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Early burst in third gives Devils win vs. Sabres

Feb 4, 2007 - 5:47 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- On a night when they honored their first Stanley Cup team, the New Jersey Devils showed off their brand of championship hockey.

John Madden, Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise scored in a 2 1/2-minute span early in the third period and the Devils held on for a 3-2 victory over the first-place Buffalo Sabres in a battle between the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Martin Brodeur needed to make just 15 saves as New Jersey climbed within four points of Buffalo (74), topping the Sabres for the 10th time in the last 14 meetings between the teams.

Ryan Miller was spectacular through two periods for Buffalo, stopping all 22 shots he faced as his teammates managed just 12 shots against fellow All-Star goaltender Brodeur, including a wraparound goal by co-captain Chris Drury 7:18 into the game. Drury matched his career high of 30 tallies, hitting the mark for the second straight season.

With a slew of the members of the Devils' 1994-95 Stanley Cup championship team - including captain Scott Stevens looking on, Madden broke through 2:02 into the third, when he pushed the puck through Miller's glove and into the net to knot the game at 1-1.

"He didn't actually really have it," Madden said. "He put (his glove) on top of my stick. My stick was still there."

A shaken Miller vehemently disagreed.

"Nothing against the referees, everything against that call," Miller said. "I felt like I had possession and he played me, not the puck. I got kind of spun off of it. It's a judgment call by him. He said he saw our guy and their guy battling, which I don't know how that has anything to do with me. I disagree.

"It's not reviewable, it's all whether I have the puck or not. I think it's pretty obvious I have the puck when I'm getting spun in a circle and getting pushed in the net. It's frustrating. They have a tough job, but I have the right to disagree. It's my right as a player to ask a question. He explained it, I explained myself, and we still have a goal on the board."

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, whose team lost the Stanley Cup to Dallas in 1999 on perhaps the most famous disputed goal in NHL history, shared Miller's view.

"It was clearly covered, he had it in his glove and it"s obvious that the whistle should have (blown) on the play," Ruff said. "After they call it a goal, (are) you going to rant and rave? Make the call. (The referee) saw it, he's standing right there. It's in his glove. The puck was covered."

Just 23 seconds later, Langenbrunner attempted a cross-slot pass from the right faceoff circle, but the puck hit the right skate of Buffalo defenseman Dmitri Kalinin, changed direction and found its way into the net off the stick of a lunging Miller, giving New Jersey a 2-1 advantage, prompting the near-capacity crowd to erupt and forcing Ruff to call timeout.

"I was just trying to hit Travis (Zajac) on the back door, but it hit a skate," Langenbrunner said. "It happened pretty quick. I think that one that (Madden) scored rattled them."

Parise took a feed in the left circle from Langenbrunner and beat Miller with a wrist shot at 4:33 to make it a 3-1 advantage.

"I don't know if I caught him a little off-guard," Parise said. "I don't know if he was expecting a shot there, but the one I didn't expect to score on went in. We controlled most of the game, and that gave us the confidence in the third period that we could finally get one."

In the first meeting between the teams on December 12th, Miller was en route to a shutout before the Devils scored twice in the final minute of the third period but fell, 3-2.

This time, it was Brodeur who had to hang on, as defenseman Teppo Numminen scored his first goal of the season with 3:58 left, putting a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net from a sharp angle on the right side. It was the veteran's first goal since April 15th, a span of 54 games.

Like he did on his first Stanley Cup team, Brodeur bore down thereafter and the Devils earned the tight victory.

"That's as close to '95 as you're going to get," Brodeur chuckled. "It was great. The way we shut them down, with 13 shots with five minutes left in the third, is pretty amazing.

"It was definitely one of the more memorable and fun games I've played in," Madden said. "A lot of people on hand that came to see the '95 team, and (there were) a lot of legends on the ice. Some of them I got to play with, some of them I wish I got to play with. They're Devils guys, and they'll always be. You want to get a win on their night."