Devils edge Edmonton in overtime
EDMONTON – It was a full night for the Devils’ special teams.
They scored a short-handed goal, gave up a powerplay goal, then scored with the man advantage to pull out a 2-1 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night at Rexall Place.
Zach Parise scored the winning goal 1:06 into the extra session.
Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin made a left-shoulder save on Ilya Kovalchuk’s shot from the left point, but Patrik Elias gathered the rebound to Khabibulin’s left and passed in front to Parise, who redirected it in for his 15th goal of the season.
Kovalchuk’s second-period short-handed goal had staked the Devils to a 1-0 lead, but they tempted fate with a parade of penalties. The Oilers finally made them pay for it on their fifth power play of the night with a goal from Ale Hemsky 8:32 into the third period.
With Elias in the penalty box for tripping Ryan Smyth, Oilers defenseman Corey Potter fed Hemsky for a onetime slap shot from the top of the left circle that went through Smyth’s screen in front and beat goaltender Johan Hedberg to the stick side.
Kovalchuk remained hot with a goal and an assist. He has five goals and three assists in the last four games and leads the team with 17 goals.
That was the Devils’ league-leading 11th shorthanded goal of the season, and they have one in each of the last four games.
(The Record/mct)