Devils 4
Capitals 1
WASHINGTON – He splashed in as Coach of the Year in his first season with each of his previous three teams. Last night, Patrik Elias and John Madden made Pat [Grumpy] Burns look like Coach of the Night, and probably boosted his chances for a record fourth Jack Adams Trophy.
Burns boldly switched leading-scorer Elias to Madden’s checking line after Sergei Brylin suffered a suspected broken right wrist. That risky move paid off in a Madden hat trick, each goal assisted by Elias.
“It worked. It worked,” Elias said after the 4-1 triumph over the Caps last night, New Jersey remaining atop the Eastern Conference with its fourth straight victory. “The other team puts its best players on the ice a lot. Maybe he wants me to be out there.”
“You want our best player on the ice a lot, and playing against Jaromir Jagr, he’s going to be on the ice a lot,” Madden said of Elias.
The Devils had been on fire since Burns finally bowed to the obvious, first putting Jamie Langenbrunner with Joe Nieuwendyk Jan. 6, and later Elias with Scott Gomez.
They rose to the conference lead on an 11-0-1-1 tear, thriving on stability in those combinations.
Suddenly, Burns had to replace Brylin on his vital checking line in the first period. He chose Elias.
“Because I like it that way,” harrumphed Burns, who spotted Elias there in Tuesday’s 4-1 victory over Buffalo.
Whether Elias will like it as a steady diet, if Brylin is out two months, seems doubtful.
“No comment on that,” Elias said with emphasis.
Brylin left the game 14 minutes into play, club-sandwiched along the boards by Steve Konowalchuk from behind, and Jeff Halpern and teammate Colin White from the front. Brylin’s right arm was crushed between the glass and the on-coming White while Brylin was absorbing an elbow to the head. Brylin cradled his right arm, which hung limp as he was helped to the dressing room.
“If it is serious, it’s going to be a big loss for us,” Burns said of Brylin, who wore a cast and will receive another exam today.
The first result of Burns’ bold move was not inspiring. The switch of Elias was meant to give New Jersey some speed against Jagr, who scored his 500th goal Tuesday in Tampa. Instead, Jagr’s curl in the Devil zone left Elias behind, and Jagr’s resultant slot shot was rebounded by Michael Nylander to open the scoring at 4:49 of the second.
Turner Stevenson answered at 9:59 as Ken Klee watched while Madden tied up Sergei Gonchar at the end boards. Jiri Bicek darted in to take the puck, which he promptly centered for Stevenson’s fifth of the year.
The Devils exploited a Jagr blunder to take the lead at 16:47 of the second. Jagr’s weak cross-ice neutral zone backhand pass was taken in full stride by Brian Rafalski for a 3-on-1 which became a 2-on-0. Rafalski played give-and-go with Elias around Sergei Gonchar, and Madden put away the rebound of Rafalski’s shot from the right doorstep.
That line clicked again for Madden’s second of the night at 6:12 of the third.