Patrik Elias leads New Jersey Devils to victory against Florida Panthers, 5-2, -- NHL Update
Patrik Elias heroics and a late attacking outburst by New Jersey Devils to score three goals in the third period helped them in defeating Florida Panthers, 5-2, on Friday, January 6, 2012 at the Prudential Center.
It could not be a more memorable day for Elias, who was playing 1,000th game of his career. He scored a goal to give an edge to his team in the second period, and later had two assists to once again put the Devils in charge of the game.
Elias was delighted to achieve the milestone and his jubilation doubled on playing a crucial role in a much-needed victory, snapping Devils’ two-game losing streak.
"The last two games were up and down for us and we really needed this one to bounce back. I was fortunate to make the play to give us the lead in the third. It's a nice achievement to have and I'll take the way we won tonight. I hopefully have a few more
years left in me to play more games," he said.
The Devils got an early lead in the game when Zach Parise assisted Adam Henrique who scored his 11th goal of the season. The lead was, however, nullified by the Panthers in the same period when Marcel Goc and Tomas Kopecky set up Mikael Samuelsson
who scored the equaliser.
With only 36 seconds into the second period, the Devils put their noses in front again. Henrik Tallinder and Mark Fayne assisted Elias who scored his 14th goal of the season.
Around two minutes later, the Panthers once again hit back, thanks to Michal Repik and Brian Campbell, who assisted Krys Barch.
For more than half part of the final period, both the teams tried to make scoring move, but to no avail.
The Devils finally got the breakthrough at 11:40, when Elias and Matt Taormina assisted Ilya Kovalchuk for his 13th goal of the season.
Kovalchuk scored another goal at the end of the period to take the score to 4-2. The move was assisted by Bryce Salvador and Adam Henrique.
Twenty seconds later, Elias and Dainius Zubrus set up Zach Parise who ensured happy ending for the Devils with final score 5-2.
The Panther competed hard throughout the game, but surrendered during the last 10 minutes.
Panthers’ defenseman, Mike Weaver, regretted that the team received a defeat despite playing well.
"They're a really good team," he said. "I thought we played good, but we had to play great to put them away. Every point is so vital now. We can't be giving games away like that in the third period."
It was second straight defeat for the Panthers, who are leading the Southeast Division. They are now going to face Northwest division leaders, Vancouver Canucks, on Monday, January 9.
The Devils will take on Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, January 7.
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