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Clarkson leads New Jersey past Toronto
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David Clarkson scored twice, including 2:40 into overtime to give the visiting New Jersey Devils a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night.
Ilya Kovalchuk also scored for the Devils, who got 31 saves from Martin Brodeur.
Phil Kessel scored his 17th goal of the season for Toronto, and Matt Frattin also scored for the Leafs. James Reimer made 23 saves.
Clarkson scored the winner off the rush after taking a feed from Dainius Zubrus in the slot and beating Reimer through his pads.
Kovalchuk and Clarkson scored power-play goals in the first period to give New Jersey a quick 2-0 lead.
Kovalchuck wired a one-time shot off the post and in past Reimer at 5:03. Clarkson then took advantage of some suspect defensive zone coverage by the Maple Leafs to beat a helpless Reimer at 8:59.
Kessel got the Leafs back in it at 11:29 of the second. Joffrey Lupul threw a puck in front that bounced off Kessel's skate and past Brodeur.
The goal moved Kessel into a first-place tie with Chicago's Jonathan Toews atop the NHL goal-scoring standings.
Frattin tied it at 1:56 of the third on a great individual effort.
After picking up the puck near the left-wing boards, Frattin held off Adam Larsson before beating Brodeur to his left.
The Leafs had a chance to win it late in regulation on the power play as New Jersey's Patrik Elias took an undisciplined slashing penalty with 2:16 left in regulation, but Toronto failed to capitalize as the Devils hung on to force overtime.
• Blues 3, Red Wings 2: David Backes got the go-ahead score on the second consecutive power-play goal of the game for host St. Louis, which ended a 2-for-39 slump with the man advantage in a win against Detroit. Alex Steen had a power-play goal in the second period and Brian Elliott made 27 saves for the Blues, who are 9-2-3 since Ken Hitchcock replaced Davis Payne as coach.
• Blue Jackets 3, Canadiens 2: Rick Nash's shootout goal lifted visiting Columbus past Montreal. Curtis Sanford was perfect in the tiebreaker, turning aside David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta. Gionta scored a goal with 1:21 left in regulation to send the game to overtime. Sanford made 18 saves in his 10th start in a row for the Blue Jackets.
• Islanders 5, Lightning 1: Matt Martin scored his second winning goal in his three-year NHL career, as host New York shook off a slow start and routed Tampa Bay. John Tavares, Milan Jurcina, David Ullstrom and Matt Moulson -- the NHL's first star of last week -- also scored for New York. Ullstrom's goal was his first in the NHL. Al Montoya made 23 saves.
First Published December 7, 2011 12:00 am
