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Zherdev scores twice as Rangers blitz Devils

Nov 13, 2008 - 5:07 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Winning without Martin Brodeur and defeating the New York Rangers have been major problems for the New Jersey Devils. On Wednesday, they failed to find any solutions.

Nikolai Zherdev scored two goals as the New York Rangers used a second-period outburst to post a 5-2 triumph over the Devils.

Defenseman Michal Rozsival, captain Chris Drury and Lauri Korpikoski also tallied for the Rangers, who erupted for four goals in the middle session to erase a 1-0 deficit and seize control of the contest.

Blue-liner Dan Girardi, Nigel Dawes and Dan Fritsche each recorded a pair of assists for New York, which had lost four of five (1-3-1).

Travis Zajac and captain Jamie Langenbrunner scored for the Devils, who have totaled four goals in their last four losses.

The Rangers started and finished their second-period barrage with power-play goals as Rozsival and Zherdev both tallied during two-man advantages. In between, Drury and Korpikoski beat goaltender Kevin Weekes as New York struck three times in a span of 2:08 to take command.

"We got the momentum going," Drury said. "We got a lot of traffic and it always goes back to the D shooting and our forwards moving their feet and outworking the other team for rebounds."

Zherdev also tallied midway through the third for his first two-goal game of the season and eighth career.

It marked just the second time this season the Rangers scored five goals in a game and the third time they notched more than one power-play tally.

"That's nice to see," New York coach Tom Renney said. "It's supposed to work all the time, naturally, but we haven't played as well as we've wanted to of late. Our power play has hurt us a number of times throughout the course of the season to date, but we also feel that in these last three or four games, it's showing some significant improvement, so it did come through in a big way for us tonight."

"Every power play you get, you want to score," Rozsival added. "We had some bad stretches that we couldn't get anything going on the power play. It's just nice to see that we can score and get it going. Today, our power play turned the game around for us."

Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for New York. The Swede, who has not allowed more than two goals in any of his last 10 games, improved to 14-2-4 lifetime against New Jersey.

"We have a little comfort zone knowing that we have a great record against this team," Lundqvist said. "In the back of your head, you know just keep going and we'll find a way to beat this team. I think that's a pretty big part.

"After the first (period), they get a lead and it's easy to panic and try to do more. Instead, we stayed cool and they start to get penalties, and we take advantage of it. When your special teams are playing that well, it's tough to beat."

The Rangers raised their record to 9-0-1 in their last 10 meetings with the Devils. All of the previous nine contests were against Brodeur, who is sidelined up to four months following elbow surgery.

"No question (we miss him)," New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said of Brodeur. "We have to try and find a way to stay in the hunt. We're not going to use excuses. Bottom line, guys that are playing have to be rock solid."

"Sometimes you're frustrated when a team isn't working, isn't battling," Langenbrunner added. "That's not the case right now. We're playing hard and doing a lot of good things, but we're making too many mistakes."

Former Ranger Weekes got the start and struggled, falling 1-3-0 after allowing four goals on 25 shots.

Weekes was the winning goaltender for New York the last time the Devils faced the Rangers without Brodeur in November 2005. He was not as fortunate in this one as New Jersey fell to 1-4-0 since Brodeur's injury.

"As a goalie, it's never pleasant," Weekes said of being pulled. "Sometimes it's part of the game and coaches make decisions. We were on our heels the whole second period."

The Rangers avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season and, after Lundqvist allowed Zajac to score off a rebound 7:04 into the contest, took control midway through the second.

Rozsival tied it with a slap shot from the left point that hit the left goalpost before bouncing off Weekes' right skate and in at 7:45 of the period.

Just 99 seconds later, Drury put the Rangers ahead for good with his fifth goal in four contests. After entering the offensive zone, he unleashed a slap shot from above the right faceoff circle that sailed over Weekes' right pad.

New York opened a two-goal edge 29 seconds afterward, when Fritsche and Korpikoski teamed up. Fritsche made a crisp pass from behind the net to the rookie, who one-timed it past Weekes from the left hash marks for his first career goal.

The Rangers capped the flurry with 4:10 to go in the second as Zherdev buried a loose puck from below the left circle. After Langenbrunner netted a power-play goal at 4:19 of the third to get the Devils within 4-2, Zherdev fired a slap shot from above the right circle that deflected off former New York defenseman Mike Mottau's stick and past netminder Scott Clemmensen at 9:51 to cap the scoring.

Clemmensen turned aside 16 shots in one period of action.