-- Patrik Elias says playing with Scott Gomez requires an adjustment. Fortunately for the New Jersey Devils, the acclimation period was extremely short.
Elias scored the game-winner on a nice setup from Gomez with 7:40 remaining Saturday night to lead New Jersey to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Devils' home opener.
Devils coach Pat Burns took Elias off the line centered by Joe Nieuwendyk in the third period and put him with Gomez. They clicked immediately.
"I've played with him in the past," Elias said. "It's a little different to get used to him. With him, you have to slow down."
Gomez, who had two assists, likes to hold the puck longer than most centers. He held the puck long enough to freeze the Blue Jackets' defense and goalie Marc Denis before sliding the puck across the slot to Elias for the deciding goal.
"That was the first shift that they put us together," Elias said. "You could see that we had something going there. We had a couple of good chances right away."
Burns got the result he was seeking.
"Sometimes things happen in the game when you make a change like that," he said. "It sparks something."
Sergei Brylin and Mike Danton also scored for New Jersey, which opened the season with consecutive wins for the first time since 1995.
Sean Pronger and Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre had the Columbus goals.
Grand-Pierre pulled Columbus even at 2-2 at 5:02 of the third. With the teams skating four-on-four, the Blue Jackets' defenseman split the Devils' defensive pair of Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko to wrist the puck past Martin Brodeur.
Brylin snapped a 1-1 tie 58 seconds into the second period. Gomez, working deep in the Columbus zone, fed the puck to Brylin at the left faceoff circle. Brylin took two strides toward the Columbus net and whipped the puck past Denis to give the Devils their first lead of the game.
Pronger and Danton exchanged goals in the first period.
Pronger gave Columbus the early lead with a power-play goal at 6:09. Jaroslav Spacek unloaded a hard shot from the right point and Pronger backhanded the rebound past Brodeur.
Danton countered for the Devils with his first NHL goal at 13:49. Danton deked around Grand-Pierre to flip the puck over Denis' glove.
The Devils went 0-for-9 on the power play and are scoreless in 14 attempts to start the season. The effective penalty killing was one of the positives for Columbus.
"We were busy," Blue Jackets coach Dave King said of his penalty killers. "We did a lot of it, which is a concern. We did a real good job in that area of the game."
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: 1, Columbus, Sean Pronger 1 (power play) (Jaroslav Spacek), 6:09. 2, New Jersey, Mike Danton 1 (Turner Stevenson, Brian Rafalski), 13:49.
Second Period: 3, New Jersey, Sergei Brylin 1 (Scott Gomez, Jeff Friesen), 0:58.
Third Period: 4, Columbus, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre 1 (Lasse Pirjeta), 4:58. 5, New Jersey, Patrik Elias 1 (Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski), 12:20. |
First Period: S Brylin, Njd (obstr hooking), 4:32; S Lachance, Cob (tripping), 8:58; T Stevenson, Njd (obstr hooking), 10:57; R Nash, Cob (hooking), 15:12; J Allison, Cob (holding stick), 17:59.
Second Period: R Nash, Cob (obstr hooking), 1:04; J Allison, Cob (major fighting), 4:06; T Stevenson, Njd (major fighting), 4:06; J Langenbrunner, Njd (holding), 4:40; H Hyvonen, Cob (holding), 14:21; G Marshall, Cob (slashing), 18:32.
Third Period: 4, Columbus, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre 1 (Lasse Pirjeta), 4:58. 5, New Jersey, Patrik Elias 1 (Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski), 12:20.
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Attendance: 17,098.
Referees: Eric Furlatt, Kevin Pollock.
Linesmen: Derek Nansen, Pat Dapuzzo.
