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Gionta gives Devils win in overtime

Feb 14, 2008 - 4:40 AM By Joe Rizzo PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Persistence paid off for Brian Gionta and the New Jersey Devils.

Gionta broke a 13-game goalless drought at 2:14 of overtime and captain Jamie Langenbrunner recorded a goal and an assist as the Devils posted a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.

Defenseman Karel Rachunek also tallied and Patrik Elias notched a pair of assists for New Jersey, which improved to 4-1-1 in its last six games and gave Martin Brodeur his 30th win of the season.

Brodeur extended his NHL record for consecutive 30-win campaigns to 12 - four more than Hall of Famer Patrick Roy. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner also passed Ed Belfour for third all time in minutes played by a goaltender once the game went into overtime.

"Thirty games, at the end of the year, it's not a big number," Brodeur said. "But there's not that many goalies that do it in consecutive years like that. So it's nice to get to that point, and now I'll look forward to trying to get to 35 next."

Brodeur's accomplishment did not shock his coach or teammates in the least.

"Are you surprised?" Devils coach Brent Sutter asked.

"You don't assume anything, but you've come to expect that from him," Gionta said. "It's just unreal how consistent he can be. Year in and year out, he's the best goaltender every year."

Blue-liner Luke Richardson reached the 200-point plateau for his career with a goal and an assist for the Senators, who have lost three straight on the road.

After receiving the puck in the neutral zone, Gionta banked it off the right wing boards and skated around Ottawa's Cory Stillman before regaining possession. Gionta's shot was blocked by a defender, but the diminutive forward continued skating around the net and buried the rebound of Langenbrunner's backhander from the doorstep to give New Jersey the win.

"I was able to get some speed built up there, caught some of their guys flat-footed," said Gionta, who has 14 goals this season but had none since January 10. "The shot got blocked, went right to Jamie and I was able to get right to the net for the rebound."

"There was a weird scramble there, it was a weird play," Columbus goaltender Martin Gerber said. "I think he passed across, I went for the puck, somehow he took it back, and then he's there all by himself. I don't know what it hit. I did not have enough time to close my five-hole."

Randy Robitaille scored for the second straight game, getting the Senators even at 2-2 with 4:31 left in the second period. After Christoph Schubert forced a turnover, Robitaille took the puck on the left wing, skated to the faceoff dot and ripped a slap shot over Brodeur's left shoulder.

The Devils exploded for two goals in less than two minutes earlier in the second to erase a deficit.

With defenseman Paul Martin serving a hooking penalty, Langenbrunner stole a pass from Ottawa blue-liner Andrej Meszaros and started a 2-on-1 rush with Elias, eventually converting his 10th goal of the season - and first shorthanded - on a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that went between Gerber's pads at 6:12.

"We capitalized on some opportunities," Langenbrunner said. "In the past few weeks, we've not played 60 minutes. We know what time of the season it is, we know it's crunch time. We need to move up, and we have to play well to do that."

With the teams playing 4-on-4, Rachunek, - a former Senator - gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at 8:04 with his fourth goal of the season and second in three games. Rachunek one-timed a shot from the right faceoff dot past Gerber after Elias and Zach Parise combined to steal the puck from blue-liner Mike Commodore behind the net.

Commodore and Stillman each were playing their second game for the Senators after being acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday.

Richardson scored just his second goal of the season 5:25 into the game, when his wrist shot from the left point hit New Jersey's David Clarkson, immediately changed direction and bounced through traffic and past Brodeur on the stick side.

"I played against these guys quite a bit when I was in Philly," Richardson said. "I'm pretty familiar with them. It's always a challenge coming in here to play them, for sure. We'll just have to turn the tables on them on Saturday (in Ottawa)."

Richardson, a 38-year-old Ottawa native playing his first season with the Senators and 20th in the NHL, recorded an assist on Robitaille's goal to reach 200 career points in his 1,395th game.

In the final minute of the first period, Gerber made a spectacular right pad save on John Madden's shorthanded breakaway attempt. Madden blasted defenseman Wade Redden with an open-ice hit to gain control of a loose puck at the Senators' blue line, marched in and deked Gerber to the ice but could not get the puck past the netminder.

Madden had another chance with 74 seconds remaining in regulation, but Gerber used his blocker to deny him from close range.

Brodeur used his glove to twice deny a wide-open Chris Kelly at the post during a sequence with just over six minutes left in the second period. He also stopped a flurry of shots off faceoffs in the third to preserve the 2-2 tie.

Elias nearly won the game with 5:27 remaining in regulation, when his deflection of Martin's right-point slapper rang off the post to Gerber's left.