-- Andreychuk became the 14th member of the NHL's 600-goal club by scoring two third-period goal to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
"It kind of blows me away, some of the names that are there,'' Andreychuk said. "Some day I'll be sitting on a boat somewhere and I'll think about it. Right now, it's hard to fathom.''
Andreychuk got his 600th career goal and snapped a 1-1 tie on a power play at 33 seconds of the final period. Like many of his goals, it wasn't pretty. It was a bad angle shot that beat Corey Schwab.
"I kind of ran out of options, Scotty (Stevens) made a good play,'' said Andreychuk, who also scored his 500th goal here against Washington on March 15, 1997, playing for the Devils. "He didn't come to me. I'm looking to pass it to the middle. I just had to throw it on goal as a last resort.''
Schwab, playing for the first time this season as Martin Brodeur took his first night off, got caught looking for the pass. "I just wasn't in the right position,'' said Schwab, who faced 23 shots.
Andreychuk tied Jari Kurri for 13th place among career goal scorers when he got No. 601 on a deflection in front at 2:53.
"Everybody is really pulling for him,'' said Lightning forward Brian Holzinger, who got an assist on the second goal. "We're happy for him to have it and we hope he gets 700.''
The 39-year-old Andreycuk had three great chances to complete a hat trick later in the period, but he was stopped twice by Schwab and he didn't get good wood on the other shot.
Andreychuk's accomplishment overshadowed a great game by Tampa Bay goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who stopped 22 of 23 shots in the first two periods when New Jersey dominated. He finished with 32 saves.
Andre Roy scored the other Lightning goal. Sergei Brylin tallied for New Jersey, which had four great chances to take the lead late in the second period.
Khabibulin stopped Brian Gionta on a pair of 2-on-1 chances, the second a spectacular glove save with 4:31 to go. The goaltender also made saves on Turner Stevenson and Scott Stevens.
Tampa Bay got the break it needed late in the second period when Stevenson showed a lack of discipline after Roy was called for cross-checking Stevens.
Instead of taking the power play, Stevenson went after Roy and picked up an extra four minutes in penalties, which gave the Lightning a power play at 18:57.
The power play carried over into the third period and that's when Andreychuk went to work. He took a pass from Vaclav Prospal, skated down the right wing and put a bad-angle shot past Schwab, who faced 23 shots.
The tally also extended his NHL record for power play goals to 251. Andreychuk took over the lead in that category from Phil Esposito last week. Andreychuk got No. 601 when steered a pass by Vincent Lecavalier past Schwab. Roy tied the game at 1, putting a rebound at 10:10 of the second period for his fourth goal.
Brylin, who was stopped in the opening seconds of the period, converted a Joe Nieuwendyk pass from behind the net.
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: None.
Second Period: 1, New Jersey, Sergei Brylin 6 (Scott Niedermayer, Turner Stevenson), 0:58. 2, Tampa Bay, Andre Roy 4 (Ben Clymer, Dan Boyle), 10:10.
Third Period: 3, Tampa Bay, Dave Andreychuk 7 (power play) (Vaclav Prospal), 0:33. 4, Tampa Bay, Dave Andreychuk 8 (Vincent Lecavalier, Brian Holzinger), 2:53. |
First Period: N Pratt, Tam (holding), 16:59.
Second Period: A Roy, Tam (cross checking, fighting major), 18:57; T Stevenson, Njd (cross checking served by J Mckenzie), 18:57; T Stevenson, Njd (instigator, fighting major, misconduct), 18:57.
Third Period: J Cullimore, Tam (roughing, fighting major), 16:00; C White, Njd (charging, fighting major), 16:00.
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Attendance: 14,636.
Referees: Eric Furlatt, Mark Faucette.
Linesmen: Pat Dapuzzo, Pierre Racicot.
