Patrik Elias scores in 4th round of shootout, gives Devils 4-3 victory over Red Wings

Red Wings’ rally falls short in SO loss to Devils

NEWARK, N.J. — The Detroit Red Wings rallied from two goals down to force overtime, but Patrik Elias scored in the fourth round of a shootout to give the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 victory Saturday night.

The Devils won their second home game in two nights and for the eighth time in their last nine at the Prudential Center.

Jamie Langenbrunner, Johnny Oduya and Rob Niedermayer scored in regulation for the Devils. Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom and Patrick Eaves had goals for Detroit.

Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and the Devils’ Zach Parise scored in the first round of the shootout, but New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur and Red Wings counterpart Chris Osgood both stopped the next two attempts.

Brodeur then made a save on Ville Leino before Elias went to his backhand to score from the right doorstep.

Before the game, the Devils honored their 1995 Stanley Cup championship team that swept Detroit in four games.

“It was great memories, great memories,” said Jacques Lemaire, who was the Devils’ coach then for the franchise’s first title and is now in the first season of his second stint.

The Red Wings fought back from a two-goal deficit in the second period to tie it 3-3 with 10:30 left in regulation when Eaves tipped in a shot from the right boards by Justin Abdelkader.

The Devils activated two players from the injured list. Left winger Jay Pandolfo had missed 17 games because of a dislocated shoulder, while Oduya, a defenseman, had sat out 15 games due to a groin injury.

Oduya announced his return loudly late in the opening period, carrying the puck unimpeded from the Devils’ zone down the left side before beating Osgood with a low shot from the left circle for a 2-0 lead.

The Devils went ahead 1-0 with 4:31 left in the period. Parise sent the puck from the bottom of the left circle to Langenbrunner in the lower half of the right circle, and the New Jersey captain buried it past Osgood.

In the second, Draper beat Brodeur to cut it to 2-1 before Niedermayer banged in a rebound to make it a two-goal game again. But with 29.1 seconds left in the period, Holmstrom tipped in a shot, and the Devils’ lead was down to 3-2.

Pandolfo, who assisted on Niedermayer’s goal, nearly scored early in the third. The puck deflected off Osgood, and Brad Stuart swept it away just before it got to the goal line.

The Red Wings, the Stanley Cup champs in 2008 and finalists last season, continue to have significant injury problems. Their players had combined to miss 97 games before Saturday.

Centers Valtteri Filppula and Jason Williams, right winger Johan Franzen and defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Andreas Lilja have all been out for extended periods. Former Devils defenseman Brian Rafalski missed his second straight game with a back injury.

NOTES: Devils rookie D Matt Corrente was scratched, and rookie RW Matt Halischuk was assigned to Lowell of the AHL.