Madden’s Bank Shot in Overtime Beats Rangers

By LYNN ZINSER

The Devils’ winning goal bounced around like an air hockey puck, traveling its fateful path seemingly on its own. It was nothing anyone would have drawn up, but from center John Madden’s perspective, it was the prettiest shot he could imagine.

Madden shoveled the puck toward the Rangers’ net 6 minutes 1 second into the first overtime Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, the Devils’ fate in this series riding on its back. With no Devils in front to help it, the puck ricocheted off the skate of Rangers defenseman Marc Staal and eluded goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the series-saving goal in the Devils’ 4-3 victory.

“I was watching TV the other night and it came to overtime and someone was saying, ‘Everything at the net’s a good play,’ ” Madden said. “That’s the way I was looking at it — throw it at the net and see what happens. I really got a favorable bounce, to say the least.”

It was followed by a favorable pileup, with Madden at the bottom of a set of thrilled Devils, who averted a 3-0 Rangers lead in this series after having lost the first two games at home. Game 4 will be played at the Garden on Wednesday night.

The Rangers absorbed the flip side of the play, having their chance to grab control of the series snatched away on the strangest of bounces.

“We felt good going into overtime,” Lundqvist said. “They came out hard. It’s just a bad break on the last one that it hit Marc’s skate. There’s nothing he can do and it’s hard for me as well to read that.”

The goal ended a wild game, a far cry from the defensive chess matches that the first two games had been. The Devils, having scored a frustrating grand total of two goals in those two games, came out flying, surprising the Rangers with their new-found tempo.

It produced the first goal in the first period in this series, scored by Devils forward Sergei Brylin 3:01 into the game after the Rangers failed to clear the puck out of their zone on two attempts. At first, the referees waved off the goal, believing Brylin kicked it in with his skate, but a lengthy video review turned it into a goal.

The Rangers tied the score later that period on the first playoff goal from their rookie center Brandon Dubinsky, and they took a 2-1 lead on a 5-on-3 power play on a goal by forward Sean Avery. But then the Rangers endured a disastrous end to the period.

The Devils scored two power-play goals while the Rangers were skating a rut to the penalty box. Eleven penalties were called in the second period, six of them against the Rangers. Patrik Elias and Zach Parise converted on the power play for the Devils.

Parise’s shot hopped over the stick of Rangers forward Brendan Shanahan, sitting on the sprawled Lundqvist’s hip for a second before bouncing over him and in. That gave the Devils a 3-2 lead late in the second period.

“Definitely this time around we got the bounces,” said Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, who spent the first two games explaining why such goals were scored on him. “The last two games the bounces were definitely going the Rangers’ way. This is going to be a confidence booster for us in how to play these guys, just throwing pucks at the net and making Henrik’s job a little harder than we did in New Jersey, and we scored more goals.”

The Rangers charged back with a power-play goal early in the third period — Dubinsky’s second of the game — and the game continued at a frenetic pace all the way to overtime.

“I don’t know if exchanging chances is the way we want to play, but it was one of those things where we could have had another goal or two in the third period,” Dubinsky said. “It was good that we played desperate in the third and tied it up.”

The Rangers had an excellent chance in overtime, but on a long breakaway pass, the unguarded forward Ryan Callahan was called offsides. That was only seconds before Madden’s game-ending play.

Madden actually lost the face-off in the Rangers’ zone to Dubinsky, but forward Jay Pandolfo helped tie up the puck behind the goal line. The puck popped free, and Madden had few good options with it. He took the most favorable one and hoped for the best.

“It was a fortunate bounce, but they did what they needed to do,” Rangers Coach Tom Renney said. “You make your breaks.”

The Devils will take it, any way it bounces.

SLAP SHOTS

The Devils were angry about Rangers forward Sean Avery waving his stick in front of goalie Martin Brodeur to screen him during a 5-on-3 power play in the second period, but Brodeur would not criticize Avery later. “He’s a good player,” Brodeur said.

Source: The New York Times