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Zajac, Brodeur lift Devils

Jan 11, 2008 - 4:49 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Travis Zajac recorded a goal and an assist and Martin Brodeur made 20 saves as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-1, in a battle of Eastern Conference division leaders on Thursday.

Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta and Sergei Brylin also scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Devils, who have won seven of their last nine games.

"It was one of the better games we've played," said Zach Parise, who had a pair of assists. "We limited their chances. It seemed like we were always hunting pucks down and getting turnovers. We were getting in on the forecheck really well and didn't let them get set up. That was a big difference tonight and with the (2-1 win on Tuesday) against Buffalo."

Brodeur improved to 7-1-0 in his last eight starts, allowing one goal or less in six of those contests.

"When you play a team that has got a lot of injuries, you've got to try to break them quick," Brodeur said. "I think that's what we did. We played well. We played hard. We took advantage of them.

"When you play a team that is hurting with the bodies, you have to take care of them early and don't let them believe they're in the game."

The Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes played without defenseman Glen Wesley, Ray Whitney and Trevor Letowski, who all were sidelined with the flu. They also have five players on injured reserve, including Justin Williams, Matt Cullen and Scott Walker.

Carolina coach Peter Laviolette refused to use his team's lack of healthy bodies as an excuse for the loss.

"The injuries and sicknesses had absolutely nothing to do with tonight," Laviolette said. "We lost the game on the ice, not with guys home in bed. Every team goes through it. With that comes an opportunity for others to step up, and we clearly did not."

Zajac opened the scoring 12:24 into the first period.

From just outside the right faceoff circle, captain Jamie Langenbrunner sent a centering feed that eluded Parise but found Zajac, who directed the puck past goaltender Cam Ward for his eighth goal of the season.

"We got contributions from everybody," Langenbrunner said.

Keith Aucoin, who was recalled from Albany of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, leveled the game by scoring his first career tally.

The undrafted right wing corralled the rebound of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg's shot and deposited it past Brodeur to tie the game at 1-1 just 2:41 into the second.

"It took 25 years to do it," the 29-year-old Aucoin said. "It finally felt good to do it. It's a good feeling. We had a tough start in the first period. We were better in the second period, but I don't think we had a good-enough start to win this game."

Laviolette said Aucoin's play was about the best his team had the entire night.

"If I had to pick somebody to possibly say something good about, I guess it would be Keith," Laviolette said.

Elias restored the lead for New Jersey with 2:01 remaining in the period. Skating down the left wing, Elias blasted a shot from the left circle that sailed over the glove of Ward for his 10th goal.

"It bounced away from them or they turned it over in a good position," Elias said of gaining possession of the puck. "I can't recall. I just made a nice pass to Zach and he made a nice pass to Jamie. It happened quick. I knew the pass was there and I just let it go, and it went in."

Gionta doubled the Devils' advantage with just under seven minutes remaining in the third period. With New Jersey on the power play, defenseman Andy Greene wristed a shot from inside the blue line that Gionta deflected past a screened Ward for his 13th goal of the campaign.

Brylin capped the scoring with 1:52 to play, redirecting John Madden's blast past Ward for his fourth tally.

"It was a great effort," New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "Both goals (on the power play) were big. Our resiliency tonight was good."

Carolina, one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, is in a goal-scoring drought with only three tallies in its last three games. The Hurricanes also have gone that stretch without a power-play goal.

"We haven't scored many goals, but we've got a lot of new guys in new situations," Carolina defenseman Mike Commodore said. "Hopefully, it picks up soon. We need to score more than one goal.

"I'd like to shut teams out every night, but it probably isn't going to happen. So we need to score more goals, but I don't think it's anything worth hitting the panic button over."