The Vancouver Canucks showed little respect for veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur’s lofty reputation to cool off the red-hot New Jersey Devils with a 5-2 victory on Wednesday.
The Canucks (15-12-0) got their road trip off to a strong start with goals from five different players and put a stop to the Devils’ seven-game home winning streak.
“We did what we wanted to do,” Canucks coach Alain Vigneault told reporters. “We wanted to come out skating and moving the puck, and get as many shots as we could on their net.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Alexandre Burrows, Sami Salo and Daniel Sedin all scored in a six-minute first period span to help Vancouver race to a 3-0 advantage, before Alexander Edler and Jannik Hansen sealed the game with late scores after the Devils had rallied.
In an explosive first period, New Jersey cut into their early three-goal deficit on wrist shots from Niclas Bergfors and Travis Zajac.
Leading scorer Zach Parise had his career-best 11-game point streak snapped for the Devils (17-7-1), who had won three straight games overall coming in.
Brodeur faced 26 shots overall and allowed more than two goals in a game for just the second time in more than a month.
Revitalized this season after missing 50 games a year ago because of an elbow injury, the 37-year-old entered the game with a 2.05 goals against average.
His anticipated matchup against fellow Canadian Roberto Luongo never really materialized, but the steady Vancouver netminder finished with 27 saves.
“I was just disappointed to lose,” Brodeur said. “I could care less about who I was playing. You don’t like to lose certain ways. You’ll take some good losses, but [this] is not a way to be successful.”
BRUINS 4, LIGHTNING 1
Marc Savard celebrated his new seven-year contract extension by scoring his 200th NHL goal and Marco Sturm scored twice in 2 minutes, 33 seconds to lead the Boston Bruins to victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
Tim Thomas stopped 39 shots to give the Bruins their sixth victory in seven games. He made his second straight start since missing six games with an undisclosed injury.
Mark Recchi had three assists, while Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron had two each to help Boston move back into first place in the Northeast Division. Savard has five goals and six assists in his last 11 games.
PANTHERS 6, AVALANCHE 5, SO
In Sunrise, Florida, Stephen Weiss recorded his second NHL hat-trick and scored in the shootout to lift Florida over Colorado.
Nathan Horton and Dominic Moore also had goals for the Panthers, who snapped a five-game losing streak.
Wednesday’s other result:
• Wild 5, Pre dators 4, OT
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