Severson Helps Devils Beat Panthers 5-1
SUNRISE (AP) — Damon Severson scored his first NHL goal to cap a four-goal opening period by New Jersey and the Devils chased Roberto Luongo early to beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Saturday night.
Severson also got his first assist. Ryane Clowe, Marek Zidlicky, Martin Havlat and Eric Gelinas scored goals for the Devils and Cory Schneider stopped 28 shots.
The Devils got points from 11 different players and started their season with two consecutive road wins for the first time after topping the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Thursday night.
Derek MacKenzie scored for Florida, which lost its home opener for the first time in five seasons.
Luongo gave up five goals on 14 shots before leaving the game 2:59 into the second. Al Montoya, the NHL's first Cuban-American — which gives him enormous popularity in South Florida — finished with 10 saves in relief for Florida, which drew only 11,419 to its home opener.
Clowe slid the puck between Luongo's pads from the slot to give the Devils a 5-0 lead, ending the goalie's night.
The Devils took a 1-0 lead on their second shot of the game, with Gelinas scoring on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line and beating Luongo on the glove side. Havlat redirected a shot 6 minutes later for a power-play score, and Zidlicky one-timed a pass from Severson from above the left circle for another goal with the man advantage at 13:13.
The Panthers, whose special teams were dreadful a year ago, have already allowed five power-play goals this season — including all three in their 3-2 overtime loss at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
Severson's goal put the Devils ahead 4-0 with 27.8 seconds left in the first.
On a power play, MacKenzie redirected a pass from Scottie Upshall with 3:29 left in the second for Florida's goal.
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