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Oduya powers Devils past Panthers

Nov 27, 2008 - 4:40 AM By Rick Menning PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Devils snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the resurgent Florida Panthers.

Defenseman Johnny Oduya scored with 56 seconds remaining in overtime as the Devils won their fifth straight game with a 3-2 triumph over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.

Brian Gionta scored for the fifth straight game, Travis Zajac also tallied and Scott Clemmensen finished with 36 saves for New Jersey.

"They were bringing everything they had at us at the end there," Clemmensen said. "It was a completely different game for me in that third period."

Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester netted his first goal of the season and David Booth tallied with eight seconds remaining in regulation for Florida.

"I wasn't pleased with the last two-and-a-half minutes," New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "We had it under control but lost our assignments, and you saw what happened."

In overtime, Oduya unleashed a blast from the left circle which Craig Anderson for the game-winning goal.

"I was thinking of passing (the puck), but then I saw a little bit of an opening and decided to shoot and take my chances," Oduya said. "Fortunately it found the back of the net."

Gionta, who had a goal and an assist against the Panthers last Thursday in Newark, opened the scoring 5:33 into the contest after redirecting a feed from Oduya off the right pad of Florida netminder Tomas Vokoun for his seventh goal of the season.

New Jersey, which held Florida to one shot through the first 15 minutes and four total in the period, increased its lead with just over a minute left in the first on some picture-perfect passing in the Panthers zone.

"I didn't like either of the first two goals. I didn't like the way the team was playing, either," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "But we hung around."

Zajac took a perfect backhander pass from captain Jamie Langenbrunner and slipped it between the pads to give the Devils to a 2-0 advantage.

"We had things going our way, but then we let them back in the game," Langenbrunner said. "Obviously it's disappointing because we didn't close it out, but we got the two points."

That ended Vokoun's night as Anderson took over to start the second period. He proved up to the task, stopping all 17 shots the Devils recorded in the session..

"We didn't get discouraged. We struck with the program," Anderson said. "We got rewarded with only one point tonight, but it's still a reward."

The Panthers continued to struggle on offense with seven shots through the first 28 minutes before ending the first 40 minutes with 17 shots on Clemmensen.

"It's the competitiveness of this league," Clemmensen said. "We were back on our heels and it almost bit us in the butt, but we found a way to make it through the adversity."

Bouwmeester continued to battle by also getting an assist on the tying goal.

"The bottom line is that we were still in the game, even though we didn't play very well for the first 50 minutes or so," Bouwmeester said.

DeBoer said the team can build on the late effort.

"It was a great comeback. We showed some resiliency, some character," DeBoer said. "We found a way to hang around and keep chipping away. The nice thing is we didn't quit."