| ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NASCAR | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER |
|
|
Tuesday, Jan. 2 7:30pm ET
Brodeur makes one-on-one save in OT | |||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- With so many of the Philadelphia Flyers big-name players sidelined, the New Jersey Devils decided to take most of the night off too. It almost cost them. John Madden took a great backhand pass from Randy McKay and scored with 9:17 left in regulation, giving the Devils a 1-1 tie with the injury-depleted Flyers on Tuesday night. "I don't know what happened," Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said. "I was looking forward to this game. Everybody was looking forward to this game, and the next thing you know we were looking at them play. We couldn't shake it off and in the third we had to take it in our own hands." Daymond Langkow scored for the Flyers, who played without John LeClair (back), Keith Primeau (shoulder) and Rick Tocchet (hand). "We had a solid effort, considering our situation with injuries," Flyers coach Bill Barber said. "This point is very big. You don't know how important it is. It's only game 39 for us, but as you go down the stretch, points are tough to come by." This was a quiet Devils-Flyers game until the third period and the overtime, when things got chippy. Former Rangers player P.J. Stock started the feistiness by getting involved with Devils captain Scott Stevens. It ended with Stevens and Flyers veteran Mark Recchi exchanging swings at the final buzzer. "He took a few swipes at me with his stick and stuff," Stevens said. "If they want to go after our good players, we'll go after theirs." Brodeur had the best save of the overtime, stopping Simon Gagne one-on-one with 2:57 left. Roman Cechmanek, who only faced 10 New Jersey shots through two periods, finished with 21 saves, including three very good ones in the third period after Madden tied it. The tie extended the Devils' unbeaten streak to seven games (5-0-2) and left Philadelphia winless in three (0-2-1), its first slump since Barber took over. The Flyers are unbeaten in three games (1-0-2) against the Devils -- the team that rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat them in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals en route to the Stanley Cup. "We've had some exciting games against them," Flyers defenseman Luke Richardson said. "That's the team we're going to meet at the end if we want to go far in the playoffs. We've got to prove to ourselves, more than anybody else that we can compete and beat any team in our division." McKay had the play of the night in setting up Madden's 14th goal of the season. After Madden was stopped by Cechmanek in front, McKay went behind the net and got the rebound while being hounded the entire time by Richardson. While on his knees and facing away from the goal, McKay backhanded a pass in front that Madden ripped past Cechmanek. "From his knees he threw a behind-the-back pass," Madden said. "It was an unbelievable play." The Flyers spent most of the night dumping the puck into the Devils end and clogging up center ice. "It was like a pingpong match," McKay said. "We'd turn it over and they'd dump it in. We'd turn it over and they'd dump it in. There was no flow going." The strategy led to the Flyers only goal early in the second period when rookie Justin Williams intercepted a backhand pass by defenseman Scott Niedermayer at the blue line. He quickly found Langkow all alone and the center beat Brodeur with a back-hander in close for a 1-0 lead at 4:37. The Flyers had a couple of great chances to pad the lead in the third period. Stock, who was called up from the minors before the game, set up Langkow on a 2-on-1 chance only to see Brodeur make the save. Todd Fedoruk had another chance on a semi-breakaway but his shot in close slithered through the crease. The Flyers also failed to convert on a 24-second two-man advantage that Stock helped set up with his annoying play. Madden had his short-handed breakaway with about 15 minutes left in the period but Cechmanek stacked his pads as Madden cut across the crease and made the save. Game notesLangkow has played in 177 straight games since being acquired by the Flyers. ... The game was Stock's first with the Flyers after being acquired from Montreal on Dec. 7. ... New Jersey came into the game with the NHL's top ranked power play (23.9 percent) but the unit went 0-for-2. The Flyers were 0-for-4. ... The Devils are 6-1-12 in overtime games with the Flyers. ... Veteran Devils C Bobby Holik was benched in the third period. ... Devils assistant coach Slava Fetisov handled the post-game interview because Larry Robinson lost his voice. |
ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Philadelphia Clubhouse New Jersey Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 3 St. Louis 1
Philadelphia 1 AUDIO/VIDEO   John Madden is stopped by Roman Cechmanek on a short-handed breakaway.avi: 514 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | ||