-- Messier scored on a backhander in close with 3:35 left in regulation to give the Rangers a 4-4 tie with the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
The goal was Messier's team-leading 10th in 22 games after scoring seven in 41 injury-hampered games last season.
"It's a miracle what he's doing at 41,'' Rangers forward Pavel Bure said. "It's not just the goals. It's the skating. Not too many people can do what he's doing.''
Rangers coach Bryan Trottier said that Messier is doing a great job of being in the right place at the right time. The game-tying goal was a perfect example.
Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer shoved Mikeal Samuelsson into the back of the net, causing it to come off the ice -- knocking Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur off balance.
Matthew Barnaby then sent a pass to Messier on the other side, and his shot hit off Brodeur before the goalie could regain his balance.
"I think it just disturbed everybody when the net went up,'' Brodeur said. "I leaned on it to get it back. I kind of lost the puck and that's how they scored.''
Messier said the Rangers were lucky the net came back down in time or else the goal would have been disallowed.
"I played 40 games last year, but in 20 of them I couldn't lift my arm over my head,'' Messier said. "Obviously being healthy makes a big difference.''
Tom Poti, Petr Nedved and Radek Dvorak scored for the Rangers, who took advantage of a rare bad game by Brodeur, who faced only 27 shots, including all five in overtime.
"You have to give our team credit,'' Brodeur said. "When your goalie doesn't make the saves he should make and you still come up with a tie, you really have to be pleased with the effort they made.''
Sergei Brylin, Jeff Friesen, Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta scored for the Devils, who rallied from a 3-2 deficit at the start of the third period and took the lead by taking advantage of mistakes by Eric Lindros and Bure.
Brylin gave the Devils a 4-3 lead with a goal at 11:04. He stole the puck from Bure in the Rangers' zone and eventually took a return pass from John Madden in front, easily beating goaltender Dan Blackburn, who faced 35 shots.
Friesen tied it with a power-play goal at 5:12. Scott Gomez made a nice pass to set it up, but Lindros also contributed by being called for tripping at 3:40 with New York on a power play.
Despite being outshot 23-11 in the first two periods, the Rangers led 3-2. Nedved and Dvorak took turns setting up each other for goals in the second period to give New York the lead.
Nedved, who has points in five of six games, gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead 7:45 into the period with a wrist shot that deflected off the leg of Devils defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky.
Gomez set up Elias at 14:50 to tie it at 2.
Dvorak put New York ahead with a shot through a screen 15 seconds after a Rangers' power play ended.
New Jersey grabbed the lead when Gionta put the rebound of a shot by Elias past Blackburn at 4:06 of the first period. Poti tied it a little less than four minutes later with four skaters apiece.
Trottier returned behind the bench after missing New York's overtime victory Tuesday night against Anaheim because of a bad back.
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: 1, New Jersey, Brian Gionta 3 (Patrik Elias, Scott Niedermayer), 4:06. 2, Ny Rangers, Tom Poti 2 (Pavel Bure), 7:55.
Second Period: 3, Ny Rangers, Petr Nedved 8 (Radek Dvorak), 7:43. 4, New Jersey, Patrik Elias 6 (Scott Gomez), 14:50. 5, Ny Rangers, Radek Dvorak 3 (Petr Nedved, Darius Kasparaitis), 17:51.
Third Period: 6, New Jersey, Jeff Friesen 4 (power play) (Scott Gomez, Joe Nieuwendyk)5:12. 7, New Jersey, Sergei Brylin 5 (John Madden, Turner Stevenson),11:04. 8, Ny Rangers, Mark Messier 10 (Matthew Barnaby, Darius Kasparaitis),16:25.
Overtime: None. |
First Period: M Danton, Njd (major fighting), 5:15; M Barnaby, Nyr (major fighting), 5:15; E Lindros, Nyr (tripping), 7:04; C Berglund, Njd (diving), 7:04; D Purinton, Nyr (cross checking), 15:52; M Danton, Njd (charging), 19:52.
Second Period: R Petrovicky, Nyr (roughing), 10:48; S Gomez, Njd (roughing), 10:48; O Tverdovsky, Njd (closing hand on puck), 15:36.
Third Period: M Samuelsson, Nyr (roughing), 2:07; M Danton, Njd (roughing), 2:07; S Gomez, Njd (hooking), 2:54; E Lindros, Nyr (tripping), 3:40.
Overtime: None |
Attendance: 17,890.
Referees: Brad Meier, Dan Marouelli.
Linesmen: Pat Dapuzzo, Tim Nowak.
