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Langenbrunner, Brodeur spark Devils

Mar 14, 2008 - 4:19 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Patrice Langenbrunner might have been a wreck in the Xcel Energy stands, but her son, New Jersey Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner, was as cool as the ice beneath his skates.

Langenbrunner scored the only shootout goal on his team's third attempt and Martin Brodeur stopped all three he faced to help the Devils complete a 4-3 comeback victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

After teammates Brian Gionta and Zach Parise both missed against Niklas Backstrom in the shootout, Langenbrunner faked a backhand and got Backstrom to bite on it before pulling the puck past him and finishing into an empty net.

The Cloquet native's goal was the only one scored during the shootout and enough to give New Jersey its fourth victory in five games and push the Devils ahead of idle Pittsburgh into first place in the Atlantic Division.

"I'm sure it was a lot more (nerve-wracking) for my mom up in the stands than it was for me," Langenbrunner said. "She hates when I go into the shootout. She was probably crying. But I don't worry about it too much."

Defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski, Brian Gionta and Dainius Zubrus all scored in the come-from-behind victory, and Brodeur finished the contest with 34 saves.

Stephane Veilleux, Brent Burns and Marian Gaborik scored for the Wild, which pulled even with Calgary for second place in the Northwest Division - two points back of Colorado.

Backstrom finished with 27 saves for Minnesota, which fell to 0-2-3 in its last five games.

"It's tough to lose games like that when you play good and create some offense and you get chances and things are going well," center Mikko Koivu said. "We just have to get the positive out of it and try to think of what we did good."

After failing to score more than two goals in any of its last five games, Minnesota got off to a surprising start against one of the league's elite netminders.

Veilleux got the Wild started at 3:26, shooting high stick side after Branko Radivojevic corralled a loose puck behind the net and found him unchecked in the slot. Nick Schultz also earned an assist on the goal.

Burns gave Minnesota its second goal of the period at 12:58, again beating Brodeur high to the stick side with a one-timer from the right circle. Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who found the unchecked Burns from behind the net, and Koivu were credited with assists.

"After the first period we knew we didn't play the way we wanted to," Zubrus said. "We addressed that after the first and played better in the second."

New Jersey bounced back in the second period thanks to Vishnevski's second goal of the season. The defenseman was fighting for position in front of the net when Zubrus fired from the left side in front of the blue line. Vishnevski deflected it past Backstrom to cut the lead in half at 5:43.

Gionta knotted the score at 14:46 after a pair of quick passes from John Madden and Jay Pandolfo. Madden centered the puck in traffic from the right boards on the goal line and Pandolfo deked a shot to get Backstrom out of position. He then poked it across the crease to Gionta, who finished easily.

Minnesota regained the lead before the period ended, however, thanks to a nifty play from Koivu. After getting a pass above the left circle from Burns, Koivu beat two defenders on his way to the net.

But with Brodeur sliding over to stop a shot, Koivu left a backhand for Gaborik, who finished at 19:46 for his first goal in five games. The goal also marked Gaborik's 70th point, the first time he's reached that plateau in his career.

The goal stalled New Jersey's momentum, but the Devils refused to let it be a knockout blow.

"I thought the second period we played a good period outside the last 13 seconds," New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "Not a lot was said. We talked about just keep playing like we can and forget about what happened."

Zubrus tied the score again at 5:31 of the third period, skating in along the right side of the goal line and through two defenders at the net to beat Backstrom stick side. David Clarkson and Michael Rupp got assists on the goal.

Brodeur took over from there, keeping everything out of the net after Gaborik's goal to set up the shootout.

"I made some good saves, but I got real lucky, too," Brodeur said. "These guys threw a lot on net and a lot of weird bounces on the boards and even from tips and stuff. Sometimes you need that luck to survive, and it was on our side today."