Travis Zajac

Travis Zajac scored at 5 minutes, 39 seconds of overtime and the New Jersey Devils avoided elimination and sent yet another Eastern Conference first-round series to a seventh game with a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night in Newark. Steve Bernier and Ilya Kovalchuk also scored and Martin Brodeur made 14 saves for New Jersey, which squandered a two-goal lead and had fans dreading another first-round playoff exit until Zajac scored from the right hand circle. The shot beat Scott Clemmensen to the lower corner and set off a mob scene on the ice. Clemmensen was outstanding, stopping 39 shots in an emergency start for the injured Jose Theodore.

Players to watch FLYERS: Scott Hartnell The Flyers' leading scorer through the regular season with 37 goals has just two tallies in seven playoff games this spring. Hartnell's tireless work in the helped produce Claude Giroux's 15-point run, but it's time for Hartnell to get back on the score sheet. DEVILS: Ilya Kovalchuk He was held without a shot in Game 1 for the first time since Nov. 23, 2011. Kovalchuk was not available to meet the media on Monday.

Mike Knuble and Nicklas Backstrom fueled a high-powered offense with three points apiece, and the Washington Capitals pulled away to their ninth consecutive victory, 4-1, over the visiting Florida Panthers last night. Knuble had two goals and an assist, and Backstrom had a goal and two assists for the Capitals. The winning streak is the second-longest in franchise history, just one short of the 10 straight won by the 1983-84 team. Washington has won 12 times in January to tie the team record for a month, set in December 1984.

Alexander Ovechkin became the first player in 12 years to score 60 goals in an NHL season, as his two last night led the Washington Capitals to a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Thrashers in Atlanta. Trailing 3-1 after two periods, Ovechkin's 60th goal came 11 minutes, 30 seconds into the third, and unleashed a four-goal Washington barrage. Ovechkin also had two assists, improving his league scoring lead to 106 points. Niklas Backstrom had two of Washington's third-period goals, and Boyd Gordon added an empty-netter.

Call it the Tortorella Tirade. The Rangers came out flat in the opening minute against the New Jersey Devils, and coach John Tortorella had seen more than enough. He burned his lone timeout 1:24 in and chewed out his club. The message got through, and visiting New York gutted out a 3-2 victory last night. "We didn't come out ready," captain Chris Drury said. "It was pretty obvious at the start of the game and he let us know. From that point on I thought we responded very well.

PLAYERS TO WATCH FLYERS: Scott Hartnell: The Flyers' leading scorer through the regular season with 37 goals, has just two tallies in seven playoff games this spring. Hartnell's tireless work in the corners have helped produce Claude Giroux's 15-point run, but it's time for Hartnell to get back on the scoresheet. DEVILS: Ilya Kovalchuk: He was held without a shot in Game 1 for the first time since Nov. 23, 2011. Kovalchuk was not available to meet the media on Monday, as a team spokesman said he was getting "treatment," furthering injury speculation.

The New Jersey Devils refused to hang their heads despite being down one game and one star as they entered Game 2 of Tuesday's Eastern Conference semifinal against the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. Left winger Ilya Kovalchuk, who had been laboring for a number of games, was finally unable to go because of a lower-body injury. The Devils bonded without their star, even got a goal from his replacement on the roster and defeated the Flyers, 4-1, to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.

Scott Gomez and the New Jersey Devils finally found a way to beat the Atlanta Thrashers. Gomez and Sergei Brylin scored power-play goals 28 seconds apart in the third period to lead the host Devils to a 2-1 win that snapped New Jersey's six-game losing streak against the Southeast Division-leading Thrashers. "Everybody did a good job," Gomez said. "Especially against a team like Atlanta. They are the real deal. We had to prove to ourselves that we could beat that team. " Martin Brodeur made 25 saves, and New Jersey won for the fourth time in five games.

Free agent Mats Sundin is expected to announce tomorrow whether he will play for the New York Rangers or Vancouver Canucks for the rest of the season. "He's going to make a decision Thursday about the final destination," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said. "We reiterated our position in all of this and formalized our offer. " The Canucks have plenty of room under the $56.7 million salary cap to sign Sundin. Vancouver has offered him $10 million per year, which would earn him a prorated salary of about $5 million for the rest of the season.

