Devils And Pens Skate To Draw

On a night where he gave up four goals, Martin Brodeur still had Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr shaking their heads in disbelief.

Brodeur made unbelievable pad saves on Jagr and Lemieux within seconds of each other in overtime, allowing the New Jersey Devils to post a 4-4 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

"Stopping the best two players in the world back to back feels pretty good," Brodeur said after the Devils saw their winless streak extended to five games (0-2-3), a run that includes an overtime loss to Pittsburgh.

Petr Sykora, who scored the Devils' first two goals, forced overtime by stealing the puck behind the net and setting up Jason Arnott's game-tying goal with 4:01 left in regulation.

However, everyone was talking about Brodeur's two saves in the first minute of overtime.

Jagr got the first chance to win it, taking a pass from Lemieux to set up a breakaway. Jagr made a couple of moves but the goalie slammed his pad against the right post to stop his shot.

"He made all the saves tonight," said Lemieux, whose 20th goal in 21 games appeared to be the game-winner early in the third period. "I was surprised at how quick he got up and got back into position. I thought I was quick enough to get the far side. He made a great save."

As the puk went back up ice, Jagr, who extended his league-high scoring streak to 16 games, leaned over to Brodeur and said:

"You've got to be kidding," Brodeur recalled.

The game ended with Lemieux and Arnott shoving each other and exchanging words near the Devils' goal.

Jeff Norton, Darius Kasparaitis and Billy Tibbetts also scored for the Penguins against Brodeur, who made 21 saves. Pittsburgh is 13-6-1-1 since Lemieux ended his 3@1/2-year retirement in December.

Sergei Brylin had the Devils' other goal against Rich Parent, who was shaky making 27 saves.

Lemieux gave the Penguins their first lead at 4:34 of the third period, just seconds after Brodeur made a marvelous point-blank save after Jagr took the puck from two defensemen. The rebound rolled through the crease and right back onto Lemieux's stick for a shot into an open net.

Sykora set up Arnott's 11th goal, taking the puck off Norton's stick and centering to Arnott all alone.

Pittsburgh rallied three times from one-goal deficits, but it wasn't the usual suspects who did the scoring.

After Sykora stole the puck from Lemieux and scored a short-handed, breakaway goal at 5:36 of the first, Norton tied it 29 seconds later with a fluttering shot from the left point with the Penguins still on the power play.

It was Norton's first goal in 91 games, dating to April 8, 1999.

The Devils' next two goals both came on bad plays by Parent, who was only making his third start this season.

Sykora gave the Devils a 2-1 lead 58 seconds into the second period, beating Parent with a shot from above that right circle that the goalie simply missed.

Kasparaitis tied it about five minutes later with another fluttering shot from the left point. It was only the defenseman's second goal of the season and it ended a 46-game goal-scoring drought.

Brylin put the Devils ahead 3-2 at 12:22 with a 45-foot shot on which Parent was slow to react.

The lead lasted 67 seconds before Tibbetts, who was convicted of sexual assault in 1994, tied it with his first NHL goal. Jagr, who has seven goals and 24 assists in his streak, got the primary assist with a nice pass that set up Tibbetts in the right circle.

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