Devils 7, Flyers 3 (F)
With a goal and an assist, Jamie Langenbrunner was one of six Devils with multipoint efforts on Tuesday night.


newjerseydevils.com (Jan. 22) – Say goodbye to that ugly 0-for-15 skid on the power play.

Say hello to a five-game winning streak against the Philadelphia Flyers.

After going scoreless with the man advantage in their recent three-game homestand, the Devils erupted for five power-play goals in a 7-3 drubbing of the Flyers at Wachovia Center on Tuesday night.

Patrik Elias and Zach Parise each scored twice for the Devils, who also got a goal and three assists from Johnny Oduya.

Oduya's first career multipoint game propelled the Devils back into first place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of idle Pittsburgh. New Jersey trails Ottawa by five points for the Eastern Conference top spot.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT: Oduya finished with four power-play points (1PPG-3PPA).

The Devils (28-17-3) posted back-to-back wins with their fifth straight victory against the formerly red-hot Flyers. New Jersey has taken 15 of its last 17 meetings against Philadelphia, and now returns to Newark, where it will play 13 of its next 17 games beginning Thursday night against Montreal.

Martin Brodeur made 24 saves for his 26th victory of the season, and 520th of his career. The Devils' netminder trails Patrick Roy by 31 for the NHL's all-time wins record.

Brodeur's seventh straight start also secured his fifth straight win over Philadelphia. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner has held the Flyers to two goals or less in four of six meetings this season, including a shutout on Jan. 4.

Tuesday's contest was a key matchup for the Devils.

New Jersey had finished 1-2 on its recent homestand and had failed to score a power-play goal in 13 opportunities. Philadelphia, meanwhile, had won four in a row and suffered just one regulation loss in its last 13 games.

The teams went back and forth in the first period beginning with Daniel Briere's 20th of the season. Briere's power-play redirection of Mike Richards' shot from the right point made it 1-0 at 2:53.

The Devils answered quickly.

Oduya's blast from the left point at 6:10 gave him his second on the season from Paul Martin and Travis Zajac, and finally ended the Devils' dry spell on the power-play.

After Mike Knuble beat Brodeur from the top of the right circle to restore the Flyers' lead, the Devils buried power-play goals from Jamie Langenbrunner and Dainius Zubrus for a 3-2 edge after 20 minutes.

Langenbrunner's seventh of the season evened the score at 2, after the Devils' captain took the puck off the stick of Kimmo Timonen to put a shot through traffic and into the Flyers' net at 14:19.

Zubrus gave the Devils the lead for good at 17:44 when he accepted an Elias pass from behind the Flyers' goal line and whipped a wrist shot through Antero Niittymaki from the left circle for his eighth of the season.

The score was still 3-2 when Elias struck to make it a two-goal margin on a New Jersey power play midway through the second.

Oduya rushed the puck on a full head of steam from his own zone and carried down the right side, deep into Flyers territory. The sophomore blueliner dropped a backhand pass for Elias that the three-time 30-goal scorer deftly wrapped around Nittymaki's right pad.

Parise broke a nine-game scoring drought with his team-leading 17th and 18th goals of the season.

Parise's first of the night off of an Oduya rebound on the power play made it 5-2 at 14:33 of the second period, and chased Nittymaki from the Flyers' net. Martin Biron took over, stopping 14 shots in the remaining 25:27 of regulation.

Niittymaki, who is 0-2 in four appearances against the Devils this season, saw his winless streak against New Jersey extended to eight games (0-5-3).

Jeff Carter scored Philadelphia's third goal with eight seconds to go before the second intermission.

With Biron in net, the Devils delivered the knockout punch with a pair of goals 89 seconds into the third period.

Zajac grabbed his third assist of the game on Parise's second goal 32 seconds into the third period, and now has 11 points in the last 10 games (6g-5a).

Elias added his 12th of the season from David Clarkson at 1:29.

The Devils next face the Flyers on Friday, March 28 at Prudential Center, before closing out the season series on April 4 in Philadelphia.

Gallery

NJD NOTES
Sheldon Brookbank and Andy Greene were scratched... Jay Pandolfo (groin) remained sidelined. Cam Janssen (shoulder) has been placed on the long term injury list, retroactively, and was assigned to Lowell (AHL) for conditioning purposes.

ETC...
The rough-and-tumble first period featured a pair of fights with five minutes remaining. Mike Rupp met up with Riley Cote at 14:37, followed by Clarkson getting together with Steve Downie at 16:25... New Jersey allowed two goals on the man advantage, but shut down 1:17 of a Philadelphia 5-on-3 late in the first period... Elias' second-period goal gave him 600 career points.