The Devils delivered with a man-advantage.
The Thrashers did not.
Travis Zajac’s power-play goal -- New Jersey’s third of the game -- with 42 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Devils a 3-2 victory over the Thrashers on Friday night at Philips Arena.
The Thrashers (28-28-12, 68 points) moved into a 10th-place tie with idle Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings. They are six points behind the New York Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot. Carolina (72 points), which lost at Washington on Friday also is ahead of the Thrashers.
Zajac scored his second goal of the game on a 4-on-3 advantage after Evander Kane was called for tripping. The goal came 24 seconds after the call. To make matters worse, the Thrashers failed to convert on a full two minutes of 4-on-3 advantage in the extra period.
“What do you expect?” Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec asked. “The referee gave us a chance to win the game, and they killed it and we didn’t score. It’s not hard to figure out. The referee is going to look at us. We didn’t play smart enough to win the hockey game.
"It’s unbelievable. You play against those guys, [Ilya Kovalchuk] and Patrick Elias and those guys. They are good on the power play. They are good players. We’ve got to be smarter. Five-on-five we did a good job, but not enough to win the game.”
Kane was called for tripping along the boards, and the Devils were clearing the zone.
“The referee made the call, and that’s it,” Kane said. “We took penalties and it cost us the game. ... I took a penalty late, and that’s on me, and they scored.”
The Thrashers failed to hold two one-goal leads as they could not win a third consecutive game. They have not had a three-game win streak since Nov. 30, when they won the last of six consecutive.
The Devils (31-32-4, 66 points) are right behind the Thrashers, as they won for the 21st time in the past 26 games.
“That’s what it’s going to boil down to in the end,” said Ron Hainsey of the Devils’ power-play goals. “You have to give them marks. The run they are on is no joke. It’s not a fluke. They are playing very well. And they showed us.”
Hainsey said the Thrashers could have been called for a holding penalty before Kane’s tripping call.
Dustin Byfuglien gave the Thrashers a 2-1 lead with 15:08 left in the third period. His one-timer 15 seconds into a power-play was his 20th goal of the season.
The Devils answered on a power-play goal from Kovalchuk at the 7:51 mark to tie the game at 2-2. The former Thrashers franchise player, booed all night, knocked a loose puck past Pavelec, with Tobias Enstrom serving a hooking penalty. Enstrom took the penalty 1:32 after the go-ahead goal.
For Kovalchuk it was his third goal in three games against his former team this season. He now has 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in the past 20 games.
The Thrashers opened the scoring in the second period with Blake Wheeler’s fourth goal as a Thrasher. He now has seven points (four goals, three assists) in nine games. With an assist, Andrew Ladd now has 12 points (nine goals, three assists) in the past 13 games and he scored his 200th career point.
The lead didn’t last long.
Just 29 seconds after the goal, Enstrom, and then Chris Thorburn nine seconds later, were called for high-sticking penalties. With 17 seconds left in the 5-on-3 advantage, Zajac flipped a loose puck past Pavelec for the equalizer.
Etc.
All-Star defenseman Byfuglien returned after missing one game with a lower-body injury. Paul Postma, who made his NHL debut Wednesday, was re-assigned to AHL Chicago. Ladd and Byfuglien, who won the Stanley Cup with Chicago last season, missed the team’s visit to the White House and a meeting with President Obama on Friday.
About the Author
