With Nikolai Khabibulin getting a night off in goal, the New Jersey Devils had no problem knocking off the NHL's last unbeaten team.
John Madden scored twice and set up another as the goal-starved Devils had their biggest offensive night of the season in beating the surprising Lightning 5-1 on Saturday night.
''They're a team you have to respect,'' Devils coach Pat Burns said after his team won its third straight game, and sixth in seven outings. ''Four of the last five games they came back to win or tie. We had to worry about them for 60 minutes.''
Lightning coach John Tortorella took some of the worry out of the game by starting Kevin Hodson in place of Khabibulin, who led Tampa Bay to a franchise-best 5-0-2 start.
Playing in a regular-season game for the first time since an 8-0 loss to San Jose on Feb. 8, 2000, Hodson had little help as the Devils outshot Tampa Bay 13-5 in taking a 2-0 first-period lead.
''I was disappointed I didn't make any timely saves,'' said Hodson, who faced 30 shots.
Tortorella didn't agree.
''He was not the reason we lost,'' Tortorella said. ''There wasn't too much help in front of him.''
Joe Nieuwendyk, Patrik Elias and Stephen Guolla also scored for the Devils, whose previous high for goals in a game was three.
''Today was important that we score more than two goals,'' Elias said. ''There are going to be games where we are down and we're going to have to score more goals, so this was a good hockey game for us.''
Martin Brodeur allowed only a third-period goal by Chris Dingman in recording his league-best sixth win.
The loss ended Tampa Bay's franchise record eight-game unbeaten streak, which included the final game of last season.
Nieuwendyk got New Jersey going with a rare power-play goal, only the Devils' third in 37 chances. Hodson, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL, didn't have a chance as a bad bounce off an official's skate behind the net allowed Nieuwendyk to stuff the puck into an open goal.
''It's nice to get one,'' Nieuwendyk said after his first goal of the season. ''I was getting opportunities so it was just a matter of time before one would go in. Hopefully, it will get the ball rolling.''
Elias set up his third goal of the season with a good check on defenseman Cory Sarich. Scott Gomez and Jeff Friesen got the ensuing shots, and Elias put in the second rebound at 15:44.
Guolla made it 3-0 with a backhander in close at 5:34 of the second period. The goal came after New Jersey kept the puck in the Lightning end for about two minutes.
Madden got his third of the season on a semi-breakaway in the final minute of the second period.
Brodeur, who only faced 21 shots, was within 8:31 of his 56th career shutout when Dingman stuffed a puck into the short side after another bad bounce off the end boards.
Madden got his second of the game and fourth of the season on another semi-break with 6:44 to play.
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: 1, New Jersey, Joe Nieuwendyk 1 (power play) (Scott Niedermayer, Oleg Tverdovsky), 9:13. 2, New Jersey, Patrik Elias 3 (Jeff Friesen, Scott Gomez), 15:44.
Second Period: 3, New Jersey, Steve Guolla 1 (Jamie Langenbrunner, John Madden), 5:34. 4, New Jersey, John Madden 3 (Jamie Langenbrunner, Ken Daneyko), 19:05.
Third Period: 5, Tampa Bay, Chris Dingman 2 (Tim Taylor), 11:29. 6, New Jersey, John Madden 4 (Scott Stevens), 13:16. |
First Period: M Danton, NJD (slashing), 7:12; T Stevenson, NJD (major fighting), 13:07; E Boulton, Buf (major fighting), 13:07.
Second Period: C White, Njd (high sticking), 6:08; C Sarich, Tam (obstr hooking), 8:45; B Gionta, Njd (holding), 12:18.
Third Period: C Dingman, Tam (hooking), 3:52; S Brylin, Njd (tripping), 15:52.
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Attendance: 13,080.
Referees: Mark Faucette, Paul Stewart.
Linesmen: Lyle Seitz, Mark Pare.
