BUFFALO — It’s startling how formidable the Devils can be if they actually score. It was no coincidence that last night’s season-best outburst occurred when Ilya Kovalchuk’s returned to their lineup.
For the first time this year, they scored four goals without benefit of an empty-netter, then added another, leading start-to-finish in a 5-3 triumph over the Sabres last night.
“We needed it,” Martin Brodeur said about the scoring binge, looking like the all-time top goalie he is in repeatedly stifling comeback bids.
But it was the goal-scoring that covered the multitude of errors. The Devils achieved much last night, ending the perfect season (6-0) of Sabres’ goalie Jhonas Enroth and handing him his first regulation loss since Nov. 24.
On the Devils’ side of the ledger, their two biggest guns, Zach Parise and Kovalchuk, launched the victory early, each scoring in the first 5:21. Parise’s was the team’s third short-hander of the year, Kovalchuk’s their seventh power-play goal this season.
“The last two games, we scored [three] goals,” Kovalchuk said. “With these names, we have to be better than that.”
Parise said it’s no coincidence the Devils erupted when Kovalchuk came back.
“When he’s in the lineup, we’re a better team,” Parise said of Kovalchuk, who sat out five games with a groin injury. “He gives us a lot more offensive depth.”
Patrik Elias, Mark Fayne and David Clarkson scored the other goals.
“We have to score by committee,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “And it has to be a nightly occurrence, not just every couple of weeks.”
The lone dark cloud was the scare Dainius Zubrus suffered in his 1,000th career game, dropped to his knees and holding his head from an elbow by Buffalo’s Tyler Myers in the second period. Zubrus returned to action later in the period. Although unpenalized, Myers may face scrutiny from the league.
“I didn’t stay down on purpose. I was off for a couple of seconds,” Zubrus said. “I asked the refs, and they said they didn’t want to guess and make the wrong call.
“I was out of it for a little bit.”
* Brodeur notched an assist on Kovalchuk’s goal.. . . . Myers scored the first of his pair on the power play, the first PPG allowed by the Devils in 28 tries, over eight games, since Oct. 27 at Phoenix. . . .Besides Fayne’s three, Adam Larsson’s single goal is the only other from the Devils defense. .. . .The Devils visit Tampa Bay on Saturday and Florida on Monday to complete five-game road trip.