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Bruins take advantage of Brodeur-less Devils

Jan 6, 2008 - 4:26 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils broke from tradition Saturday night to put on an offensive show.

P.J. Axelsson scored once and added two assists and Marco Sturm netted a goal and set up another to lead the Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Devils at TD Banknorth Garden.

Phil Kessel recorded two assists and Tim Thomas made 42 saves and survived a mad scramble in front of the net in the final seconds for Boston, which won its third straight on a five-game homestand.

Kevin Weekes turned aside 21 shots for New Jersey, which rested Martin Brodeur one night after his 96th career shutout.

"You feel bad for Weekes," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "He hadn't played in a while. Once he settled down, he made some big saves for us. It's tough when you haven't played in a while and you're in a game situation."

The Atlantic Division-leading Devils entered the game with just 98 goals, the second-fewest in the Eastern Conference, while the Bruins had managed just six more.

The Devils broke out on top at 4:26 of the first, when Patrik Elias, who was stationed to the right of Thomas, found Dainius Zubrus in front of the net. The puck popped into the air, and Zubrus managed to bat it in for his seventh goal and a 1-0 lead.

New Jersey controlled play for the next 10 minutes before Boston awoke with a flurry of scoring chances, resulting in three unanswered goals before the end of the period.

Axelsson began the scoring barrage when his wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle beat Weekes to the stick side at 14:13.

"I just tried to play the same game as I always do," Axelsson said. "It's just that some nights, they go in."

Dennis Wideman gave the Bruins their first lead of the night when his shot from the right point found its way through a screen and past Weekes. The defenseman's sixth tally came with 1:50 left in the period and put Boston ahead, 2-1.

After captain Zdeno Chara was whistled for slashing with just under 45 seconds remaining in the period, the shorthanded Bruins appeared ready to head into the first intermission with a one-goal lead.

But the Devils turned over the puck in the offensive zone and defenseman Andrew Ference found Sturm breaking free down the left wing. Sturm came in alone on Weekes only to have his initial shot stopped.

But Weekes could not control the puck between his pads and it trickled in with six-tenths of a second remaining for a momentum-swinging tally.

"We played pretty well for the first 15 minutes, but you look at the two untimely goals," Sutter said. "You never like giving up goals in the latter part of periods. We give up one with 0.6 seconds to go in the first and the one in the second. Those aren't good times to give goals up."

New Jersey halved the deficit just over 17 minutes into the second period, when blue-liner Johnny Oduya fired a slap shot from the left point that went off the left skate of Chara and past Thomas.

But the Bruins regained their two-goal cushion when Axelsson collected a loose puck at the left point and, in one motion, spun and blasted a slap shot. The puck went through traffic in front of Weekes before Marc Savard tipped it in for a 4-2 advantage with 59.5 seconds remaining in the second.

The Bruins had two third-period power plays with a chance to put away the game but could not convert.

"We had two power plays there in the third period and they did a great job of killing that off," Axelsson said. "We didn't even get in their end. They got some momentum out of that and they came right after us."

The Devils converted their first power play in three chances midway through the third to make it a one-goal game. Travis Zajac scored his seventh of the season, beating Thomas between the pads from the right circle with 9:27 remaining.

New Jersey outshot Boston, 20-1, in the final period, but Thomas held strong despite constant pressure.

"They had some power plays, too," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "The momentum switched a little bit and we tried to get it back. We get calls against us. That's the way it goes. Tim played great. Besides that, we played hard."

In the closing seconds, Bruins center Glen Metropolit sprawled out in the crease behind Thomas, covering and clearing a loose puck.

"I'm worried about the penalty shot (being called) a little bit, but at the same time, I know if it's under me, I'm going to throw it out (of crease), I'm not going to lay on it," Metropolit said. "I'll get up any way I can and get rid of it. You don't want a penalty shot with 0.2 seconds left."

"It was a scrum at the end of the game," Sutter added. "We were just looking at it (on replay). The puck was loose the whole time. We just never got our sticks on it. Actually, we got a good shot on it, but he made a good save on it off to one side."