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BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The Nashville Predators believe the
worst of their growing pains are behind them. They needed no more
proof than a gritty victory over the Stanley Cup champion New
Jersey Devils.
|  | | Nashville's Ville Peltonen, rear, celebrates after Tom Fitzgerald, not shown, scores on Martin Brodeur with 16.7 seconds left. |
The third-year team pulled out a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night
when Tom Fitzgerald scored with 16.7 seconds remaining in the third
period. The Devils, trailing 3-1 late in the third period, stormed
back to tie it on goals by Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Rafalski 26
seconds apart.
Rather than crumble in the face of the Devils' onslaught, the
Predators regained their composure and Fitzgerald poked in the
winner in a goal-mouth scramble in the waning seconds.
"In the past we've lost these games," Fitzgerald said. "We
seem to be a lot more poised on the bench. We said we had been
playing well, just keep it going. We were going to go down
fighting."
Barry Trotz, the Predators' only head coach, can see the younger
players on the team gaining maturity in the pressure situations
with the help of some veteran leaders.
"In the last two years, if it was 3-1 and they scored two, we
would be in full scramble," he said. "We would be scared to
touch the puck.
"This is more of a determined group. I give Scott Walker a lot
of credit along with Tom Fitzgerald and Billy Houlder. Those guys
are very vocal and they really help us on the bench."
One of the few positives for the Devils was that goalie Martin Brodeur
felt no pain after the game.
"It's there but it felt good," Brodeur said of the groin
injury sustained Thursday night in the Devils' 5-3 loss to Toronto.
The five-time All-Star returned to practice Monday and
pronounced himself ready for action. He picked a poor night to
return.
"This wasn't something real pretty to see," Brodeur said.
Not when it ended with Fitzgerald poking the puck past Brodeur's
lunging glove-save attempt in the midst of a goal-mouth scramble.
Cliff Ronning, David Legwand and Scott Walker also scored for
Nashville, which ended a two-game winless streak.
Steve Kelly, Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Rafalski scored for New
Jersey, which lost its third straight and extended its winless
streak to four.
Ronning beat Brodeur at 5:04 of the first period to stake
Nashville to a 1-0 lead. Ronning took a pass from Legwand in the
left corner and delayed pulling the trigger long enough to secure a
clear shooting lane.
Kelly pulled the Devils even at 6:10 as he bulled his way
through a check down the left wing to flip a the puck over Thomas
Vokoun.
Legwand and Walker scored in the third to put Nashville up 3-1.
The Legwand goal at 6:14 followed a glaring giveaway by Rafalski.
Many in the crowd of 15,978 headed for the exits when Walker scored
at 13:14.
Those who left early missed the down-to-wire excitement.
Nemchinov scored a tide-turning goal on a setup from Bobby Holik
at 13:48 to set the stage for Rafalski to make amends 26 seconds
later.
With the Devils on the power play, Rafalski took a pass at the
point from Patrik Elias and cut to the net to beat Vokoun from the
bottom of the left circle and pull New Jersey even at 3-3.
It appeared the Devils would escape with the tie until
Fitzgerald decided the contest in the waning seconds.
Game notes
Devils RW Petr Sykora, who did not practice Monday, sat out
with a groin injury. ... New Jersey next plays a rare set of
consecutive home games against Pittsburgh on Friday and Buffalo on
Saturday. ... Devils C Steve Kelly played in his 100th game.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Nashville Clubhouse
New Jersey Clubhouse
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 5
Philadelphia 2
Montreal 4
Florida 2
Nashville 4
New Jersey 3
Toronto 5
Carolina 0
Calgary 1
Minnesota 0
San Jose 3
Chicago 2
Detroit 4
Phoenix 2
Vancouver 7
Anaheim 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Steve Kelly carries the puck in for the goal.
avi: 535 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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