Travis Zajac scored late in overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a hard-fought 5-4 victory over the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.
Zajac found the net on a power-play with 45.5 seconds remaining in the extra session to help the Devils register a first win in three and strengthen their Atlantic Division lead.
The goal came after Luke Schenn was penalized for hooking.
Zach Parise fed Zajac in the right circle and he fired a shot past Leafs netminder Vesa Toskala.
Zajac also had three assists, with line mate Parise adding two goals and two assists.
Dainuis Zubrus, who skated on the same productive line, also scored for the Devils.
Rookie Nick Palmieri and Jamie Langenbrunner worked on the second line with Brian Rolston.
“I felt I’d put Jamie with Rolie and maybe it would give us some offense,” Coach Jacques Lemaire Lemaire said.
The Maple Leafs, bottom of the Northeast Division and mired in a five-game losing run, rallied twice from two-goal deficits to force overtime on Matt Stajan’s backhander with 1:31 left in regulation.
After defenseman Carl Gunnarsson’s first NHL goal put Toronto in front, New Jersey scored three consecutive goals, the first two by Parise.
But Toronto battled back, closing to make it 3-2 on Colton Orr’s breakaway at 14:41 of the second. Patrick Davis restored the two-goal advantage before Alexei Ponikarovsky and Stajan each tallied in the last five minutes of regulation to tie the score.
Martin Brodeur had 25 saves for New Jersey, with rookie Jonas Gustavsson and Toskala splitting time in goal for Toronto.
Gustavsson stopped 16 shots but was benched after Zubrus’s goal gave New Jersey a 3-1 lead in the second. Toskala had 10 stops.
In other NHL action, it was:
● Capitals 4, Panthers 1
● Stars 3, Avalanche 2
● Sabres 2, Bruins 1
● Red Wings 4, Predators 2
● Ducks 2, Lightning 1, SO
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