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Parise's lucky break lifts Devils past Rangers

Feb 21, 2007 - 5:04 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) - Zach Parise's lucky break spoiled the New York Rangers' final regular-season trip to the Continental Airlines Arena.

Parise snapped a third-period tie and goaltender Martin Brodeur made 35 saves to give the New Jersey Devils their seventh win in nine games, a 2-1 victory over the Rangers.

New Jersey moves to the brand-new Prudential Center in Newark next season, which should be good news for the Rangers, who were 5-24-3-1 in their final 33 regular-season games in the Meadowlands. The teams meet again Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

After Brodeur withstood several attempts by the Rangers in front, the Devils broke out of the zone and Scott Gomez fed a wide-open Parise, whose initial shot was stopped by netminder Henrik Lundqvist.

Parise was over the end line when he swatted the rebound toward the front of the net and watched it go in off defenseman Karel Rachunek's stick with 7:54 left.

"It came right back to me," Parise said. "I just wanted to throw it in front of the net and see what happened. It turned out better. He made a good stop on the breakaway. It was a lucky play."

"I had no idea where the puck was," Rachunek said. "He made a good play. It just hit my stick. I didn't see the puck. I was looking for the puck."

Parise is tied with Brian Gionta for the team lead with 24 goals. Gionta missed the game with a groin injury, and captain Patrik Elias, who top New Jersey with 57 points, sat out with the flu.

"(It was) a huge goal at a big time," said right wing Jamie Langenbrunner, Parise's linemate. "That was a great move to start it off, and he just had the presence of mind to stay with it and get it back out there."

The Devils opened the scoring at 8:16 of the first period with defenseman Brian Rafalski's sixth goal of the season, a one-timer from the slot inside the left goalpost. It was his fourth goal in his last four games.

"I've had a lot of good quality scoring chances the last few games and they've been going in," Rafalski said. "There were a few earlier in the year that I maybe could have scored, but that's how it goes sometimes."

New York tied the score with three minutes to play in the middle session when Petr Prucha redirected defenseman Aaron Ward's slap shot from inside the blue line past Brodeur's right pad.

Despite numerous other chances, the Rangers could not solve Brodeur, who has posted all of New Jersey's 37 victories this season. With 21 games left, he has a shot at surpassing Bernie Parent's single-season record of 47, set with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1973-1974.

Tempers flared with 76 seconds remaining in the second period, when Rangers left wing Sean Avery and Brodeur got into a shoving match that left the netminder without his mask.

"I know my defenseman pushed Avery into me, but it would have been easy for him to hold himself up and not go right through my head, shoulder, elbow, knee, hip," Brodeur said. "I understand his game. After they scored the goal, he (is) yapping at me.

"The referee (is) right there. Next shift, he runs into me again. He's going to get called if he makes it so obvious like that."

The Devils ended up with a power play, which Avery suggested was embellished by Brodeur.

"No one will ever say it, because it's me, Avery said. "Either I'm Superman, or ... it's pretty obvious."

"I want him to play hard and be a thorn in the side of his opponents, and keep doing what he does," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "These are still crucial points for us."

Lundqvist stopped 24 shots for the Rangers, who lost for the second time in their last six contests.