Devils Struggle To Tie Panthers

April 12, 1998 / 10:44 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The New Jersey Devils showed they could play a wide-open game, too.

Known primarily as a defensive team, the Devils salvaged a 5-5 tie with the Florida Panthers on Sunday as rookie Brendan Morrison scored at 12:16 of the third period.

"Before that third period we mentioned in the locker room that it had been a long time since we played a good third period," said Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, who watched his team come back from a two-goal deficit. "We all felt it was necessary that we come back strong and show them we could play."

The Devils, who have clinched the top playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, have only the Presidents' Trophy at stake as they play out the season. New Jersey entered the game tied with Detroit and Dallas with 103 points for the award given to the team with the most points.

The Panthers have been eliminated from the playoffs.

It was a back-and-forth game, with the Devils leading at one point 3-1 only to see Florida grab a 5-3 lead by scoring four straight goals to close out the second period.

As the tempo quickened, so did the tempers. A major melee erupted with 2:42 remaining in the third period when Florida's Dino Ciccarelli upended Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur as he skated behind his net. Devils defensemen Ken Daneyko and Sheldon Souray took exception and Souray squared off against Ciccarelli. As they fell in a heap in front of the Devils' goal, Brodeur joined the fight, throwing several punches.

"I was trying to play the puck and he knocked me over," Brodeur said. "Sheldon took him (Ciccarelli) hard to the ice and he grabbed me with him. We just went down and a lot of guys jumped in."

Meanwhile, Panthers goaltender Kirk McLean skated up to his blue line, but elected not to join the fight.

Although an active participant, Brodeur did not get a penalty, which upset Panthers coach Bryan Murray.

"Brodeur suckers him with the blocker twice and then they tell me Brodeur didn't do anything," he said.

Ciccarelli refused reporters' requests for comment.

The game started calmly enough with the team exchanging power-play goals in the first period.

Robert Svehla opened the scoring for Florida at 8:11 before Scott Stevens tied it at 16:51.

Brian Rolston and Steve Thomas then scored 56 seconds into the second period to open a 3-1 lead for the Devils. Florida, led by two goals from Ray Whitney, scored the next four goals to take a 5-3 lead.

Whitney sparked the rally with his first goal at 1:22 and Ciccarelli tied it at 3:16 with a backhanded deflection of a shot by Ed Jovanovski.

Viktor Kozlov gave Florida the lead with an unassisted goal at 6:51. Whitney closed out the second-period scoring with a power-play goal at 11:10.

Petr Sykora scoreat 1:54 of the third to launch the Devils' comeback and set the stage for Morrison's tying goal.

Morrison scored his fourth goal in five games since a recall from Albany of the American Hockey League on April 2. The rookie wristed a rising shot from the slot past McLean.