BOSTON – It sounded an alarm, a two-goal lead blown in the third, but last night’s comeback on the East’s leaders drowned that out, resonating to the resilience of these Devils.
“To feel like you belong with the top teams, you have to beat the top teams. This is a step in that direction,” Jamie Langenbrunner said after his second of the game gave the Devils a 4-3 overtime triumph over the Bruins last night.
The Devils have not lost from a two-goal lead in the No Marty Era, and they had to perform some late heroics last night to keep that fact intact – along with their season-best winning streaks, seven games overall and six on the road.
With the Devils leading 2-0 on goals by Langenbrunner and Zach Parise, seemingly ready to put the game to bed in the third, a double fluke at 2:19 in launched the Bruins’ comeback. The lead was gone at 7:11 and Boston took the lead with 6:30 left, before Patrik Elias forced OT with a skate-glance.
By converting Colin White’s rebound at 1:11 into overtime, Langenbrunner sent the Devils back to Newark for tonight’s meeting with the Penguins victorious and three points ahead of the Rangers atop the Atlantic.
They understood their mistakes, and that they can’t afford to squander leads, but the Devils were buoyant after pulling out this victory.
“It’s nice to play your game plan and have everything work out perfectly, but it’s not going to be every night,” said Scott Clemmensen, now 21-9-1 this season. “Against one of the best teams in the league, to come back to tie it and win in OT says a lot about how we handle adversity.”
Even the Bruins were impressed. “We talk about second effort. They’re a third-effort team,” Boston’s Aaron Ward said.
Langenbrunner continued his onslaught of ugly goals, now with four in two games. He opened the scoring when his shorthanded rebound went off the skate of Marc Savard, and off goalie Tim Thomas before going in 15:01 into play.
“In case you haven’t noticed in 13 years of hockey, I’m not a real pretty player,” Langenbrunner said. “It’s when I start thinking I am that I get in trouble.”
That shorthander, with one second left on Brendan Shanahan’s penalty, was the Devils’ seventh this season, tying them for fifth place in the league with the Rangers.
Parise made it 2-0 with a power play goal from behind the net, off Thomas’ arm, the third time the puck came back to him, at 13:39 of the third. Parise’s 29th left him three short of his team-leading total of last season.
Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador actually put in the goal that started the Bruins’ comeback, clearing the puck into the net 2:19 into the third. Clemmensen left the puck behind his cage for Andy Greene, but Chuck Kobasew was first there, only to leave his open left post wrap on the pipe. With Greene jumping on Kobasew, Salvador reached into the tangle in the crease and shot the puck into the net. Clemmensen reached to grab his teammate’s error, but was too late, as confirmed by video review.
Savard tied the game at 7:11, set up at the left side by Phil Kessel, who passed behind the net from the right side, after Milan Lucic freed a rebound off that side of the cage. Savard backed out and slipped his 18th under Clemmensen.
Boston took the lead with 6:30 left in regulation, a second after Mike Rupp’s dubious penalty expired. Then the Devils revived, this team whose only loss from a two-goal lead was a 6-5 shootout to the Leafs Oct. 29. Elias forced OT with 1:45 left when Brian Gionta’s whip to the goalmouth went in off his left skate.
Devils 4 Bruins 3
