BOSTON – Although the Boston Bruins have to share their fans’ attention with the Red Sox these days, they might be moving up in the NHL pecking order.

Jeff Jillson scored twice in his Bruins debut, the second to tie the game with 3:58 left on Wednesday night as Boston opened the season with a 3-3 tie against the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.

With many in the crowd paying more attention to the AL playoff game between the Yankees and Red Sox in New York, the Bruins rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the second period only to fall behind on Scott Niedermayer’s second goal of the game.

But Jillson tied it on a seemingly harmless wrist shot from the left point that got past a screened Martin Brodeur.

Felix Potvin, signed by Boston as a free agent in the offseason, made 32 saves. Joe Thornton also scored for the Bruins, who got new coach Mike Sullivan a point in his debut as an NHL head coach.

Brodeur stopped 28 shots for New Jersey, which beat Boston in the first round of the playoffs 4-1 on its way to the title. Brian Rafalski had two assists, and Jeff Friesen also scored for the Devils.

Niedermayer’s second goal was the 100th of his career. The defenseman also cleared the puck off the goal line with just over two minutes left in overtime.

The Boston fans had two reasons to go home happy because the Red Sox were leading the New York Yankees 5-0 in Game 1 of the AL championship series when the hockey game ended. The biggest cheers of the night were for the scoring updates from Yankee Stadium.

The first period was scoreless, then New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals.

The Devils made it 1-0 just 42 seconds into the second period when Niedermayer stickhandled through the defense and slipped the puck under Potvin’s pads. Friesen made it 2-0 at 12:40 of the second when he knocked in his own rebound.

The Bruins pulled within one at 14:31 of the second when Jillson’s slap shot went off Brodeur’s left shoulder and trickled into the net. Thornton tied it with 15.2 seconds left in the second when he was allowed to come in from behind the net and stuff the puck through Brodeur’s legs.

With 1:02 left in regulation, Jamie Langenbrunner’s shot bounced off the goal post and behind Potvin, but it went across the crease and off to the side.

Notes: Thornton has 24 points in 24 games against New Jersey in his career. … Jillson, a defenseman, was tied for second in scoring on the Bruins in preseason with one goal and four assists. … Last season, the Devils were first in penalty killing. Boston scored on its first power-play opportunity.

AP-ES-10-08-03 2257EDT