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PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins have won the last five
NHL individual scoring titles, so its nothing new that one of them
has the goal-scoring lead. The surprise is it's not Jaromir Jagr or
Mario Lemieux.
|  | | The Devils' Sergei Brylin puts the first of his two first-period goals past Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who was pulled when the Pens fell behind 3-0. |
Alexei Kovalev scored 18 seconds into overtime for his second
hat trick in as many games and the Penguins rallied from three
goals down to beat the New Jersey Devils 5-4 Saturday.
The Penguins led 4-3 on Kevin Stevens' goal – their third in a
span of 2:33 in the second period – but Scott Stevens tied it with
4:12 left in regulation after Scott Gomez won a faceoff in the
Pittsburgh end.
Kovalev, who scored twice about a minute apart during the
furious Penguins rally in the second period, put a backhander past
Martin Brodeur off Martin Straka's pass from along the right boards
on Pittsburgh's opening rush of overtime.
"I was surprised he was so wide open," Straka said. "I tried
to get it to him because everything he touches is going in."
Kovalev has six goals and two assists in two games since the
All-Star Game, in which he also had a goal. His 33 goals are one
more than Washington's Peter Bondra.
"I'm not sure myself why it's happening," Kovalev said. "It's
going to take a couple of days for me to figure out. It took me
four years to get the second hat trick of my career, and now I have
three in the same year. It's crazy."
Kovalev is the first Penguins player to have consecutive
three-goal games since Lemieux on Oct. 26 and 28, 1995, against the
Islanders and Devils.
The overtime victory was the Penguins' first in nine games. They
had been 0-2-6. They are 12-5-0-1 overall and 9-2 at home since
Lemieux came out of retirement.
Lemieux was limited to an assist and two shots in 19:55 of ice
time, then said he was bothered by a sore back. Lemieux retired in
1997 at age 31, mostly because he was weary of dealing with
frequent bouts of back pain.
"It was like the old days today, I had to have somebody tie my
skates for me," said Lemieux, who said the back started bothering
him in practice Friday. "That was the first time that's happened
(since he came out of retirement in late December)."
However, Lemieux said he felt better after the game.
"I'll make the trip (for Sunday's game at Minnesota) and try to
play," he said.
Sergei Brylin had two goals and Scott McKay also scored as the
Devils opened a 3-0 lead with 12:52 gone. But the Penguins rallied
after killing off a two-man Devils advantage that lasted the final
1:04 of the first period and the first 1:57 of the second period.
New Jersey played without three of its top players, leading
scorer Alexander Mogilny (neck) and defensemen Scott Niedermayer
(knee) and Brian Rafalski (shoulder). Also, forward Jason Arnott
didn't return after being tripped by Josef Beranek midway through
the second period. The Devils didn't disclose his injury.
"The fact we took a 3-0 lead shows you that as much as we need
those players, we can still play on a good level without them,"
Bobby Holik said. "We got it to 3-0 and we started playing right
into their hands."
The Devils started out as if they might duplicate their 9-0
victory in Pittsburgh on Oct. 28 – the worst home loss in Penguins'
history. McKay, who had four goals in the Oct. 28 game, chased
Penguins starting goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin with his 17th
goal, but Rich Parent came on to stop all but one of the 15 shots
he faced.
Parent, called up Friday from Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the AHL
when Garth Snow (groin) went on the injured list, hadn't won since
beating New Jersey on March 17. He is 1-2-0 this season.
"The problem was we had power plays galore and we probably
would have been better off without them," Scott Stevens said. "We
didn't get the fourth goal to put them away."
Down 3-0, the Penguins' comeback began when Jan Hrdina put a
rebound of Beranek's shot from the right corner past Brodeur at
16:28 of the first.
Then, just after the Penguins killed off Straka's high-sticking
penalty, Kovalev got a power play goal at 3:28, then scored again
barely a minute later to make it 3-3. Kovalev had three goals and a
career-high five points Wednesday in a 9-4 victory over
Philadelphia.
Notes: The Devils' league-leading power play was 0-for-6 until Scott Stevens scored. ... New Jersey is 0-8-3-2 when trailing after
two periods. ... The Penguins won Wednesday after blowing a
three-goal lead, then won Saturday by coming from three goals down.
... New Jersey is 15-3-5-3 in its last 26 games and 5-1-2-3 in its
last 11 road games. ... All 18 of Lemieux's games have been
sellouts.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
New Jersey Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Backing up? Lemieux again bothered by old injury
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 5
New Jersey 4
Florida 7
Atlanta 3
Boston 6
Tampa Bay 2
Montreal 5
NY Islanders 3
Buffalo 2
Ottawa 1
Detroit 3
Toronto 3
Columbus 3
Nashville 2
St. Louis 4
Colorado 3
Calgary 4
Vancouver 1
Washington 4
Los Angeles 3
San Jose 3
Chicago 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Alexei Kovalev gets a pretty feed from Jaromir Jagr and puts the wrist shot past Martin Brodeur.
avi: 599 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
New Jersey's Sergei Brylin gets a wide-open shot at the net for the first goal of the game.
avi: 1367 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Pittsburgh's Jan Hrdina puts the rebound past Martin Brodeur.
avi: 1047 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Sergei Brylin puts his second easy goal of the game past Jean-Sebastien Aubin.
avi: 1333 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Alexei Kovalev is working hard to prepare himself for the playoffs and a run at the Stanley Cup.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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