Ducks' OT mastery ties series

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Overtime, again. The Mighty Ducks win, again.

Steve Thomas put in Samuel Pahlsson's rebound 39 seconds into overtime, giving Anaheim a dramatic 1-0 victory over New Jersey on Monday night and evening the Stanley Cup finals at two games each.

The Devils, once firmly in control after two easy victories at home but now locked in a tied series, lost both games in Anaheim in overtime. Ruslan Salei got the game-winner in Game 3 Saturday.

The goal by the 39-year-old Thomas, a late-season pickup by the Ducks, made Anaheim 7-0 in playoff overtimes. The Devils are 2-4. Of Anaheim's 14 playoff victories, 10 have come in overtime or the final five minutes of the third period.

Thomas's goal came after Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, losing his personal duel with the Ducks' Jean-Sebastien Giguere, initially stopped Pahlsson's shot to the left of the net. But the puck deflected out to the left circle, where Thomas cleanly put it past Brodeur.

Anaheim, guaranteeing that the finals will come back to the Pond for Game 6 on Saturday, now have matched the Canadiens' record of 12 one-goal playoffs wins in 1993.

Giguere extended his record playoff overtime shutout streak to 168 minutes, 27 seconds, though he needed to make only one save in the overtime. He stopped all 26 New Jersey shots, including a succession of good attempts during a scoreless but riveting second period.

Brodeur turned aside 25 of 26 shots, but again he couldn't stop the winner.

This is the first time since the 1978 finals that the home team has won each of the first four games. Montreal won the first two and Boston won the next two that season. The Canadiens won the series in six games.

Anaheim is 10-0 when it scores first in a playoff game.

Brodeur, whose stick-losing gaffe cost the Devils a goal and, eventually, the game in their 3-2 loss Saturday, gave his team another scare in the third period. This time, though, he didn't give the Ducks a goal.

About 4 1/2 minutes into the period, Brodeur stopped Salei's shot, but the puck dropped from his glove and slithered along the goal line before he swatted it away from his stick. Brodeur then smiled, maybe with a twinge of nervousness, knowing he had gotten away with another nearly grievous mistake.

Well before that, the goaltenders' duel predicted before the series began finally broke out in a second period that was scoreless but by far the most action-filled of a predictably low-scoring series.

Giguere, though far less experienced than Brodeur, matched him save for save -- mostly because the forwards were matching each other post for post.

Giguere's best two saves came late in the period, first on Scott Niedermayer's one-timer that deflected off the goalie's stick and, in the final 10 seconds, on John Madden's breakaway Giguere smothered.

Before that, Patrik Elias's shot after a faceoff deflected off the left post before Giguere could react, and Stanislav Chistov and Adam Oates hit opposite posts for the Ducks a few minutes apart.

Giguere also made two key saves on Brian Gionta's shots on the same shift, the first just above the crease and the other from the right circle.

With both coaches sensing this could be the pivotal game in the series, they made tactical changes with their lineups.

Devils coach Pat Burns played forward Mike Rupp for the first time in the playoffs. Rupp hadn't played since a minor league game May 5 and hadn't been in uniform for the Devils since March 28. He replaced Jim McKenzie to provide a set of fresh legs on the fourth line and help on faceoffs.

Ducks coach Mike Babcock also tried forward Paul Kariya on multiple lines, trying to get him away from a tough defensive matchup against Scott Stevens and Madden. Burns also played forwards Jamie Langenbrunner and Sergei Brylin with different linemates in an attempt to generate some offense.

New Jersey's power play, the NHL's worst during the season, again was of no help, going 0-for-3; it's 1-for-12 in the series. Anaheim didn't convert on its only chance.

Notes: The first period has been scoreless in every game of the series. ... Anaheim, so decisive on faceoffs in Game 3, won a remarkable 18 of 24 faceoffs in the second period. ... It was the first Stanley Cup finals game to go into overtime scoreless since Mike Modano's third-overtime winner for Dallas in Game 5 at New Jersey. The Devils won the series two nights later in Dallas, also in overtime.