• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Parise, Brodeur shine in shootout for Devils

Apr 3, 2008 - 4:05 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Thanks to Zach Parise, the Boston Bruins had to settle for just one point.

Parise scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 triumph over the Bruins on Wednesday.

Dainius Zubrus and David Clarkson tallied in regulation and Mike Rupp recorded two assists for New Jersey (45-28-7), which moved four points ahead of the idle New York Rangers (41-27-11) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"It means a lot," Parise said. "We talked about the home-ice advantage, and that's the thing we need to get right now. It's an important win for us, and we'll take it."

Defenseman Dennis Wideman and rookie Milan Lucic scored for Boston (40-28-12), which inched closer to clinching a playoff berth. The Bruins are even in points with the idle Ottawa Senators (42-30-8) for sixth place in the Eastern Conference and one ahead of the Flyers (40-29-11), who lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

"You're always hoping to get that second point," said Boston coach Claude Julien, whose team fell to 6-7 in the bonus format this season. "It's really been a challenge for us to win games in the shootout. But that point, hopefully, will become big down the road. I'm not questioning the effort. It was there tonight."

Tim Thomas and Martin Brodeur were impenetrable through the first three rounds of the shootout, and Brodeur made a right pad save on Marco Sturm on Boston's fourth-round attempt. But Parise lifted a backhander past the glove of Thomas on New Jersey's opportunity, sealing the win.

"I was watching what those other guys were doing and seeing what Thomas was doing," Parise said. "(Brian Gionta) was saying that he was putting his glove down, so I just wanted to put it over his glove."

Brodeur gave Parise the chance to become the hero. After Glen Metropolit's first-round shot went wide, the three-time Vezina Trophy winner made a strong save on Phil Kessel, turned aside David Krejci's shot with his blocker and denied Sturm.

"He made the big saves," Parise said. "I sound like a broken record, but he played a great game again tonight."

"That's a team that kind of enjoys the shootouts," said Julien, who coached New Jersey last campaign. "They're very confident, they have some guys who score some big goals for them and they've got a goaltender that does a real good job at stopping them. I was on that side of the fence last year and I know that going into shootouts, I felt really confident with Marty in net."

Brodeur was intrigued by facing Kessel, who entered 5-for-12 in shootouts this season.

"I've looked at him a little, but it's the first time I think I played against him in a shootout," Brodeur said. "I knew he was hot, so I just wanted to make sure I had good position on him, and he shot it right at my pad."

The Devils got on the board at 3:14 of the first period.

Rupp unleashed a shot from the left faceoff circle that bounced off the chest of Thomas. But the All-Star goaltender was unable to control the rebound, and Zubrus buried it from the slot for his 13th goal of the season.

Boston pulled even early in the second, when Wideman received a pass from below the left circle by Krejci and blasted the puck past Brodeur from the right circle during a 5-on-3 power play just 37 seconds into the period.

Zubrus appeared to give New Jersey a 2-1 edge with 7:38 remaining in the second as he skated down the left wing and around the net before stuffing the puck inside the right goalpost. But no signal was given by the referees and, after a lengthy review, replay officials were unable to find conclusive evidence the puck crossed the goal line, wiping out the tally and keeping the game even.

Devils coach Brent Sutter disagreed with the ruling.

"The only thing you could see is, at one point, you see the puck coming back to the goalie," he said. "So where did it come from? And his pad was clearly six inches behind the goal line."

Less than five minutes later, the Bruins surged ahead as Lucic got ahead of defenseman Andy Greene in the middle of the ice, took a feed from P.J. Axelsson and flicked the puck by Brodeur with 3:27 to go.

"I felt like I had a step on the defenseman there," Lucic said. "(I got) a great pass (as I was) driving the net, and I just tipped it over Brodeur's pad."

But the Devils managed to get the equalizer with 5:28 remaining in the third.

Although he appeared to put himself offsides after receiving a pass at the blue line, Rupp skated down the right wing and backhanded the puck into the slot from below the end line. After one Devil failed to get off a shot, Clarkson followed and buried the puck for his ninth goal and a 2-2 tie.

"I just jumped on (the ice) and I was coming down and the puck landed on my stick," Clarkson said. "It's one of those plays you hope happens. It was a great play by Rupper throwing it out (in front)."

Brodeur finished with 25 saves for New Jersey, which has won three in a row.

"This is a big win," Brodeur said. "We didn't play our best game, but I felt we were patient in the third. We didn't try and score right away and we got rewarded with a big goal at the end."

Thomas stopped 23 shots for the Bruins, who are 3-0-3 in their last six.