Devils grab 3-2 series lead on Ducks

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Three unconventional goals in a totally out-of-character game put the New Jersey Devils in a familiar position -- up 3-2 in the Stanley Cup finals.

Brian Gionta scored a goal and set up Jay Pandolfo for the go-ahead score -- neither of which went off the Devils' sticks -- in a decisive second period as New Jersey beat the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 6-3 in Game 5 Thursday night.

After four consecutive games of limited scoring chances, minimal open ice and excellent goaltending, all of the above vanished in a shootout that was the antithesis of the series to date.

What stayed the same was the Devils' dominance on home ice. They have outscored the Ducks 11-3 while going 3-for-3 at Continental Airlines Arena, and now they're 12-1 at home in the playoffs, matching Edmonton's 1988 record for home wins in a single playoff year.

This is the third time in four seasons that the Devils have led the finals 3-2. In 2000, they closed out the Dallas Stars on the road in Game 6, but a year later they squandered their lead by losing the final two games, and the Cup, to Colorado.

The Devils can raise the Cup by winning Game 6 Saturday night in Anaheim, where the Ducks won two closely played games in overtime to even the series.

The only players working overtime Thursday were goalies Martin Brodeur and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who hadn't allowed more than three goals in any playoff game this spring, including seven overtime games. Yet by the early part of the third period they had given up five.

Naturally, three curious goals decided an up-and-down, free-flowing game that looked nothing like the first four games, when there wasn't a single goal scored in the first period.

This time it was 2-2 after one before the Devils retook the lead -- not by putting the puck in the net, but by letting the Ducks do it for them.

Gionta, previously without a goal in the playoffs, threw the puck toward the net from along the right-wing boards, and it deflected off Ducks forward Mike Leclerc's stick and into the net before Giguere could react at 3:12.

Samuel Pahlsson tied it just over three minutes later, but Pandolfo gave the Devils the lead for good at 4-3 midway through the period on a goal that was initially waved off by referee Bill McCreary.

Gionta was trying to get the puck down low when it deflected off Pandolfo's skate and past Giguere.