Devils Rally Past Mighty Ducks

All-Star goalie Martin Brodeur outlasted Anaheim backup goalie Dominik Roussel in a game that was determined by who surrendered the fewest ugly goals.

"We'll take them -- but I don't think they got a lot of pretty goals, either," Devils coach Robbie Ftorek said after New Jersey's 4-3 victory Wednesday night. "I'd say every shot on net is a tough shot for a goaltender to save. Tonight, some of the ones that everybody thought the goalies should have had, they didn't get."

Lyle Odelein set up the go-ahead goal by Vadim Sharifijanov with 11:20 remaining for one of his three assists. Scott Stevens, Petr Sykora and Jason Arnott capitalized on sloppy work by Roussel to end a string of three consecutive losses at Anaheim Arena.

Roussel made his eighth start of the season in place of Guy Hebert, who didn't play because of stomach flu.

"I tried to stay strong and tried to focus and battle as much as I could, but I didn't do well," Roussel said. "If I had stopped that first one, maybe the game would have been different for me -- and so would the outcome."

Stevens tied it at 1 at 1:15 of the second period when Roussel failed to glove the defenseman's routine 45-foot slap shot from just inside the blue line after Stevens rushed the puck into the zone.

"You've just got to shoot it on net, because you never know in this game," Stevens said. "It was nice to break the ice and get going."

But Brodeur -- who traded shutouts with Hebert during the two-game season series last season -- gave the goal back just 39 seconds later when Steve Rucchin beat him with a wraparound.

TeemSelanne's 300th NHL assist set up Rucchin's 14th goal, the 54th scored by the Ducks' No. 1 line. The rest of the team has combined for 56 goals.

Paul Kariya, the third member of that high-scoring trio, increased his league-leading point total to 60 with an unassisted goal and an assist. Ted Drury added his first goal of the season to tie it 3 with 13:55 left in the game.

The Devils pulled even at 2 on Sykora's 13th goal at 13:27 of the second period. He scored when his intended centering pass into the crease for Bobby Holik banked in off Roussel.

Arnott, one of a dozen New Jersey players who have been battling the flu in recent days, returned from a two-game absence and put the Devils ahead 3-2 at 3:16 of the third. He got his 10th goal on a soft but rising shot from the left circle that glanced off the pocket of Roussel's glove.

"That line is key for us," Stevens said. "I mean, we have Bobby Holik's line, which is pretty consistent, but we need that line with Arnott and Sykora to be consistent, too. And if we can keep them going and have two good scoring lines, we'll be in good shape."

Drury tied it with a bank shot off Brodeur from the left of the net, but Sharifijanov converted Odelein's pass at the edge of the crease for his seventh goal.

"My last assist was a good one, but I was lucky with the first two," Odelein said. "But the main thing is that we got the win. We haven't been scoring that much, so we had to get the puck to the net. We got a few lucky goals tonight that bounced out way. But when you work hard, good things happen."

Kariya, ending a streak of five consecutive games in which defenseman Fredrik Olausson had scored Anaheim's first or only goal, connected at 3:05 of the first period for his 19th of the season and fourth goal in five career games against the Devils.

The three-time All-Star picked up a loose puck in the Ducks' zone, put on a burst of speed down the left wing and was forced wide by Odelein, before taking a 20-foot wrist shot from a sharp angle that caught the far side of the net under Brodeur's glove.

"The first goal I gave up was probably a little shaky, but the game is played a certain way," Brodeur said. "We got some lucky breaks, too, but the bottom line is that we won the game."

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