Travis Zajac scored the first of a career-best three goals in one game after just 12 seconds as the New Jersey Devils held on for a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday after nearly blowing a three-goal lead
Zajac opened the barrage against Dan Ellis and netted his second midway through New Jersey’s three-goal first period. He completed his first NHL hat-trick 9 minutes, 37 seconds into the third.
Jaromir Jagr had a goal and three assists for the Devils, while Ryane Clowe added another and two assists. Zajac also had an assist for the New Jersey side, who are hoping a late-season rally can get them into the playoffs with seven games left.
Photo: AFP
Jacob Josefson scored the other Devils goal, while Cory Schneider stopped all 13 Florida shots he faced after replacing Martin Brodeur in the second period when New Jersey’s lead was cut to 4-3.
Dmitry Kulikov, Brad Boyes and Brandon Pirri scored for the Panthers.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Anaheim Ducks staged the biggest comeback in the team’s history as Stephane Robidas scored 16 seconds into overtime to rally from four goals down and beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-4.
Andrew Cogliano and Luca Sbisa assisted on Robidas’ fifth goal of the season, as Anaheim outshot the Jets 25-6 in the third period and outscored them 3-0 to force overtime.
Corey Perry tied it 4-4 with 22.7 seconds remaining in regulation, scoring his 39th goal after Anaheim pulled rookie goalie Frederik Andersen for an extra skater.
Nick Bonino cut the Ducks’ deficit to 4-1 in the second period, while Ryan Getzlaf and Hampus Lindholm scored in the third to set up Perry’s heroics and Andersen (18-5) stopped 32 shots.
The result saw Anaheim remain top of the Pacific Division, three points ahead of San Jose with a game in hand.
Jacob Trouba, Matt Halischuk, Blake Wheeler and Eric Tangradi scored for Winnipeg.
In other NHL action, Ottawa’s Ales Hemsky scored the only goal of the shootout as the Senators edged the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1.
Craig Anderson stopped all three Carolina shooters, including the final attempt from Elias Lindholm, to earn the victory.
Mika Zibanejad scored in regulation for the Senators, while Anderson made 30 saves.
Jeff Skinner had the lone goal for Carolina.
In Los Angeles, Matt Moulson and Mikko Koivu scored 62 seconds apart in the third period, while Zach Parise connected on a power play for the Minnesota Wild to help them rally to a 3-2 victory that ended the Kings’ six-game winning streak.
Ilya Bryzgalov made 18 saves for the Wild, whose victory marked the second time in eight games that Los Angeles have lost in regulation when leading after two periods — something that happened only once in their previous 138 contests.
Alec Martinez and Justin Williams scored for the Kings.
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