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NEW YORK (AP) -- Scott Gomez was so excited to play a game at
Madison Square Garden, his parents came from Alaska to see it.
|  | | Devils teammates congratulate Scott Gomez after he scored the first of his three goals against the Rangers |
The New Jersey rookie made his folks proud with his first hat
trick Sunday in the Devils' 3-3 tie with the New York Rangers.
"My parents were here, my cousins were here and a lot of people
were back home watching," Gomez said after he broke a 15-game goal
drought. "There's something about this place, that the first time
I stepped into it, it was kind of magical I guess you could say."
Theo Fleury, on a line with rookie Mike York and Adam Graves
accounting for all the Rangers goals, scored once and had two
assists for New York, which was outshot 44-24.
"Offensively, they were great," coach John Muckler said. "All
three of them played very well. Theo was feisty, along with Gravy.
It was a great combination."
The Devils remained unbeaten against the Rangers in the
post-Mark Messier era. New Jersey is 11-0-5 in the regular season
against New York since Jan. 12, 1997.
The Rangers eliminated the Devils in five games from the 1997 playoffs.
"We are a totally different team than last year and they're
different from the year before," Rangers goalie Mike Richter said.
"It's good to have this rivalry, but I don't think a lot of these
guys understand that too much, what's going on far back."
Gomez, who has eight career goals, had the first multiple-goal
game of his young career. The Alaska native scored at 10:37 and
13:33 of the first period to give the Devils a 2-0 advantage after
the first 20 minutes.
Gomez leads the Devils with 34 points and is the only rookie to
lead his team in scoring.
"I think he's more of a natural passer than shooter," linemate Claude Lemieux said. "He's shown everybody he's not just playing
games. He's there every night to compete and to learn."
The Rangers tied it with three second-period goals on only 10 shots.
New York closed to 2-1 when Fleury got to a loose puck in front
of the net and, while spinning, beat Martin Brodeur for his ninth
goal at 6:29.
The score came on the Rangers' first shot of the period.
After Gomez completed his hat trick on a breakaway-goal with
5:57 left in the second, restoring the two-goal lead, New York
quickly responded.
Graves scored his 11th goal just 68 seconds later when he skated
out from behind the New Jersey net and wristed a shot past Brodeur.
Mathieu Schneider got the tying goal, 1:40 after Graves' tally,
when he fired a pass from York past Brodeur for his fifth of the
season.
"We made a lot of mistakes," Brodeur said. "All of the goals
came on turnovers. Lately the second period has been real tough for
us."
York, Gomez's roommate on the U.S. national junior team,
assisted on all three Rangers goals. Late in the third, the two got
into a scuffle that led to coincidental roughing minors.
"I play hard against everybody, it doesn't matter who it is,"
York said.
Gomez wasn't about to let up either.
"It was the heat of the moment," Gomez said. "Yorkie's a good
player and we kind of looked at each other and sort of said 'What's
going on?' "
The speedy Devils gained a 2-0 first-period lead by outworking
the sluggish Rangers and forcing New York into numerous turnovers.
New Jersey made it 1-0 when Lemieux forced a turnover in the New
York zone and found Gomez alone at the side of the net for a
tip-in.
Only 1:56 later, Sergei Nemchinov, who had two assists, passed
the puck to Lemieux who quickly moved it to Gomez in the slot.
Gomez's shot deflected off Richter's glove and into the net.
An apparent New Jersey goal by Petr Sykora was disallowed, with
9:31 left in the second, when Jason Arnott interfered with Richter
in the crease.
The Devils outshot the Rangers 12-6 in the first period.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
New Jersey Clubhouse
NY Rangers Clubhouse
RECAPS
New Jersey 3
NY Rangers 3
Anaheim 1
San Jose 0
Carolina 4
Florida 3
Atlanta 6
Tampa Bay 3
Pittsburgh 4
Chicago 2
Nashville 3
St. Louis 2
Calgary 2
Vancouver 0
Phoenix 3
Los Angeles 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Scott Gomez records his first career hat trick.
avi: 667 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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