Devils captain Parise comes through at last

NEWARK -- It had been a quiet series for Zach Parise, in more ways than one.

On the ice, he entered Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Monday night with no goals and one assist against the Rangers -- and with a goalless streak dating to May 3 against the Flyers.

Off the ice, he raised eyebrows by blowing off reporters after Game 3 Saturday, one day after his father, J.P., was quoted in Newsday saying Zach would "fit right in" with the Rangers as a free agent.

After the morning skate preceding Game 4, Parise shrugged off his lack of scoring, saying: "Everyone goes through it. It's not for lack of effort."

Nine hours later, the effort was there again, but this time, there were results along with them, in a big way.

Parise scored two goals, assisted on another and had five shots on goal as the Devils won, 4-1, at Prudential Center to even the series at two games apiece.

"I knew he would respond and it was a matter of time," coach Peter DeBoer said afterward.

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Travis Zajac, his linemate echoed that, saying, "You knew it was just a matter of time. He doesn't take a game off. He's a competitor. He knows how to score. He goes into the tough areas. For him to get rewarded was nice, and I'm sure it felt good for him."

That it did. But Parise himself tried to downplay the significance, other than that it produced a needed win.

"I think some people are making a big deal out of nothing, really," he said. "It was the really the same. The puck happened to go in. That was the difference . . . It's a fine line. There's no secret to it."

The Devils' captain made his first big play midway through the first period, when he bulled his way past the Rangers' Michael Del Zotto near the boards on the right side of the rink and slid the puck past a diving Dan Girardi to Zajac, who buried it to give the Devils a 2-0 lead.

Parise had another eventful period in the second, setting up good scoring chances for Zajac and Dainius Zubrus and launching two hard shots of his own that Henrik Lundqvist saved.

Then in the third, he punched in the rebound of a shot by Ilya Kovalchuk early in a power play, beating Lundqvist through his legs from short range.

Finally, he added an empty-net goal that sealed a contentious, satisfying victory.

DeBoer said he blamed himself for Parise taking so long to break through on the scoring sheet, because he did not find the right mix for him.

Monday night, he shuffled his lines for the second time in the series, moving Zubrus to the top line with Parise and Zajac.

It worked.