The Devils last night found a new way to win this season, rediscovering triumph in the realm beyond regulation. Now only four points behind the conference leaders, it reminded these winners of seven straight what these second-chance victories have brought in the past.
“We’ve won division titles because we did well in shootouts,” Martin Brodeur declared after halting all three Thrashers to make Brian Gionta’s shootout goal stand up for the 3-2 triumph in Newark.
In each of the last two seasons, the Devils gained 13 extra points and conceded nine through overtime and shootouts. Those four-point bulges helped them edge the Penguins by two points last season and the Flyers in a point tie the previous year for their sixth and seventh Atlantic crowns.
Yet they hadn’t managed one such extra point this season, losing in overtime to the Islanders and to the Rangers in a shootout, before last night.
“It’s good to get the first one under your belt,” Brodeur said. “Shootouts are all about confidence, feeling good seeing those guys coming at you. Even for shooters, you can’t score and can’t score, it becomes a burden.”
Said Gionta: “You want those points. They come in handy. You’ll notice that we’re four points out of first, and tied for fourth. That extra point is huge.”
Gionta’s goal preserved the Devils’ record of winning each of 10 times they’ve taken leads into the third period this season, although Ilya Kovalchuk erased their edge to force overtime.
Gionta raced full-bore netward to beat Atlanta’s Kari Lehtonen with a backhand for the shootout’s only goal.
“He came way out, so I tried beating him back to the net,” Gionta said.
Then it was left to Brodeur to stop Kovalchuk, the league’s leading goal-scorer and Atlanta’s third shooter.
So the Devils’ streak continues, their longest since winning their final 11 in the 2005-06 season. They were sparked early by Sergei Brylin, who replaced the injured Jay Pandolfo on the vital checking line with John Madden, each ending droughts by scoring in regulation after Atlanta’s Todd White opened the scoring.
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Devils’ Toys for Tots (unwrapped) will be collected Wednesday when Bruins visit Newark. Caps complete Devs’ five-game homestand Friday, when Scott Stevens will be honored for his induction last month to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Mike Rupp was scratched for eighth straight game. Brent Sutter said: “There is a certain way Rupper has to play. He has to provide a big physical presence for us. Unfortunately for him, he’s caught in a situation where we’ve been happy with our forwards and how they’re playing. He’ll get his chance, and when he does, he’ll have to bring that element. It is what it is. That’s reality. That’s his role and he has to play it.”
Rupp sat out a second time last night while Devils used seven defensemen and only 11 forwards . . . Devils beat Thrashers 6-5 Oct. 13 and 3-0 Nov. 23, both in Atlanta . . . Lehtonen’s shutout at Nassau Coliseum Saturday was his first appearance since leaving the lineup with a groin injury Oct. 18.
Yesterday’s 5 p.m. start was the earliest available since Thrashers played at Nassau the night before.