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BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Having the Florida Panthers in town
and John Madden in a short-handed situation turned into a quick fix
for the slumping New Jersey Devils.
Madden scored a short-handed goal with 4:48 left in the third
period and the Devils rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Florida
Panthers on Monday night.
The victory gave the Devils a sweep of the fourth-game season series
with the Panthers and it extended their winning streak over them to
nine game, including the final regular-season game last year and a
sweep in the opening round of the playoffs.
"I don't know what it is against New Jersey," said Panthers
forward Pavel Bure, who pushed his league-leading goals total to 43 by
scoring two more. "We find a way to lose. This has happened four
or five times the last couple of years, where we have the lead and
we find a way to lose."
The Devils won this one by scoring three times in the final
8:45. Patrik Elias tied the game on a goal he said he didn't score.
Madden got the game-winner and Scott Stevens scored into an empty
net with less than a second to go as Florida was handed its fourth
consecutive defeat overall.
"These are always close games, one-goal games, even going back
to the playoffs," Stevens said. "They play well against us, but
we've been coming out on top, which is nice."
Bure's two second-period power-play goals had given the Panthers
a 3-2 lead, and Florida nursed it for more than 11 minutes in the
third period.
Elias tied the score with 8:45 left, getting credit for
deflecting a shot from the blue line by Scott Niedermayer past
Roberto Luongo.
After the game, Elias insisted a Florida player deflected the
puck.
Madden won it with his third short-handed goal of the season. He
intercepted a pass by Greg Adams in center ice and beat Luongo on a
breakaway for his 19th goal of the season.
"It was a bad mistake on my behalf, trying to make something
out of nothing," Adams said. "I don't know who was over there,
but I thought I could get the puck to him. Making a rink-wide pass
in this league is a tough thing to do."
Madden said Bure was on the other side of the ice, and he knew
the pass was headed there.
"I stayed in the middle, and the puck hit off Pando's (Jay
Pandolfo) stick and came right to me," Madden said. "I was lucky
to beat Luongo where I did."
Stevens scored into an empty net with less than a second to play
after taking a gift pass from Elias, who could easily have finished
with a hat trick.
Sergei Nemchinov added the other goal for the Devils, who won
for only the second time in 10 games (2-5-3).
Len Barrie had the Panthers' other goal against Martin Brodeur,
who had 22 saves.
"It hurts when you work so hard for 50 minutes and you still
lose," said Bure, who has 10 goals in his last five games. "We
have to take something good out of this game and move on."
Florida took the lead three times in the game that featured a
lot of up-and-down action, big hits and costly turnovers.
Barrie intercepted an errant backhand pass by Stevens in the
Devils' zone in the opening minutes and beat Brodeur on a breakaway
with a backhander. It ended a 31-game goal-scoring drought.
Nemchinov tied the game a little less than five minutes later,
deflecting a Brian Rafalski on a power play.
Bure scored in close 46 seconds into the second period to put
the Panthers ahead, but Elias tallied on a two-on-one with Alexander
Mogilny 34 seconds later.
Mogilny, who has been sidelined with a pulled stomach muscle,
had two assists in his return to the lineup.
Bure gave Florida the 3-2 lead, sweeping around Stevens on a
rush and stuffing a shot past Brodeur.
Game notes
Nemchinov's power-play goal was only the Devils' sixth in
their last 56 chances. ... Panthers center Rob Niedermayer missed
the game with a concussion sustained last week against Pittsburgh.
... While Mogilny returned to the line, the Devils were still
without centers Jason Arnott (back) and Scott Gomez (back), right
wing Petr Sykora (shoulder) and left wing Sergei Brylin (knee).
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Florida Clubhouse
New Jersey Clubhouse
RECAPS
Ottawa 3
NY Rangers 2
Vancouver 5
Minnesota 2
New Jersey 5
Florida 3
St. Louis 7
San Jose 2
Calgary 3
Dallas 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 John Madden steals the puck and fires it past Roberto Luongo for a goal.
avi: 424 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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