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Gionta helps Devils rally in third, beat Oilers

Dec 22, 2007 - 5:43 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- An excellent shift by Brian Gionta helped end the New Jersey Devils' recent offensive ineptness.

Gionta scored a goal and set up another on one shift in the third period to lift the Devils to a 3-1 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.

Patrick Elias also had a tally and an assist and Martin Brodeur made 19 saves for New Jersey, which avoided its eighth shutout of the season and ended a goal drought of over 105 minutes.

"We went five periods without scoring a goal and then things happen pretty quickly there," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We were playing more the way we wanted to play.

"(Elias) played well tonight and it's not just because he scored but his competitive level was high. He was skating and moving the puck."

Trailing 1-0 in the final session, Gionta managed to fight off a defender and collect the puck behind the goal. He skated out towards the right faceoff circle and sent a perfect cross-ice pass to a wide-open Elias, who fired a one-timer past Oilers netminder Mathieu Garon to tie the game at the five-minute mark.

Just 35 seconds later, Gionta struck again.

"You have to stay patient in a game like that," Gionta said. "It was a little sloppy in the first period but in the second period we started moving our feet, held them to a couple of shots and we had a couple of good ones and then in the third period we kept to our game plan and it paid off."

Elias led the rush down the ice and delivered a pass to Dainius Zubrus, who was streaking towards the goal. Zubrus was unable to get much power behind his shot, but Gionta was right there to knock in the rebound and give the Devils a 2-1 edge.

The quick flurry was all the offense that three-time Vezina Trophy recipient Brodeur needed. He turned aside seven shots in the first period, just two in the next and 10 in the third to record his 511th career win.

"It doesn't matter how many shots you face, it's all about winning hockey games," Brodeur said. "You need to make that big save sometimes and it doesn't matter if it's on the first shot or the 13th."

After Brodeur denied blue-liner Sheldon Souray's one-timer from the high slot, John Madden launched a shot the length of the ice into the empty net to provide the final margin with 29 seconds left.

Edmonton opened the scoring with 4:45 left in the opening session after a great individual effort by Ales Hemsky. The 24-year-old right wing drove towards the net and attempted to slide the puck under Brodeur's pad.

After Brodeur denied Hemsky's attempt, defenseman Joni Pitkanen knocked in the rebound to give the Oilers a 1-0 advantage.

Garon had a solid outing for Edmonton, stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced.

"We just gave that game away; it's Christmas time and we wrapped it up and gave it to them," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "We didn't compete hard enough in the second period to get the game. You string a team along and you let them stay in the game and bad things happen and that's what happened tonight."