BOSTON (AP) – Dan McGillis scored twice and the Boston Bruins finally beat Martin Brodeur, driving the goalie from the game and staying alive with a 5-1 playoff win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
Brodeur allowed just three goals as the Devils won the first three games. But in Game 4, he was replaced by Corey Schwab with 3:37 gone in the third period after Boston scored twice in two minutes.
Boston’s Jeff Hackett allowed only a goal by Scott Niedermayer at 1:37 of the third period as the Bruins forced a fifth game in the best-of-seven opening round Thursday night in New Jersey.
The Bruins entered Tuesday’s game facing a daunting challenge. Only two teams in NHL history had won series after trailing 3-0. Boston was 0-13 when it lost the first three games, losing seven of those series 4-0 and the other six 4-1.
Now, at least, the Bruins have a chance to make it to a sixth game Saturday in Boston.
They were stymied for three games by the Devils’ emphasis on defense and the stinginess of Brodeur, who saved 79 of 82 shots. And on Sunday, he posted his 14th playoff shutout in a 3-0 win.
But Tuesday, he was beaten twice by defenseman McGillis, who has three goals in the series after scoring just three in 71 regular-season games, and once by Joe Thornton, Martin Lapointe and Marty McInnis.
For the second time in just over a month, Brodeur was benched in Boston. On March 12, he was pulled by coach Pat Burns 10 minutes into the second period after Lapointe scored three goals in 5:15 of a 4-3 Bruins win.
On Tuesday, Hackett was the star in net as he turned aside 24 shots and won for only the third time in eight playoff decisions. Brodeur has 70 postseason wins.
Thornton, the NHL’s third-leading scorer, had just two assists in the first three games. But he finally broke free of the tight coverage by defensive forward John Madden and scored one of Boston’s two power-play goals with 13 seconds left in the first period.
Thornton scored on a rebound after Brodeur stopped two shots from Nick Boynton. After the second save, the puck bounced into the slot and Thornton swooped in and fired a 15-footer low to Brodeur’s left.
McGillis made it 2-0 early in the second period, 42 seconds after Scott Stevens was penalized for holding the stick. Jonathan Girard shot from the top of the left circle and Brodeur stopped the puck with his shoulder. Again, the rebound went into the slot and McGillis scored from 15 feet.
He made it 3-0 later in the period on a shot from the right circle, but Nidermayer made it 3-1 with a low wrist shot past Hackett.
Any chance New Jersey would gain the momentum ended just eight seconds later when Lapointe scored his first goal of the series at 1:45.
And when Brodeur allowed McInnis’ shot from the top of the right circle to go between his pads, the Bruins led 5-1 and the star goalie was done for the night.
Notes: The Bruins have won just one playoff series the last eight seasons….The Devils are in the playoffs for the seventh straight year…. Hackett returned to the net in Sunday’s 3-0 loss after missing 12 games with a broken finger…. One of his best saves came with the score 2-0 when Jeff Friesen came in on a shorthanded breakaway, but Hackett stretched out his left pad to block the point-blank shot in the second period.
