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BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- In Randy McKay's mind, the
goal-scoring drought was only two games long.
McKay, who had not scored in seven months, and linemate Bobby
Holik each scored two goals Saturday night, leading the New Jersey
Devils to a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
The goals by McKay were his first in 10 regular-season games
dating back to last March. He also failed to score in the Devils'
23 playoff games en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
McKay refused to dwell on past failures, insisting the new
season brought a fresh start.
"I put that all behind me," McKay said. "I don't even think
about it. I joked with the guys before the game that I'm in a
drought, but it's only two games long."
From the Ducks' perspective, McKay picked a bad time to break
out. He and Holik helped revive the Devils' stagnant power play
that produced only one goal in eight chances over the first two
games.
The Devils went 3-for-5 with the man advantage Saturday and left
Mighty Ducks coach Craig Hartsburg unsure why his penalty killing
broke down so badly.
"No, nothing specific," he said. "They got goals on point
shots and we just didn't react very good. We have to keep working
on it."
Devils coach Larry Robinson liked the way his team bounced back
from a stale effort Friday night, a 3-1 loss to the Senators in
Ottawa.
"I was happy with everything except for maybe 15 minutes in the
third period where we just kind of rested a lit bit on our
laurels," he said. "I liked a lot of what we saw."
The Ducks, kicking off a five-game Eastern road trip, got
third-period goals from Ladislav Kohn and Teemu Selanne.
Anaheim was whistled for two penalties in the first period and
the Devils cashed in on both.
McKay opened the scoring at 7:23 with a redirection of Colin
White's point shot. Holik put New Jersey ahead 2-0 with 1:04
remaining with a one-timer from the right faceoff dot that beat Guy
Hebert.
The Devils thoroughly dominated the period, outshooting the
Mighty Ducks 14-3.
In the second, McKay scored again, this time a rare
even-strength goal at 12:21 as the Ducks left him unchecked in
front of their goal.
The Devils made it 3-for-3 on the power play at 16:11 when Holik
got his second goal of the game and third of the season after
Anaheim's penalty killing collapsed in front of Hebert. That was
the last shot he faced as Dominic Roussel came on in relief.
Kohn scored a short-handed breakaway goal at 1:55 to deny Martin
Brodeur a shutout, and Selanne added a power-play goal at 9:00.
"The third period we finally started to care and played with
some passion and some heart," Hartsburg said.
Game notes
The game closed out the first of 19 back-to-back games for
the Devils this season. They lost to the Senators 3-1 in Ottawa on
Friday night. New Jersey went 12-5-1 in the first game and 5-13-1
in the second when playing on consecutive nights last season. ...
Brodeur appeared in his 450th NHL game. Since his rookie season in
1993-94, Brodeur leads all NHL goalies in victories. Brodeur has
244 wins, with Patrick Roy, who played later Saturday night, second
with 221. ... Anaheim defenseman Jason Marshall appeared in his
300th game with the team. ... Devils forward Jay Pandolfo bruised
his shoulder in the second period and did not return.
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NHL Scoreboard
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Montreal 5
Chicago 4
Calgary 2
NY Islanders 0
Ottawa 4
Toronto 0
New Jersey 4
Anaheim 2
Pittsburgh 8
NY Rangers 6
Dallas 3
Washington 0
Nashville 2
Carolina 1
Colorado 3
Columbus 1
Phoenix 6
Philadelphia 3
Vancouver 4
Buffalo 0
San Jose 5
Boston 2
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