NHL

Devils rally past Thrashers after Brodeur gets yanked

ATLANTA — Martin Brodeur got pulled, then the Devils pulled out the win.

Brodeur was yanked after he allowed three first-period goals, but the Devils rallied for three second-period goals and went on to a 5-4 win over the Thrashers last night.

Dean McAmmond scored two goals for the Devils (25-8-1), who won their fourth straight and eighth in nine games in moving to a NHL-best 12-2-1 on the road. The Thrashers (18-13-3) fell to 8-7-2 at home.

One night after Brodeur played in his 1,030th regular-season NHL game Friday night to set a record for goalies, passing Patrick Roy, he was lifted after allowing three goals on six shots in the first period. The last time Brodeur was removed early from a game was last season on March 7 in a 7-3 loss to the Islanders. He gave up six goals on 26 shots that night.

Yann Danis replaced Brodeur and stopped 19 of 20 shots in the last two periods. He allowed Slava Kozlov’s power-play goal with 3:56 in the third that pulled Atlanta to 5-4. Danis is 3-0 in four games this season.

The Devils, who trailed 3-1 after the opening period, scored three straight goals in the second period to go ahead 4-3.

Brian Ralston scored at the 2:46 mark, beating Ondrej Pavelec for his 13th goal. Less than four minutes later McAmmond scored his second goal to tie it at 3 on a power play. Rod Pelley put the Devils in front 4-3 with his first goal at 10:04 of the period.

McAmmond scored his third goal with 8:25 left in the final period to put the Devils up 5-3.

New Jersey outshot Atlanta 24-6 in the opening period and 42-26 overall.