.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Jaromir Jagr scored
the tying goal with 1:01 left in regulation, and the New Jersey Devils
ended Anaheim's eight-game home winning streak to open the season with a
4-3 victory over the Ducks on Wednesday night.
Travis Zajac got credit for the winning
goal at 2:58 of overtime, but the Ducks put it in their own net. Ben
Lovejoy hit teammate Corey Perry with the puck while attempting to clear
the crease, and it caromed past Jonas Hiller to end the longest
season-opening home winning streak in Anaheim history.
Ryan Getzlaf scored the tiebreaking
power-play goal, and Nick Bonino had a goal and an assist for the
NHL-leading Ducks, who have lost five straight. Anaheim was the league's
only remaining unbeaten home team.
Martin Brodeur stopped 22 shots for the Devils.
After 41 scoreless minutes for New
Jersey, Jagr tied the game with Martin Brodeur pulled for an extra
attacker. Patrik Elias got the puck behind the net and found Jagr in
front for his 689th NHL goal.
Elias had three assists in the Devils'
opener of a three-game California trip. Marek Zidlicky and Eric Gelinas
scored power-play goals in the first period after an incorrect
high-sticking double minor call against Teemu Selanne.
New Jersey has won four of five.
Matt Beleskey also scored for the Ducks,
still on top of the overall NHL standings despite going 0-3-2 in their
last five. Hiller made 21 saves in just his second start in seven games.
Dustin Penner had two assists for the
Ducks, who stumbled home to friendly Honda Center after a winless
four-game East Coast road trip. They were off to the longest winning
streak to start a season in the franchise's two-decade history.
Anaheim also lost defenseman Francois Beauchemin in the second period to an upper-body injury.
The game brought together three of the
NHL's most accomplished active players. Jagr is the 10th-leading
goal-scorer in NHL history, and Selanne is right behind him with 678
goals. Brodeur is merely the NHL's career leader in games played,
victories and shutouts.
Beleskey put the Ducks ahead in the
first period with his first goal of the season on a slick pass from
Hampus Lindholm, their impressive rookie defenseman. Beleskey returned
earlier this week from a 19-game absence with an upper-body injury.
Moments later, New Jersey capitalized
on a break from a blown call. Devils defenseman Andy Greene was left
with a bloody mouth after a high-stick to the face, and Selanne was
whistled for a double minor -- but a video replay clearly showed
Zidlicky hit his teammate in the face while tussling with Mathieu
Perreault. Selanne's stick was on the ice.
Zidlicky scored in the slot early in
the four-minute power play, and Gelinas put the Devils ahead on a
cross-ice pass from Adam Henrique moments later.
But Anaheim got a two-man advantage
early in the second period, and Bonino evened it with his career-high
sixth goal of the season.
Getzlaf put Anaheim ahead during a
power play late in the period, ripping a vicious slap shot into the top
corner past a screened Brodeur for the Ducks captain's 12th goal of a
stellar season. Getzlaf had his first hat trick in his last home
appearance.
NOTES:
The NHL's competition committee recommended video review of all
high-sticking double minor penalties last spring, but the league
rejected the idea in September. ... New Jersey managed just three shots
in the second period, two of those in the final seconds. Anaheim didn't
get its first shot of the third period until 6:25 remained. ... The
clubs met for the first time since February 2012.
