-- Jamie Langenbrunner's scoring confidence is starting to become contagious.
Langenbrunner scored two more goals Friday night, the second being the 100th of his career, and assisted on another to carry the Devils to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Continental Arena.
For Langenbrunner, who also notched the overtime winner Tuesday against Anaheim, it was his second two-goal game in a row and third of the season. All of his team-high seven goals have come in the past six contests. He has netted the winning goal in each of the Devils' last three victories.
"Things are going in," Langenbrunner said humbly. "I'm getting a lot of chances and when you get a lot of chances, sometimes they go in."
Langenbrunner scored a season-high 23 goals in 1997-98 with Dallas, but hasn't had more than 13 the last two seasons. His teammates can't help noticing how hot he is.
"At times, you think, 'Get to him. He's going to shoot. It's going to go in,'" said Langenbrunner's center, John Madden, who had two assists on the night.
The Devils and Habs meet again tonight at Bell Centre in the second game of the home-and-home set.
Patrik Elias chipped in a goal and two assists and Brian Gionta and Sergei Brylin also scored goals for New Jersey, which improved to 10-4 with its most dominating performance of the season. The Devils, who scored a season-high three times on the power play, ran the scrambling Habs' defense ragged and outshot Montreal, 44-21.
"It was one of our most complete [efforts]," Langenbrunner said. "We came out hard from the start and played well all the way to the end. We've had trouble putting three good periods together, especially at home, and tonight was a big start for us."
The 44 shots were a season-high for the Devils, who would have easily scored a half dozen more goals if not for Canadiens netminder Jeff Hackett, who started in place of Jose Theodore. The Devils have five power-play goals in their last three games after scoring three in their first 11 contests.
"For the first time we can say we played well on the power play," Devils coach Pat Burns said. "We kept it simple and that's the way we get the power-play goal."
Langenbrunner started it by scoring on a five-on-three only 2:54 into the game. Brian Rafalski's slap shot from the top of the right circle went wide right, but banked off the end boards and came out to Langenbrunner at the bottom of the left circle. He fired into the net before Hackett could scramble back into position. That was the first sign that Hackett, who got the start in net in place of the struggling Jose Theodore, was going to have an unlucky night and that Langenbrunner still had a hot hand.
"That's what I mean when you're hot," Madden said. "Things just come to you a lot."
Saku Koivu pulled Montreal even at 11:13 of the first and the Habs were in position to take control when a Ken Daneyko cross-checking penalty gave them a power play 1:30 later. But Langenbrunner seized the moment with a short-handed tally on a two-on-one at 14:11. He ripped a shot over Hackett's left shoulder and under the crossbar.
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: 1, New Jersey, Jamie Langenbrunner 6 (Brian Rafalski, Patrik Elias), 2:54. 2, Montreal, Saku Koivu 5 (Richard Zednik), 11:13. 3, New Jersey, Jamie Langenbrunner 7 (shorthanded) (John Madden), 14:11.
Second Period: 4, New Jersey, Brian Gionta 2 (power play) (Patrik Elias, Brian Rafalski), 3:52. 5, New Jersey, Sergei Brylin 4 (John Madden, Scott Niedermayer), 11:53.
Third Period: 6, New Jersey, Patrik Elias 5 (power play) (Jamie Langenbrunner, Scott Niedermayer), 17:59. |
First Period: M Czerkawski, Mon (tripping), 1:30; S Quintal, Mon (high sticking), 2:13; K Daneyko, Njd (cross checking), 12:43; S Brylin, Njd (roughing), 16:03.
Second Period: C Kilger, Mon (interference), 3:07; S Stevens, Njd (tripping), 15:59.
Third Period: O Tverdovsky, Njd (slashing), 1:03; M Czerkawski, Mon (tripping), 4:29; S Koivu, Mon (high sticking), 11:40; S Niedermayer, Njd (obstruction holding), 13:36; D Gilmour, Mon (interference), 17:31.
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Attendance: 14,002.
Referees: Kevin Pollock, Tim Peel.
Linesmen: Anthony Sericolo, Pat Dapuzzo.
