TORONTO, Canada- The New Jersey Devils (21-30-4) just may be the Cinderella story of the National Hockey League this season, as they continue their impressive play with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs (23-26-6) in hockey action on Thursday night.
As ‘The Sniper’ Ilya Kovalchuk was able to net the game-winning goal to help the hottest second half team in the National Hockey league earn two more valuable points, and more momentum to that coveted playoff spot. This victory was doubly sweet for the Devils as it was the 600th career victory for Head Coach Jacques Lemaire, who is a huge part of this second half surge.
Amongst some of the other legendary coaches in the 600-club are Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour, Dick Irvin Sr. Pat Quinn and Mike Keenan. There is just something about Lemaire and the Devils that when the two are together magical things tend to happen. This recent run by New Jersey being one of them as the squad is now 11-1-2 in its past 14 games.
It was a come-back thriller for the Devils as they had to come back from a second period goal by Nikolai Kulemin (21), who ripped a 21 foot wrister into the net. Assists went to Phil Kessel (17) and Mikhail Grabovski (20) at the 5:18 mark of that frame.
Dainius Zubrus (11) and the Devils tied the game up at 1-1 at the 3:23 mark of the third period. Zubrus would tip-in a 26 foot shoot, which was assisted by Mark Fayne (4) and Patrik Elias (27) for the first Devils goal of the game.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net, as the horn sounded to send these two squads into overtime. Both squads had golden opportunities but it Kovalchuk (18), who blasted home a 39 foot shot for the hard earned 2-1 overtime victory.
New Jersey keeper Johan Hedberg continued his stellar play, being named the second star of the game. He finished the night with 31 saves. James Reimer was also very solid for Toronto making 37 saves.
The Devils return to Newark, N.J. to host the always tough San Jose Sharks, who are currently the fourth-seed in the Western Conference standings, for a 7:00 p.m. Friday night face-off at the Prudential Center. Contact the writer at: stacy.podelski@prohockeynews.com
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