Devils 4, Thrashers 2
Jacob Josefson scored the game-winning goal in the third period and Martin Brodeur made 18 saves as the New Jersey Devils topped the visiting Atlanta Thrashers, 4-2, on Tuesday.
Patrick Elias scored his 16th goal, Travis Zajac his 13th tally and Ilya Kovalchuk added an empty-netter for his 26th for the Devils (33-32-4), who improved to 23-3-2 in their last 28 games and pulled even with Atlanta (29-29-12) for 10th place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind eighth-place Buffalo.
Josefson notched his second goal of the season at the 4:14 mark of the third period, accepting a pass from Mattias Tedenby and one-timing a slap shot through the legs of Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec to give New Jersey its first lead.
Atlanta jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before New Jersey began to fight back, drawing within a goal when Zajac deflected in Mark Fayne’s shot from the blue line.
New Jersey tied it up at the 5:10 mark in the second when Elias worked a give-and-go with Brian Rolston, burying a slap shot past Pavelec from the right face-off circle.
Tim Stapleton and Chris Thorburn tallied for Atlanta.