EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – Dave Andreychuk scored twice in the third period against his former team, and Vincent Lecavalier added a short-handed goal shortly after to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

The loss was even more costly for the Devils because two-time Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur left the game with 6:50 remaining with an apparent injury to his right knee.

Backup goalie Scott Clemmensen replaced Brodeur and surrendered the final two goals to Andreychuk and Lecavalier- 56 seconds apart – that pushed Tampa Bay’s lead to 6-3.

Andreychuk scored his first goal of the season 5:27 into the third period, snapping a 3-3 tie. He added a power-play goal with 6:33 remaining. Tampa Bay scored the final four goals to put the game away.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning took a 1-0 lead just 34 seconds in on their first shot. Martin St. Louis took a pretty pass from Brad Richards and knocked it past Brodeur for his third of the season.

Tampa Bay (5-3-2) then pushed the lead to 2-0 in the closing minutes of the first period. Fredrik Modin skated past defenseman Paul Martin and beat Brodeur with a backhand shot. The Lightning outshot the Devils 16-3 in the opening period.

The Devils (4-5) controlled the second period, tying the game with goals by defensemen Sean Brown and Vladimir Malakhov. Brown scored off a good feed from Jamie Langenbrunner, who was set up behind the net. Brown ripped in a shot from the right corner for his first goal of the season at 1:57 of the second.

Malakhov scored on a blast from the blue line off work by Langenbrunner and Brown with just 2:23 left in the period.

Just 16 seconds into the third period, Sergei Brylin put the Devils ahead 3-2 with a wrist shot that caught goalie John Grahame off-guard.

However, the Lightning came right back and tied it on Vaclav Prospal’s sixth goal of the season, just 1:08 later – 17 seconds into Dan McGillis’ hooking penalty.

Notes: Grahame stopped 20 of 23 shots for his fourth victory of the season. … Brodeur made 30 saves before his injury. Clemmensen stopped only three shots.

AP-ES-10-26-05 2223EDT


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