, who defeated the Islanders last night. The Devils victory tied them with Atlanta and Toronto who were idle.
Saturday night against the Islanders, Josefson had his first NHL goal and his first multi-point game. Last night his second goal of his career turned out to be the game winner .
Josefson’s goal came when he took a pass back from line mate Mattias Tedenby, and wristed a low line drive between the legs of Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec for the game winner.
“It was a great pass by Tedenby,” Josefson said. “Our line did well tonight. [David Clarkson] and Teddy [Tedenby] were forechecking great. They made great passes, we moved the puck well, and we made the plays.”
Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, who has singled out Josefson and his line mates as a key reason behind the Devils improved play recently, pointed to him again Tuesday night.
“The more games he plays the more comfortable he becomes,” Lemaire said. “The line did not start well tonight, but they started playing better, and started making plays and getting the shots. We need contributions from not just the kids but we need everyone. We need our top players to be good every night. We get our top players to be good every night, we will have a better chance to win.”
Still the Devils needed the help of the officials, who disallowed an apparent game tying goal by Evander Kane after he had a goal waived off immediately by referee Wes McCauley for a high stick.
Kane had deflected a shot by Tobias Enstrum past Brodeur with 37.4 seconds left. McCauley made a quick whistle disallowing the goal which was upheld after a review by officials.
Ilya Kovalchuk then added an empty net goal with 16.6 seconds left for the margin of victory.
“The referee saw it, and obviously it was a high stick there on that goal,” Lemaire said. “You can see in the replay and everyone will agree that it was.”
Even after Kane’s goal was disallowed, the Devils were not home free. Brodeur, who earlier in the period had stopped a break away attempt by right winger Blake Wheeler to keep the Devils ahead, stopped another attempt by Wheeler to tie the game with 27 seconds left, making the save in front of the net and then covering up.
“Marty held us in the game in the first period and gave us a chance, and then stopped a lot of shots in the end,” Lemaire said
The Devils gave up two goals in just over a minute in the first period, but as they have shown throughout their last 22 victories, no lead is safe for the opposition. And as they have clawed their way back into the playoff hunt this season, they did it again last night against Atlanta.
Just like their previous meeting, Atlanta jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a breakout that caught the Devils by surprise. Former Devils defensemen Johnny Oduya started the play with a pass to Kane who— just as he was about to be hit— stopped, pivoted, and sent a backhanded pass to Tim Stapleton, who was crossing in front of Brodeur with no Devils defender around and pushed the puck past Brodeur for the Thrashers first goal.
If that goal caught the Devils by surprise, their second was just as fast and surprising as it came 65 seconds later.
Thrashers forward Chris Thorburn took a pass from right wing Radek Dvorak, muscled himself around a check into the wall from Devils defenseman Mark Fayne, held onto the puck, skated in, and fired a shot from inside the left circle that glanced off the right pad of Brodeur and trickled into the goal to give the Thrashers a 2-0 lead.
The Devils got on the board through the hard work of Travis Zajac, who battled to keep position in front of Pavelec and deflected a shot from Fayne past the Atlanta goaltender for his 13th goal of the season to bring the Devils to within a goal of Atlanta,2-1, with 1:08 left in the first period.
“Our start wasn’t good,” Lemaire said. “I don’t think it’s the goal itself that got us woken up or anything like that. I think it’s the guys in the locker room after the first period realizing that we were not playing well. We were not skating and doing what we can do. We had a great second period. From that point, there, we played better and came back and won the game.”
If the first period was an example of how not to play defense by the Devils, then the second period was an example of how to outhustle the opposition. If they were shocked by giving up two goals in the first period, they showed no sign of it in the second. The Devils came out with more life. They beat the Thrashers in the corners and up and down the ice. Where Brodeur was sprawling around the ice and covering up pucks in front of the net in the first period, it was Pavelec doing it in the second as the Devils outshot the Thrashers 9-2 in the second period.
As good as the Devils played in the second period, the one area the Devils continue to flounder is on the power play. The Devils had two power play opportunities in the second period but could not convert leaving the game tied 2-2 after the second period.
The Devils scored the equalizer at 5:10 in the second period when the Devils broke out on a 3-2 advantage. Patrick Elias brought the puck up ice, fed it to the left to Brian Rolston who sent it right back. Elias sent the slap shot from the right side past Pavelec to tie the game. The give-and-go between Rolston and Elias was helped by the third Devil on the breakout Danius Zubrus who skated slightly ahead of his linemates and pulled the Atlanta defensemen towards him as a decoy, leaving Rolston and Elias to pass the puck back and forth with Elias blasting the shot past Pavelec for his 16th goal of the season, to knot the game at 2-2.
