Fluke goal in OT helps Devils edge Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A Devil of a goal dealt the Anaheim Ducks a crushing defeat.

New Jersey center Travis Zajac scored in overtime as the Devils rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Ducks before a crowd of 14,306 at the Honda Center on Wednesday night.

Zajac got credit for the goal at 1:58 of the extra session, but the puck actually bounced off Anaheim right winger Corey Perry after his teammate, defenseman Ben Lovejoy, tried to clear it in front of the Ducks' net. Instead, Lovejoy's attempt hit Perry and bounced in for the game-winner as the Ducks' eight-game home winning streak went up in smoke.

"It's even tougher to swallow that we're on a losing streak right now," Lovejoy said. "They came back on an odd-man rush, Jonas (Hiller) made the save and I tried to clear it into the corner, but fired it off of Corey's shin pad."

New Jersey (8-8-5) captured its fourth win in five games and extended the Ducks' losing streak to five. The Devils also won the last four meetings against Anaheim (15-6-3).

The Ducks were headed for their ninth straight at home before disaster struck.

"I saw 'Zuby' just carry the puck wide," said Zajac, referring to Devils right winger Dainius Zubrus. "I was really tired but I was able to try and get myself a little open and kind of bobbled (the puck) with my skates. I tried to kick it. Looked like they tried to clear it and it went off their guy. Pretty lucky."

Anaheim held a 3-2 lead before right winger Jaromir Jagr scored his eighth goal and 689th of his career with 1:01 remaining in the third period to force overtime.

"We had the puck under control," Jagr said. "I was just waiting in front of the net. Sometimes the puck doesn't come, but this time it just came."

Center Ryan Getzlaf gave Anaheim the lead late in the second period by gathering an errant pass and ripping a shot past goaltender Martin Brodeur on a power play for his 12th goal and a 3-2 advantage with 4:20 left in the second period. But the Ducks couldn't hold the lead.

"It's not losing games that bug you so much, it's the way you lose them," Getzlaf said. "We played a good, hard hockey team and played a pretty solid game. We had lapses throughout the game, like anybody else, but when you have it on your stick with a minute left in the game, we've got to be able to close it out."

New Jersey pushed the tempo in the third, registering 11 shots on goal more than 12 minutes into the period without the Ducks recording any, but Anaheim's Hiller stopped them all until Jagr delivered.

Brodeur finished with 22 saves while Hiller had 21.

Left winger Matt Beleskey gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 11:31 of the first when he fielded a behind-the-back pass from rookie defenseman Hampus Lindholm and slipped the puck past Brodeur for his first goal of the season.

But a hooking penalty on Perry 16 seconds later led to a pair of power-play goals for New Jersey. The first one came courtesy of defenseman Mark Zidlicky, who converted on a pass from left winger Patrik Elias at 15:44 of the first to tie the score.

Defenseman Eric Gelinas gave the Devils a 2-1 lead on a goal with 2:50 remaining in the period.

The Ducks, though, took advantage of a 5-on-3 situation when high sticking and hooking penalties sent Gelinas and defenseman Peter Harrold to the box within 15 seconds of each other. Bonino rebounded a miss by left winger Dustin Penner and scored at 2:28 of the second to knot the score at 2.

NOTES: Ducks D Francois Beauchemin left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. His status is day-to-day. ... With Devils RW Jaromir Jagr (689 goals) and Ducks RW Teemu Selanne (678 goals) facing off, it marked the first time in 10 years two NHL greats with more than 675 goals met. The last time it occurred was Oct. 25, 2003, when Detroit's Brett Hull (717 goals) and Mark Messier (678 goals) of the New York Rangers clashed at Madison Square Garden. ... It took New Jersey more than 12 minutes to record a shot on goal in the second period -- and they didn't get another one in the period. ... The Devils play the second game of back-to-back contests Thursday night when they visit the Los Angeles Kings. ... Anaheim caps its two-game homestand with a game Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.