Steve Thomas put in Samuel Pahlsson's rebound 39 seconds into overtime Monday, giving the Anaheim Mighty Ducks a dramatic 1-0 victory over New Jersey and evening the Stanley Cup finals at two games each.
The Devils, once firmly in control after two easy victories at home but now locked in a tied series, lost both games in Anaheim in overtime. Ruslan Salei got the game-winner in Game 3 Saturday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The goal by the 39-year-old Thomas, a late-season pickup by the Ducks, made Anaheim 7-0 in playoff overtimes. The Devils are 2-4. Of Anaheim's 14 playoff victories, 10 have come in overtime or the final five minutes of the third period.
"They're a hot team in overtime; they're a confident team in overtime, and we tried to change that invincible thing for them," Devils coach Pat Burns said. "We missed a chance to win it [by Jeff Friesen], and the game could have been over before he [Thomas] scored. That's often the way it happens. You miss a chance and the [other] team comes back and haunts you."
Thomas's goal came after Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, losing his personal duel with the Ducks' Jean-Sebastien Giguere, initially stopped Pahlsson's shot to the left of the net. But the puck deflected out to the left circle, where Thomas cleanly put it past Brodeur.
"I thought their D-man was going to get to it," Thomas said. "I just went to the net, and it came right to me and I shot it ... When you have an opportunity to score an overtime goal like that, that's the ultimate."
Anaheim, guaranteeing that the finals will come back to the Pond for Game 6 on Saturday, now have matched the Canadiens' record of 12 one-goal playoffs wins in 1993.
"It's a lot different going back to Jersey 2-2 instead of 3-1" Thomas said. "We knew after those two games in Jersey we were a lot better team than we showed. We decided it was time to turn up our game. It was a little bit embarrassing to play the way we played in the first two games."
Giguere extended his record playoff overtime shutout streak to 168 minutes, 27 seconds, though he needed to make only one save in the overtime.
He stopped all 26 New Jersey shots, including a succession of good attempts during a scoreless but riveting second period.
Giguere also challenged the Ducks to play with more emotion and commitment after the two losses, and they've followed his lead.
"Jiggy showed he's a great leader," Thomas said.
Giguere said: "We gave them too much respect, and we needed to go out there and play our game, do what we've done all year. [As a result] there is a hell of a lot of difference on the ice."
Brodeur, who shut out the Ducks in the first two games, turned aside 25 of 26 shots, but again he couldn't stop the winner. He agreed the series has changed dramatically as it returns to the New Jersey swamp for Game 5 Thursday.
"They feel pretty good about themselves, and on the other side, we just blew a 2-0 lead," he said. "So it's kind of hard to bring any kind of momentum into Game 5. But we'll regroup ... It's really important for us to have that confidence that we're going to be hard to beat in our building, because they didn't play well in those games."
This is the first time since the 1978 finals that the home team has won each of the first four games. Montreal won the first two and Boston won the next two that season. The Canadiens won the series in six games.
Anaheim is 10-0 when it scores first in a playoff game.
Brodeur, whose stick-losing gaffe cost the Devils a goal and, eventually, the game in their 3-2 loss Saturday, gave his team another scare in the third period. This time, though, he didn't give the Ducks a goal.
About 4 1/2 minutes into the period, Brodeur stopped Salei's shot, but the puck dropped from his glove and slithered along the goal line before he swatted it away from his stick. Brodeur then smiled, maybe with a twinge of nervousness, knowing he had gotten away with another nearly grievous mistake.
Well before that, the goaltenders' duel predicted before the series began finally broke out in a second period that was scoreless but by far the most action-filled of a predictably low-scoring series.
Giguere, though far less experienced than Brodeur, matched him save for save -- mostly because the forwards were matching each other post for post.
Giguere's best two saves came late in the period, first on Scott Niedermayer's one-timer that deflected off the goalie's stick and, in the final 10 seconds, on John Madden's breakaway Giguere smothered.
Before that, Patrik Elias's shot after a faceoff deflected off the left post before Giguere could react, and Stanislav Chistov and Adam Oates hit opposite posts for the Ducks a few minutes apart.
Giguere also made two key saves on Brian Gionta's shots on the same shift, the first just above the crease and the other from the right circle.
With both coaches sensing this could be the pivotal game in the series, they made tactical changes with their lineups.
Devils coach Pat Burns played forward Mike Rupp for the first time in the playoffs. Rupp hadn't played since a minor league game May 5 and hadn't been in uniform for the Devils since March 28. He replaced Jim McKenzie to provide a set of fresh legs on the fourth line and help on faceoffs.
Ducks coach Mike Babcock also tried forward Paul Kariya on multiple lines, trying to get him away from a tough defensive matchup against Scott Stevens and Madden. Burns also played forwards Jamie Langenbrunner and Sergei Brylin with different linemates in an attempt to generate some offense.
New Jersey's power play, the NHL's worst during the season, again was of no help, going 0-for-3; it's 1-for-12 in the series. Anaheim didn't convert on its only chance.
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