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Brylin, Elias score twice as Devils end three-game skid

Dec 18, 2006 - 4:21 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Sergei Brylin and captain Patrik Elias led a multi-pronged attack to complete a lost weekend for their neighbors.

Brylin and Elias scored two goals apiece and Zach Parise added a goal and two assists to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 6-1 victory over the New York Rangers.

New Jersey scored three power-play tallies to avoid tying a season high with its fourth straight loss. In doing so, it defeated its Atlantic Division rival for the first time in four regular-season encounters.

"This is great for our confidence," Devils coach Claude Julien said. "We needed this. It has been a tough week for us with the type of losses we had. I thought our guys played well tonight. They were very responsible in following our game plan and the effort was certainly there."

Brylin scored from the slot after Parise made a steal in the Rangers' zone midway through the second period. He slid the puck between goaltender Kevin Weekes' pads for his fifth tally of the season and a 3-1 lead.

The Devils widened the margin at 1:49 of the third session as Brylin redirected Parise's cross-crease feed past Weekes' left pad to complete his first multi-goal game of the campaign.

"I think for sure we made a statement," Parise said. "I thought we controlled most ... of the game. That was one of the better games we played all year. We knew the importance coming in. We lost three in the standings so we responded really well."

Elias opened the scoring for New Jersey on a 5-on-3 power play when his one-timer from the right-faceoff circle beat Weekes inside the left goal post with 34 seconds left in the first period.

"It was just a matter of us putting it together for 60 minutes," Elias said. "Everybody did our job tonight. The power play was good. The (penalty kill) was great and Marty (Brodeur) made those saves early in the game."

Jamie Langenbrunner doubled the margin at 6:25 of the middle session with the man advantage when his slap shot from the left point deflected off New York left wing Marcel Hossa's stick.

"This was a huge game for us," Langenbrunner said. "Our play has been struggling, especially on the road. You never want to lose two in a row, let alone three like we did. So to stop it now, against obviously a big opponent for us in a big game was huge."

Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur won for the sixth time in eighth decisions by making 35 saves to raise his career record against the Rangers to 34-15-15.

"We played really good," Brodeur said. "It's a good way of getting out of our little funk. For us, we've played well here. We just didn't come out with nothing so far this season. It's nice to be able to come through in a good way."

Petr Prucha scored his sixth goal in the second period and Weekes stopped 22 shots for New York, which came off Saturday's 9-2 rout at Toronto.

"We were doing all right for 30 minutes and then you take a second penalty, they score on a 5-on-3, and that is game, set and match for a team trying to get some traction and trying to find its footing again," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "They smelled blood and came after us."

"I don't think there is a whole lot of examination needed to know what went wrong the last 48 hours," Rangers left wing Brendan Shanahan said. "It is pretty evident. We are a step slow all over the ice, which leads to breakdowns, which leads to penalties, which leads to power-play goals for the other team."