NEWARK, NJ – After the New Jersey Devils were thrashed 3-0 by the New York Rangers in Game Three, Zack Parise was not around to address the media. When pressed the next day as to why, the normally talkative Parise remarked, “I probably would have said some things I’d regretted. So….I was just upset about how the game went.” What he might have been trying to say is that after game three, he went deep into thought in coming up with a plan to solve the Rangers defense and particularly New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Parise and his teammates succeeded in a 4-1 win that knotted the series 2-2. They were helped with stellar goaltending by Martin Brodeur who needed to steal a game to get the Devils back into the series.
After averaging a goal per game in the first three games of the series, the Devils opened the scoring just over eight minutes into the opening period. David Clarkson fought for the puck behind the New York net and slid it around the boards to Alexei Ponikarovsky. The Russian winger sent the puck further back to the left point where Bryce Salvador fired a slap shot that found the Rangers net.
The goal was Salvador’s third of the playoffs and improved his point total to 10, trailing only Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi who has 11 points. Salvador has continued his strong play for New Jersey and leads the team with a +10 rating in the playoffs.
Just less than four minutes later, an uncharacteristic turnover by the Rangers in the neutral zone led to the Devils extending their lead. Dainius Zubrus disrupted a pass from Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto in the neutral zone and hit a racing Zack Parise as he crossed the New York line. Along the right side as part of an odd-man rush, Parise hit Travis Zajac with a pass and he sent a slap shot past Lundqvist and into the net to make it 2-0 Devils. Lundqvist never had a chance and the Devils were quickly establishing control.
| The second period was even with coincidental penalties to Ilya Kovalchuk for slashing and Ryan Callahan for roughing being the only marks on the scoresheet. The third period helped define the momentum shift in the series. New Jersey, having held tough with the Rangers through two periods and gaining the edge they failed to reach in games one and three, the Devils continued their assault. A little over two minutes into the third period and on the power play, Adam Henrique took the draw to the right of Lundqvist and sent it back to the point for a waiting Ilya Kovalchuk. The Devils leading scorer sent a blast toward the Rangers net that Lundqvist stopped, but the rebound was converted to give New Jersey the 3-0 lead. Just six minutes in, Mike Rupp pressed the forecheck a little too aggressively behind the net and leveled Devils defenseman Peter Harrold drawing a roughing penalty on what seemed to be a legal hit. The surprised Rupp made his way to the penalty box, but not before taking a violent swipe at Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, knocking him back against the cross bar touching off a melee that led to a second roughing penalty for Rupp along with a 10-minute misconduct. Frustration had set in on what New York hoped would be a win and possible series-clinching game five. All skaters paired up around the Devils net in protecting their goalie with New Jersey’s Ryan Carter and New York’s Stu Bickel providing the most robust confrontation. Both received a minor roughing penalty and a ten-minute misconduct. The real confrontation to watch, though, we that between Rangers coach John Tortorella and Devils coach Peter DeBoer. Incensed a penalty was called on Rupp and carrying over the disgust for the Devils dirty tactics in the series, Tortorella began barking at DeBoer and eventually made his way as close as he could get to the Devils bench. DeBoer obliged and after an exchange of venom, Tortorella turned his back on the New Jersey coach to return to his bench. The exchange was a continuation of the testy remarks each has flung at the other through the media and increased the saltyness of this compelling series. While the fourteen minutes in penalties caused Rupp to be done for the night, the Devils were not finished. Although New York’s Ruslan Fedotenko scored with five minutes left, it was too little, too late. Zach Parise scored his second of the game on an empty net goal with 89 second remaining knotting the series at two games a piece. New Jersey was helped by preventing the Rangers from blocking as many shots as they had in the previous three games. The Devils edged the Rangers in this category 13-12. They also limited to disparity in hits to 19-15 which New York greatly exceeded in the previous three games. Game five is set for Madison Square Garden Wednesday night. |
Contact: dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com
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