Ryan Carter scored his third goal of the playoffs late in the third period to boost the New Jersey Devils to a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday in New York. Zach Parise added an empty-net goal. New Jersey has a lead of three games to two in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is set for Friday at New Jersey. Game 7, if necessary, will be played Sunday in New York. The winner of this series will play the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

NEW YORK - When asked what his inefficient forwards needed to do to beat Martin Brodeur in the Eastern Conference final, irascible Rangers coach John Tortorella simply said: "Pray. " Turns out, prayer was a good way to exorcise the devils in the Rangers' tightly gripped sticks. Just not the actual Devils from New Jersey. After struggling to score through the first four games against New Jersey, the Rangers were faced with the task of a daunting, three-goal deficit in the first 10 minutes of Wednesday night's Game 5. New York steadily chipped away, dominating play, to knot the score just 17 seconds into the third period.

Maybe Peter Laviolette had a premonition. After the morning skate, after he learned that New Jersey star winger Ilya Kovalchuk would not play Tuesday night because of an apparent back injury, the Flyers coach issued a warning of sorts. "I don't think we should fall into a trap," he said, "and think it's going to be easy. " Yet it appeared that's just what the Flyers did as they sleepwalked to a well-deserved 4-1 loss to the Devils at the stunned Wells Fargo Center.

The New Jersey Devils refused to hang their heads despite being down one game and one star as they entered Game 2 of Tuesday's Eastern Conference semifinal against the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. Left winger Ilya Kovalchuk, who had been laboring for a number of games, was finally unable to go because of a lower-body injury. The Devils bonded without their star, even got a goal from his replacement on the roster and defeated the Flyers, 4-1, to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.

Players to watch FLYERS: Scott Hartnell The Flyers' leading scorer through the regular season with 37 goals has just two tallies in seven playoff games this spring. Hartnell's tireless work in the helped produce Claude Giroux's 15-point run, but it's time for Hartnell to get back on the score sheet. DEVILS: Ilya Kovalchuk He was held without a shot in Game 1 for the first time since Nov. 23, 2011. Kovalchuk was not available to meet the media on Monday.

ILYA BRYZGALOV was two-thirds of the way to sainthood in Philadelphia. But the Flyers' offense and defense simultaneously disappeared quicker than Jimmy Hoffa and crumbled under the pressure of New Jersey's relentless forecheck on Tuesday night. No Ilya Kovalchuk? No problem. Without their leading scorer, the Devils rallied from a 1-0 deficit after being stymied by Bryzgalov in a futile second period with three third-period tallies to snatch a 4-1 win over the Flyers in Game 2. Adam Larsson, David Clarkson and Travis Zajac scored three unanswered goals within 10 minutes of one another to shock the Flyers on home ice. Bryce Salvador added a shorthanded empty-netter with 2:51 to play.

PLAYERS TO WATCH FLYERS: Scott Hartnell: The Flyers' leading scorer through the regular season with 37 goals, has just two tallies in seven playoff games this spring. Hartnell's tireless work in the corners have helped produce Claude Giroux's 15-point run, but it's time for Hartnell to get back on the scoresheet. DEVILS: Ilya Kovalchuk: He was held without a shot in Game 1 for the first time since Nov. 23, 2011. Kovalchuk was not available to meet the media on Monday, as a team spokesman said he was getting "treatment," furthering injury speculation.

Sean Couturier and the Flyers' checkers dispatched one zany and talented Russian in the first round. Now, after a week to catch their collective breath, Couturier and his linemates Max Talbot and Eric Wellwood will have another uber-crafty Russian in Ilya Kovalchuk to exhaustively shadow in this first-to-four Eastern Conference semifinal matchup between the Flyers and Devils. The fact that Couturier's crew was able to hold Evgeni Malkin, the likely Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP and a 109-point scorer, to just five points at even strength was probably the key to the series.

FORWARDS Flyers: The Flyers scored an incredible 30 goals in the first round. It would be a mistake to think scoring at that extraordinary clip will continue against a scrappy New Jersey team. The Flyers have the playoffs' top scorer in Claude Giroux (14 points), but their scoring production from secondary players such as Wayne Simmonds and Matt Read was relatively quiet. Devils: New Jersey has a lethal triumvirate of their own in Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, and Travis Zajac.

Travis Zajac scored at 5 minutes, 39 seconds of overtime and the New Jersey Devils avoided elimination and sent yet another Eastern Conference first-round series to a seventh game with a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night in Newark. Steve Bernier and Ilya Kovalchuk also scored and Martin Brodeur made 14 saves for New Jersey, which squandered a two-goal lead and had fans dreading another first-round playoff exit until Zajac scored from the right hand circle. The shot beat Scott Clemmensen to the lower corner and set off a mob scene on the ice. Clemmensen was outstanding, stopping 39 shots in an emergency start for the injured Jose Theodore.