WHAT A HIT! Brad Mills takes a punch from Mike Brown during the Devils’ 5-3 loss to Toronto. (Reuters)
Their voices are starting to strain as this autumn starts to resemble last fall. Losers of five of their past six, the Devils clearly are worried as they head to Philadelphia tonight, where the Flyers will smell blood.
��We have to get out of this right away,” coach Pete DeBoer said after last night’s 5-3 loss to the Maple Leafs at Prudential Center, on a night when he duplicated one of John MacLean’s bold moves that flopped, shifting Ilya Kovalchuk to right wing.
The Devils scored as many power play goals (two) against a goalie as they had in their previous nine games, and yet that wasn’t enough. The face of their franchise, Martin Brodeur, returned after missing six games, and he didn’t help, stung by Joffrey Lupul for a second-period hat trick, the first by a visitor to Newark.
Defensemen were spinning out of control as the Leafs raced at Brodeur, who was left fighting the puck much of the night.
“I didn’t play well at all, but at least I got my game under my belt and that was important to me,” Brodeur said.
Johan Hedberg will return to net tonight in Philadelphia. This is the first time since Brodeur became a regular in 1993-94 that he has gone winless (0-2) into November, having always won in the team’s first five games.
But the 1-4-1 slide is the real worry.
“Of course there’s concern when you lose five of six games. We have to be better,” Zach Parise said.
“We need to stop it,” said Patrik Elias, who broke the team record with his 93rd career power-play goal in the losing effort.
The teams alternated the game’s first six goals, the Leafs leading, the Devils tying, until Lupul put Toronto ahead for good with the game’s last two.
Joey Crabb opened the scoring 8:37 into play, swatting home Matt Lombardi’s feed to the left side. Dainius Zubrus tied the score with five seconds left in a power play at 12:16, following Adam Henrique on a give-and-go.
The Devils had scored just three power-play goals on 29 tries in their first nine games, and one of those was into an empty net. But Patrik Elias made the Devils 2-for-2 when he one-timed Adam Larsson’s pass, and the shot glanced up and in off Dion Phaneuf. It was Elias’ team-best fifth of the season, and Larsson’s first NHL point.
The give-and-take continued as Lupul rebounded Mike Komisarek’s charge at 6:31 for Toronto, and David Clarkson tied the score again, 3-3, at 8:15 on a breakaway. But with the Devils held to three or less in eight of their prior nine, Toronto took over on Lupul’s second and third of the period. He put the Leafs in front for good by scorching Brodeur short side.
Lupul’s hat trick was the first hat trick allowed by the Devils at home since Feb. 17, 2004, scored by Marian Gaborik in a 4-4 tie with Minnesota.