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Devils rally 3 times, beat Rangers in SO

Feb 1, 2012 - 4:22 AM Newark, NJ (Sports Network) - Finally, the New Jersey Devils weren't playing from behind.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored to lead off a shootout Tuesday night and the other five skaters all missed, giving the Devils a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers to snap a three-game losing streak.

The Devils rallied from one goal down three times and sent it to overtime when David Clarkson scored with 48 seconds left in regulation after a funny bounce off the end boards on a dump-in pass.

Kovalchuk and Zach Parise also had game-tying goals and Martin Brodeur made 23 saves. Brodeur had stops on Brad Richards and All-Star Game MVP Marian Gaborik in the shootout.

"It was an emotional win. We've had our share of issues against the Rangers so to come back the way we (did was great)," said Brodeur.

Anton Stralman, Brian Boyle and Michael Del Zotto scored for the Rangers, who kept their Eastern Conference lead over Boston with a point.

Martin Biron had 26 saves for New York, but Kovalchuk beat him on a snap shot through the legs for the shootout winner.

Del Zotto looked, for a while, like he scored the game-winner for the Rangers after receiving a backhand pass from Gaborik in the slot and beating Brodeur to the far side with 3:59 remaining.

But Clarkson was in the right place at the right time after Andy Greene fired a dump-in pass off the end boards from center ice. He was skating into the slot when the puck bounced right to him and had no trouble beating Biron to tie it.

The goal shocked the Rangers, who were just seconds from opening the second half of the season with a win.

"You have to try to compose yourself and gather yourself for overtime to try to get that extra point," Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get that done."

In overtime, Derek Stepan snuck around Brodeur and slipped a shot inside the right post that skirted in front of the goal line and was cleared by Greene.

Earlier, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead on Stralman's goal with 33 seconds left in the first period following a rush led by Gaborik and Carl Hagelin.

Gaborik's soft shot from the right side was deflected, then kicked aside by Brodeur, but Stralman was there to hammer the rebound into the empty side of the net.

Parise scored on his own rebound 8:20 into the second period to tie the game for New Jersey. After his initial snap shot from the left circle was turned away, Parise beat Biron from a sharp angle with a shot under the crossbar.

Biron stopped a shorthanded breakaway by Kovalchuk early in the third period, sliding over to stop a deke to the backhand. Not too long after that, Boyle gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead on the game's third rebound goal with Brodeur sprawled on the ice and unable to stop the shot. But Kovalchuk tied it later on a shot from the slot.

Game Notes

It was the second of six meetings between the teams this season. The Rangers won 4-1 at New Jersey on December 20 and had captured six of the previous eight meetings entering this one...The Devils are 2-3 on a six-game homestand.