ANAHEIM – The former free agents helped throw their own Welcome Back party, and the Devils celebrated the returns of Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer with something they hadn’t managed all season – a third straight victory.
“We had an emotional lift in general,” Bobby Holik said of last night’s belated reunion of June’s Stanley Cup champions.
Sunday’s signees combined on a third-period goal, initially credited to Niedermayer but claimed by Arnott, and Arnott added another assist as the Devils opened their three-game California trip with a 5-2 victory over the Ducks.
The victory lifted the Devils over .500 at 9-8-3, and on the road at 4-3-2. Winning the opening game of a back-to-back, also for the first time this season, the Devils make their first visit to the Kings’ new arena today.
It was clear early that Niedermayer and Arnott will have to work hard to earn the big contracts that brought them back. Niedermayer led all Devils with 23:44 in ice-time in his first game, and Arnott saw regular duty while turning in a two-point night.
“I’m a little tired. I’ll see how I feel [today],” Niedermayer said. “I felt pretty good, not 100 percent, but it didn’t take too long. You give a hit, and take a hit, and you feel that you haven’t missed too much.”
Arnott played 14:29, ample for a forward and nearly as much as Bobby Holik, who returned the alternate captaincy to Arnott.
“Not too bad,” Arnott said. “I was a little rough around the edges, handling the puck. But as long as I kept my shifts short, I was all right. There were a few times when I was caught out there, though.”
Niedermayer skated with Colin White and his first contribution was being tripped by Teemu Selanne, giving the Devils their first power play which took only six seconds to convert.
Both Arnott and Niedermayer moved right onto the power play, which had fallen from the league lead by being blanked in its previous 14 chances over five games. Holik won the faceoff to Petr Sykora, whose point shot rebounded to the right side for Patrik Elias’ eighth at 5:37. Elias’ goal was his third in four games.
“That warms the feelings a little bit, gets you going. It made me feel part of it right off the bat,” Arnott said.
Selanne answered at 8:09 of the first with his 11th, the fourth shot in a flurry around Martin Brodeur’s crease, with Ken Daneyko and Ken Sutton unable to clear. Selanne’s flip from the front of the crease hopped over Brodeur, sprawled in desperation.
In the second, the big guns missed great chances, while it remained for Jay Pandolfo to put the Devils back in front with his first of the year.
Alexander Mogilny fanned on a backdoor set up, shot a semibreakaway into Guy Hebert’s chest and fell while trying to control another breakaway pass. At the other end, Selanne missed a dangerous feed to the goalmouth off a rush, and Marty McInnis shot another chance into Brodeur’s sprawl.
Pandolfo’s go-ahead goal developed innocently, while the Devils were changing on the fly. Petr Sykora head-manned off the right boards, and Pandolfo darted behind Pavol Trnka to reach the puck in the right circle, immediately hoisting a backhand into the far, top corner, over Hebert’s waffle at 8:42. Arnott notched an assist on that goal.
The Devils took advantage of a left shoulder injury suffered by Hebert when a teammate fell on him. Hebert did not leave the game after a trainer’s visit, but was obviously hurt, holding his glove arm tight to his chest.
After the second faceoff, the Ducks’ bench was ready to replace him, but he remained in the net. The next faceoff came at the center dot, after Scott Gomez gave the Devils a 3-1 lead, wristing his fourth from the top of the right circle, past Hebert’s unmoving glove arm at 16:15. Hebert, who was chased by the Devils in New Jersey Oct. 14, was then replaced by Dominic Roussel.
Any suspense ended at 12:01 of the third, when Niedermayer’s point shot eluded Roussel.