The New Jersey Devils knew they were missing the services of John Madden, but until tonight, they did not know how much.

Madden scored two goals, the second held up to be the eventual game-winner, as the Devils held off the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, in front of 15,291 at the Prudential Center.

A rather large crowd, considering the New York Giants were simultaneously playing for rights to the Super Bowl against Green Bay in the NFC Championship.  They won that game, which Jeremy kindly recapped for us.  He also discussed the Patriots win, which placed them against the GMEN in the Super Bowl.

The Devils and Maple Leafs skated to a scoreless first period.  New Jersey blasted 14 of the game’s first 17 shots, but failed to score on their lone power play opportunity, extending their power-less streak to four games and 15 man advantages.  Reserve goalie Andrew Raycroft, who started in place of Vesa Toskala, was up to the task, stopping every shot.

In the second period, the Devils continued to test Raycroft, eventually finding the net with under three minutes left in the frame.  Travis Zajac, who scored five goals the entire season before the month of January, tallied his sixth this month and 11th of the season.  As defenseman Karel Rachunek took a shot from the point, Zajac found the rebound in the slot and placed it by Raycroft for his thir d goal in three games.  Zajac became the second Devils skater to score three goals in three games, behind Madden, of course.

Although the Devils led 1-0 with less than a minute left in the second and looked as if they would head into the locker room up one goal, they pressured and caught a break with 13 ticks on the clock.

After a Maple Leafs turnover, John Madden and Brian Gionta skated down the ice, in a 2-on-1 situation.  You may remember that Gionta and Patrik Elias used to play on the same line, but head coach Brent Sutter separated the pair (actually the trio, if you include Dainius Zubrus) in practice for inefficient and inconsistent play.

Raycroft deflected Madden’s feed into his own net before it ever reached Gionta’s stick.  Colin White received his second assist (and point) of the season on the play.

With the second goal, the Devils surpassed the last two games’ totals (2-1 to Florida and 2-1 to Islanders), both losses.

Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who will start in the upcoming 2008 NHL All-Star Game made 13 saves in the second period and the Devils entered the final frame leading 2-0.  Believe this, Brodeur is not even among the league’s highest paid players.

Unlike the game versus Florida, in which the Devils lost their first game of the season when leading after two periods of play, they purchased some insurance this time.

It was necessary.

Less than four minutes into the final period, D Paul Martin took a blast from the point, which deflected off Madden’s blade and into the net, for his second of the night and an important 3-0 lead.  The referees decided to review the play to ensure that Madden did not make a deliberate kicking motion towards the net.

The goal counted.

Then it seemed as though most of the Devils stopped playing and caring about the final 15 minutes.

Huge mistake.

Exactly one minute later, Toronto finally solved Brodeur.  Jiri Tlusty threw a pass towards Darcy Tucker, which deflected off Tucker’s skate and behind Brodeur, putting Toronto on the board at 3-1.

The shots kept coming for the Maple Leafs, who peppered Brodeur with 36, but only managed two goals to show for their efforts.

About four minutes later, Toronto made it a 3-2 game, as blueliner Pavel Kubina scored a VERY weak goal in my opinion.

Kubina spun around the net with the puck, untouched by all five Devils skaters, shot at Brodeur, collected his own rebound and fired it short side to beat a lethargic Brodeur, who nevertheless, earned his league-leading 25th win and lowered his goals against to 2.10, fourth overall.

No Devils defensemen even attempted to stop Kubina, who could have been credited with an assist to himself.

It appeared as though the Devils believed a 3-0 lead was enough and, in this case, it was.  Previously, the Devils were on the opposite end and managed to make some valiant come-from-behind wins this season.

Tonight, they thanked Brodeur and Lord Almighty.

Brodeur stopped 11 of the 13 shots in the final period and 34 on the game.  The Devils managed just five and were outshot 36-32 for the contest.

With the win, the Devils moved back into a first-place tie in the Atlantic Division with the idle and Crosby-less Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers (yes, that's right, Philly is on fire).

The Devils will travel to Philadelphia to face those red-hot Flyers Tuesday night for two big Atlantic Division points.  After a 4-0 loss to them in October, the Devils have beaten their Turnpike rivals four straight times.

New Jersey certainly has had Philadelphia’s number in the past, but it must beat the Rangers and Islanders, who are surprisingly unbeaten versus the Jersey Boys this season.

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