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Madden, Dowd lead Devils to shootout win over Hurricanes

Nov 8, 2006 - 3:19 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- John Madden and Jim Dowd helped the New Jersey Devils back from the brink of defeat.

Madden scored in the sixth round of the shootout and Dowd tallied with just 60 seconds to go in the third period to lead the Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

After New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur stopped Scott Walker on the glove side in the shootout, Madden beat Carolina netminder Cam Ward on the stick side to win the contest.

"I was just trying to freeze him a little bit, trying to give him (a backhand)," Madden said. "He didn't bite on it and I was able to just squeak it in."

Brodeur, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, had 26 saves, including five in the overtime session.

"There were so many shots and so many guys wide open," Brodeur said. "I just wanted to survive. After I made all those saves, we had a great chance to score."

Dowd scored his first goal of the season with a minute left in regulation, sliding a shot from the slot under the pads of Ward to force overtime.

"It was a great play by those guys, Madden and (Jay) Pandolfo," Dowd said. "They worked it good and when I saw Madden cut back once and twice, I just went to the far post and I knew the puck was coming out somehow."

"I thought we controlled the play for most of the entire game," Ward said. "They get a lucky bounce on the second goal to tie it up and then in the shootout, you're facing one of the best goaltenders in the league."

After a scoreless first period, the teams traded goals in the second. The Devils scored first on Travis Zajac's goal at the 7:50 mark. New Jersey then committed two puck-over-glass penalties within 24 seconds, which led to a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Eric Staal.

Rod Brind'Amour scored for the Hurricanes and Ward stopped 18 shots.

"We had a few good looks, I had a few," Brind'Amour said. "A couple were just out of reach. At that point, everyone's just going for it. We had our chances to win that game for sure."

The Devils have won four of their last five games.