Devils Are Winners in Fight to the Finish

TORONTO —  The New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs, meeting in the playoffs for the first time, quickly have developed an intense dislike for one another.

Scott Gomez had two assists and the Devils moved within a victory of the Eastern Conference finals by beating Toronto, 4-3, Saturday night as tempers boiled over on and off the ice.

The Devils took a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven semifinal series, with Game 6 scheduled for Monday in New Jersey.

The end of the game was marred by several fights, while Maple Leaf fans littered the ice with garbage. One spectator tried to fight with a New Jersey player as the teams headed to their locker rooms.

Toronto’s Darcy Tucker ignited the commotion when he took some swings at New Jersey goalkeeper Martin Brodeur at the final horn.

“I got four or five cross-checks to the back of the head standing in front of the net,” said Tucker, who had a run-in with Brodeur in the second period after crashing into the New Jersey net.

“Then, at the end of the game, I’m on the ice and [Brodeur] sticks the end of his stick in my back and jabs me with it. I guess if he wants to do that, I’m going to run him over next game.”

John Madden, a rookie who scored the Devils’ game-winning goal, can sense the growing hatred between the teams.

“I don’t think there’s history between the two franchises, but the players on the ice have played with each other and against each other and it’s just a lot of love-hate relationship out there,” Madden said. “I know a lot of guys in the room have a lot of strong feelings toward each other.”

After the game, Toronto’s Steve Thomas went after New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer, while Tucker threw a number of punches at Brodeur. And the mayhem didn’t end there.

“When we were coming off the ice, one of the Toronto fans tried to take liberties with one of our guys and came at him,” Madden said. “But the security guys pulled him back and there was a little bit of yelling and obscene words used.”

Brodeur laughed off the his skirmish with Tucker.

“I hit him with my stick,” Brodeur said. “This is the playoffs. We’ll turn the cheek and go on if they want to play that game.”

New Jersey capitalized on two of five power-play chances and have scored five extra-man goals in the last three games.

Gomez played a big role as the Devils overcame two one-goal deficits to build a 4-2 lead.

Around the NHL

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