Predators upend New Jersey

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 20, 2006 | by Associated Press

Martin Erat scored the only goal in the shootout and Chris Mason stopped all three shots to lead the Nashville Predators to a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night in East Rutherford, N.J..

The Predators blew a two-goal lead in the final 2:07 of regulation but still managed to win their fourth straight game. They completed a sweep of the New York-metropolitan area teams this week.

Paul Kariya set up first-period power-play goals by Jason Arnott and Erat and Scott Nichol tallied short-handed in the second for Nashville, which had eight shots on goals over the final two periods and the overtime.

Brian Gionta scored twice, including the tying goal with 11.6 seconds to go in regulation. Scott Gomez had the other goal for the Devils.

Mason finished with 30 saves filling in for Tomas Vokoun. He also stopped Zach Parise, Gionta and Patrik Elias in the shootout.

Erat scored on the Predators' third attempt, snapping a shot over the glove of Scott Clemmensen, who had 15 saves in his first start of the year.

The Devils, who rallied from a three-goal third-period deficit at home earlier this season to beat Toronto 7-6 in a shootout, staged another comeback against the Predators, who beat the Islanders on Monday and the Rangers on Wednesday.

Gomez started it by lifting the rebound of a Gionta shot over Mason's shoulder.

Gionta, who scored all three third-period goals in the win over Toronto, scored his sixth of the season and second of the game from the right faceoff circle with 11.6 seconds to play in regulation.

Kariya's assists were sandwiched around Gionta's first goal.

Arnott was the first beneficiary of Kariya's passing, converting from right in front at 2:10 on the first shot that Clemmensen faced this season.

Mason also was beaten on the Devils' first shot, a power-play goal by Gionta after nice passes by Gomez and Elias.

Erat gave the Predators a 2-1 lead after taking a Kariya pass and scoring from between the circles on a shot that seemed to hit off Devils defenseman Paul Martin.

Nichol deflected a shot by defenseman Ryan Suter after beating Gomez on a faceoff.

KINGS 4, COYOTES 0: At Glendale, Ariz., Michael Cammalleri, Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, and the Kings defeated Phoenix.

The Kings scored all of their goals on the power play and Phoenix was assessed 57 penalty minutes.

PENGUINS 4, ISLANDERS 3, OT: At Uniondale, N.Y., Sergei Gonchar scored Pittsburgh's third power-play goal 3:33 into overtime, and the Penguins used the kid tandem of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to beat the New York Islanders.

THRASHERS 4, CAPITALS 3, SO: At Atlanta, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Marian Hossa each scored in a shootout to lift the Atlanta Thrashers over the Washington Capitals.

LIGHTNING 4, FLYERS 1: At Tampa, Fla., Ryan Craig and Ruslan Fedotenko scored second-period goals and Marc Denis made 34 saves to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers.

BRUINS 3, FLAMES 2: At Boston, Glen Murray scored two goals and the Boston Bruins snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over the Calgary Flames.

AVALANCHE 2, SENATORS 1: At Ottawa, Joe Sakic and Brad Richardson scored second-period goals and Jose Theodore made 26 saves to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a win over the Ottawa Senators.

SHARKS 5, RED WINGS 1: At San Jose, Calif., Patrick Marleau scored two of San Jose's five power-play goals and the Sharks rolled to the best start in franchise history with their sixth victory in seven games.