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Parise powers Devils past Canadiens in OT

Dec 7, 2008 - 4:45 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Zach Parise scored a power-play goal just 31 seconds into overtime as the New Jersey Devils recorded a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Captain Jamie Langenbrunner also tallied and Scott Clemmensen turned aside 25 shots for New Jersey, which improved to 7-1-0 in its last eight games.

"I think as a coaching staff, we always expect a lot," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We know we have a good team, we know we have good players in the room, and if you do things the right way and everybody plays a solid game and stays on the same page, we can be very effective."

Rookie Matt D'Agostini scored and Carey Price made 29 saves for Montreal, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.

In overtime, defenseman Paul Martin unleashed a shot from just inside the blue line that Price denied. But Patrik Elias collected the puck and drew the attention of both the netminder and defenseman Josh Gorges before sending a cross-slot pass to Parise, whose wrister found the vacant net for his 15th goal of the season.

"I was (waiting on the pass) because, I think it was last game, we had talked about that," Parise said. "Rather than going in tight, to try and back out a little bit and find that lane, and (Elias) found it - and it was an unbelievable pass."

In the other locker room, captain Saku Koivu and Price were less than enthused.

"I think that nothing worked the way we wanted," Koivu said. "We hit the post and (defenseman Andrei) Markov had a great chance in the second period, and the puck was just laying underneath the goalie in the third. So there were some chances there, but it's a big step from creating some chances to actually scoring."

"I don't like losing," Price said. "It's really that simple - I don't like losing."

With his parents making the trip from Sault St. Marie, Ontario, D'Agostini opened the scoring with 4:25 remaining in the first period.

Markov wristed a shot from the left point that caromed off Clemmensen's glove and into the slot. D'Agostini alertly gathered the puck and swept it past the netminder for his third goal in four games since being recalled from Hamilton of the American Hockey League on November 28.

Clemmensen regrouped and kept the Canadiens off the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest.

"We weathered the storm a little bit," Clemmensen said. "I thought we did that in the first (half of the contest). We gave some 20 shots against, and then in the second half of the game, there were maybe six in total.

"That was kind of a testament to a good road game. It's where you weather the storm a bit until you find your game, and you go from there - and that's what we kind of did."

Langenbrunner knotted the contest just 4:05 into the second session.

After gaining possession along his own blue line, Langenbrunner skated into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 and unleashed a slap shot from the right circle that trickled past Price for his fourth goal.

"We got off to a little bit of a sluggish start," Langenbrunner said. "They controlled the play, but in the second and third periods, we really seemed to control the play. We had a lot of great chances, but Price played awesome again, forcing it to overtime."