The Devils needed someone, anyone, to do something, anything, decisive after all the evening's see-sawing, after all their recent losing. The unlikely hero was their Refugee from Lowell goalie, whose gambling shootout pokecheck ended their four-game losing streak.
Scott Clemmensen, who had seen five goals elude him, blanked the Caps in the 1-on-1 duels, including Alexander Ovechkin, and surprised the arena by sticking the puck off Boyd Gordon, making Zach Parise's deke stand up for the 6-5 shootout triumph in Newark last night.
"I'm not very good at poke-checking, especially straight on. It's a little bit of a gamble," Clemmensen said, after providing the Devils their second victory in seven games without Martin Brodeur. "[Gordon] carried the puck in front of him, and that's an indicator that he's going to make a move instead of shooting.
"I decided to go all-in. Aggression works."
The Devils saw four leads disappear last night, the last with only one second left in regulation, when Ovechkin forced OT, with the Caps' net empty. Losing this game would have been devastating to the Devils.
"It was a huge win, with five days until we play again. It would have been pretty tough sitting around if we'd lost," said Jamie Langenbrunner, who scored once but was in the crease while Ovechkin was free to tie the game.
The Devils, who had scored only five goals in their four straight losses, matched that figure in 60 minutes last night - with a third-period goal from Brian Gionta.
Patrik Elias scored twice, for three in two nights, and added an assist, while Travis Zajac notched three assists. Washington's Nicklas Backstrom went 1-4-5, in on each Caps' goal.
David Clarkson put away John Madden's feed for his fourth of the year, third best on the team, to put the Devils in front 1:09 into play. Before the first was over, however, Washington led on Tomas Fleischmann's power-play scorcher, and Ovechkin's deflection over Clemmensen's glove.
The Devils answered with their own pair in the second, Langenbrunner tying the score 41 seconds in, landing on his tail in the slot while firing home Travis Zajac's pass. Elias ended the Devils' four-game, 13-try, power-play drought at 3:27. He was knocked to the ice at the left side, but still able to slide his own loose rebound over the line before Jose Theodore gloved it out.
A curious call led to the Caps' third goal. At center ice, Clarkson deflected a clearing feed out of the rink, and the draw was returned to the Jersey zone. Backstrom and Madden stalemated on the faceoff, but Viktor Kozlov was there to whip his second of the year under Clemmensen at 16:43 of the second.
Elias put the Devils on top again at 6:06 of the third with his seventh, and second of the night, but Backstrom tied the game a fourth time, adding a goal to his previous three assists, when Kozlov shoved Ovechkin's rebound to him at the left side at 8:11.
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