• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Langenbrunner's OT goal lifts Devils over Bruins

Jan 30, 2009 - 4:22 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Captain Jamie Langenbrunner saved the day for the New Jersey Devils.

Langenbrunner finished with two goals and an assist, including the game-winning tally in overtime, as the Devils bounced back from a third-period letdown to post a 4-3 overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

All-Star Zach Parise and Patrik Elias also scored for New Jersey, which extended its winning streak to seven games.

"It proves something to us," Langenbrunner said. "But you always want to play a clean game and not let a team back. But give some credit to (the Bruins). They have some talented guys and they don't quit."

After opening the scoring late in the first period, Langenbrunner parked himself in front of All-Star goaltender Tim Thomas and emerged from a scrum in front of the net with the puck. He turned and sent a backhanded shot past Thomas for the game-winner.

"It was a great pass by Travis (Zajac) back to (defenseman) Colin White there," Langenbrunner said. "Our D did a great job tonight of getting shots through and on the net. The rebound just kind of bounced around. I had pretty good body position on the defenseman and just slid it underneath him."

"It was a battle of who was going to score the most goals on themselves," said Thomas, who watched four pucks slide by him in odd fashion.

The Bruins stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to take the lead with three unanswered goals in the third period, but Elias saved the Devils from a pointless night by netting his 22nd tally of the season with 1:45 left in regulation.

"That is a positive out of the game, to come back from 2-0 and go ahead 3-2," Thomas said. "You figure that what's turned into an unlucky night as far as the first two goals and turned around. But that's why there's 60 minutes in a hockey game and not 58."

New Jersey opened the scoring while shorthanded as Langenbrunner's shot deflected off Boston All-Star Marc Savard, who inadvertently kicked the puck past Thomas with 4:59 left in the first.

"We've had our share of breaks," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "But good teams make their own breaks. They were extremely good on the puck. They were hungry. This is what it is, and you have to give them credit for making their own breaks."

The Devils recorded a more conventional special-teams goal in the second period, thanks to some hard work and good luck.

With Phil Kessel in the penalty box for slashing, Parise was stationed behind the Bruins' net. Parise wristed a shot that caromed off Thomas' back and into the net for his team-leading 29th tally of the season.

"Usually with a two-goal lead for them, it's signed, sealed and delivered for them," Savard said. "It just shows the character guys we have. We have a great hockey team and almost proved it all over again, but we came up a little short."

The Bruins finally got on the board 2:19 into the third.

After goaltender Scott Clemmensen mistakenly left the puck behind his net for Chuck Kobasew, the Bruins' right wing failed to convert a wraparound attempt at the left goalpost. But during the ensuing scramble, Kobasew managed to lift the puck into the air.

The puck floated across the goal line as Clemmensen gloved it, but a video review quickly ruled it a tally, Kobasew's ninth of the season.

Another play behind Clemmensen, who starred at Boston College, set up the tying goal as Kessel dished the puck to Savard, who stuffed it between the goalie's right pad and the right post at 7:11.

"It's special to come to Boston and play against one of the best teams in the league," Clemmensen said. "To get the win is always special for me. But to do it the way we did, obviously against one of the better teams, and for us to come in and knock them off, it's a big win for us."

Defenseman Dennis Wideman put Boston ahead, 3-2, with a one-timer from the top of the slot with 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the third.

"It was great to come back, but we have to put games like that away," Wideman said.

"In the third, we came out and it was about being determined," Julien said. "You have to play to win, and we did a good job of getting back in the game."

Clemmensen made 24 saves, while Thomas stopped 26 shots.

Kessel, Boston's leading goal-scorer with 24, returned after missing six games due to mononucleosis and recorded a pair of assists, while Milan Lucic was playing just his second game after missing time with a sore shoulder.

"This was as tough a game as they could have walked into," Julien said. "Kessel hasn't played in a while and has had just one practice with us."