The New Jersey Devils scored twice in the final 44 seconds to overcome the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Friday.
Toronto, the bottom team in the Northeast Division, seemed to be cruising to victory when leading 3-1 late in the third period but New Jersey hit back with three goals in just over three minutes.
Jay Pandolfo struck the winner with 19 seconds left after Travis Zajac’s power-play goal had leveled the game via an assist from newly acquired Ilya Kovalchuk.
PHOTO: AFP
“Jamie [Langenbrunner] made a great play in the zone to keep it in and made a nice pass to back to Motts [Mike Mottau] and I went to the net and got the rebound,” Pandolfo told reporters.
Dean McAmmond sparked the Atlantic Division leaders’ comeback, scoring with 3:04 to play, then teaming with Kovalchuk to assist Zajac’s goal.
“It [Zajac’s tying score] was obviously a huge goal, but Dean’s goal was even bigger because it gave us life on the bench and three minutes were still remaining,” Pandolfo said.
The high-scoring Kovalchuk, traded to New Jersey by the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday, also assisted on the Devils’ first goal by Dainius Zubrus in the opening period.
“I’m very excited,” the Russian said. “I took a bad penalty [for interference] that led to their second goal so to make a comeback like that was great.”
Kovalchuk’s impressive debut was welcomed by his Devils teammates.
“You’re trying so hard to get the puck to a new team mate, especially someone like Ilya, because he’s so fun to watch,” Pandolfo said.
Tomas Kaberle, Lee Stempniak and Rickard Wallin all scored in a 13-minute spree in the second period for Toronto, who were bidding for their second upset win over New Jersey in three days after they blanked the Devils 3-0 at home on Tuesday.
“I think it was our toughest loss,” Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson said. “We lose a game that we were controlling the whole time. It was a complete turnaround late in the game and it’s tough because you really want to win and get the points.”
Gustavsson made 24 saves for Toronto with opposite number Martin Brodeur making 17 for the Devils.
“I think the emotion we had was something we haven’t shown in a little while so to come back and win it was great,” Brodeur said. “It was a tough game because there were high expectations [with Kovalchuk playing] and people were looking at Kovy all night. We were looking at him too. It’s just nice to pull it off at the end.”
COYOTES 2, BLACKHAWKS 1
The Phoenix Coyotes brought up their longest NHL winning streak for three years, beating the high-flying Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 after a penalty shootout on Friday.
Robert Lang and defenseman Adrian Aucoin scored in the shootout to give Phoenix its season-high sixth straight victory — their best run since 2006 to 2007 — and outright third place in the Western Conference standings.
Phoenix backup goalie Jason LaBarbera made 28 saves to the end of overtime, then stopped two of three Blackhawks in the shootout.
Radim Vrbata scored late in the second period for the Coyotes.
Colin Fraser netted for the Central Division-leading Blackhawks, who have lost three straight for the first time this season.
CAPITALS 5, THRASHERS 2
In Washington, the hosts kept up their hot streak, notching their 13th consecutive win by downing the Atlanta Thrashers.
The last time a team had a longer streak was when Pittsburgh set the league record with 17 in a row in 1992 to 1993.
Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 39th goal and had an assist, while Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Jason Chimera and Mike Green also netted for the Capitals.
The Thrashers, playing a day after trading star Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey, got goals from Tobias Enstrom and Rich Peverley.
The Capitals also matched the franchise record of 10 consecutive home victories in a half-empty Verizon Center.
The game was announced as a sellout, but many fans stayed home as a snowstorm hit the nation’s capital, threatening to drop more than 60cm of snow.
In other NHL action, it was:
• Flames 2, Panthers 1
• Hurricanes 4, Sabres 3
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was