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Madden lifts Devils past Rangers

Apr 14, 2008 - 3:42 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - When John Madden threw the puck in front of the net, he was hoping a teammate would be open for to take his pass. The pass never happened but it turned into a huge break and brought the New Jersey Devils back into the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Madden scored the game-winning goal just over six minutes into overtime to fuel the fourth-seeded Devils to a 4-3 triumph over the fifth-seeded New York Rangers in Game Three on Sunday night.

The Devils beat the Rangers for the second time in 11 meetings this season and first time in New York. Their other win over the rivals was a shootout victory a week ago that meant little in terms of seeding once the game got went beyond regulation.

This one meant a lot more as New Jersey can now tie the series here in Game Four on Wednesday night instead of facing a sweep at the hands of the Rangers, who seemingly got key breaks and bounces in their two wins at the Prudential Center.

"Now it's 2-1 instead of 3-0," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "Yet we still just need to take it one game at a time. Tonight was our biggest game of the year to date. We will enjoy it for the next 24 hours and start focusing on our next game."

"At the end, we just threw a lot of pucks at him," New Jersey's Patrik Elias said. "Sometimes you get a lucky bounce and that's what happened."

This time, it was Madden who got the break and he was not afraid to admit it.

"I'm not going to lie," Madden said. "It was all luck. I threw the puck in front of the net hoping Sergei (Brylin) was going to be there and it hit off their guy's foot and went into the series.

"It was lucky but we need those breaks to get back into the series.

The Devils, who have only faced three-games-to-none deficits in 1993 and 2006, climbed back into the series moments after Madden lost a faceoff to rookie Brandon Dubinsky to the right of Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The puck headed to the corner and Madden retrieved it with the intention of centering it for Brylin.

"It was a fortuitous bounce but they did what they had to do," New York coach Tom Renney said. "They had people going at the net and we didn't quite have the body position and it was in the net. That's the way it goes - you make your breaks."

"I won the faceoff there," Dubinsky said. "They got a good jump on it and it is just one of those things. These things happen. It was a little unlucky."

Madden's pass never reached Brylin. It deflected off rookie defenseman Marc Staal's right skate and headed into the net.

"It was great," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "We worked really hard and our back was against the wall. We couldn't afford to get down three-games-to-none and we pulled it off. It was lucky and we'll take it."

"We talked before the overtime, throw everything at the net, you never know," New Jersey defenseman Colin White said. "That's pretty much how the playoffs go every period."

Lundqvist finished with 29 saves and also admitted that the bounce was a fortunate break for the Devils.

"He threw it front and it hit Marc's skate," Lundqvist said. "It's kind of hard. He can't really react and it's (tough) for me to really react. Unfortunately it went under my pads. It was lucky but it happens."

Brodeur finished with 27 saves and also shook off a blow to the head when he collided with New York's Ryan Callahan late in regulation. He picked up his 95th career postseason victory.

Brodeur kept the Rangers off the scoreboard after Dubinsky scored his second goal of the night just 55 seconds into the third. Dubinsky also scored New York's first goal while captain Jaromir Jagr collected three assists and Martin Straka added two.

Sean Avery had the other goal for the Rangers and has scored in every game of the series. It appeared like he was going to get the game-winner for the second straight game but Elias and Parise struck on the power play 2:23 apart in the second.

The Devils had eight man advantages and capitalized on it in the second to rally after Avery converted a feed from former Devil Scott Gomez 6:50 into the period.

Elias forged a 2-2 tie with a wrist shot from the slot with 7:04 remaining. That came during a penalty on New York defenseman Fedor Tyutin, who was called for closing his hand on the puck.

Parise, who lost two teeth in Game Two, put New Jersey ahead for the second time when his backhander took a funny bounce and sailed over Lundqvist, who had been sprawled out in the crease to attempt a save.

Parise's goal appeared like it was going to be the game-winner for the Devils, who had scored just twice in the first two games at the Prudential Center. But Dubinsky drew a roughing penalty on Elias at the end of the second.

After drawing New York's fifth power play, Dubinsky erased the deficit by withstanding intense pushing and shoving from defenseman Bryce Salvador in the crease. Despite Salvador's best efforts, it was not enough to prevent Dubinsky from tipping a Straka pass over Martin Brodeur just 55 seconds into the third.

Brylin opened the scoring just 3:01 into the contest when his shot that went off Blair Betts' stick was allowed following a lengthy review to determine whether a distinct kicking motion took place.

The Rangers tied it late in the first with some good hustle by Dubinsky, who intercepted a bad clear White before converting Jagr's pass.