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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Milestones are nothing new for Dave Andreychuk at the Meadowlands. Andreychuk scored his 600th and 601st goals early in the third period as the Tampa Bay Lightning avoided a third straight loss with a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Andreychuk became the 14th player in NHL history to reach the 600-goal mark when he carried down the right side and wristed a shot from low in the faceoff circle inside the far goalpost just 33 seconds into final period. "I think the goalie thought I was going to try to pass to the middle," he said. "He may have been surprised a bit." The Lightning captain was mobbed by his teammates, just eight nights after he tied the NHL record for power-play goals. "Playing with a guy like Dave is a privilege," Tampa Bay goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin said. "He sets the record for power-play goals and then so quickly gets his 600th goal. I'm very happy he is my teammate and I'm very happy for him for what he has done." Andreychuk's 500th goal also came in New Jersey on March 15, 1997 as a member of the Devils, for whom he scored 64 times from 1996-99. "Obviously, I would have liked to have done it at home in front of our fans. This is a building I really like to play in, and I loved playing here," he said. "When I played here, it was with a great group of guys." Just 2:20 later, Andreychuk tipped Vincent Lecavalier's shot past Corey Schwab to tie Jari Kurri for 13th place on the all-time goal-scoring list. "It kinds of blows me away a little bit," Andreychuk said of his climb up the charts. "I guess someday I'll be sitting on a boat somewhere and I'll think about it. Right now, it is hard to fathom." "He loves to score goals," said New Jersey's Pat Burns, who coached Andreychuk in Toronto. "He knows how to find a way and the puck always seems to touch something, whether it's his stick or he gets his rear end in the way. Whether it's practice or in a game, the man loves to score goals." Khabibulin made 32 saves and avenged Tampa Bay's first loss of the season, a 5-1 setback here on October 26 in which backup Kevin Hodson faced the Devils. Sergei Brylin scored the only goal for New Jersey, which finally gave Martin Brodeur a night off but had a four-game home unbeaten streak snapped. Coming off Thursday's 7-2 home loss to the New York Islanders, the Lightning fell behind as Brylin drifted in front of the net, got a pass from Joe Nieuwendyk and flicked a shot past Khabibulin just 58 seconds into the second period. Tampa Bay tied it just over nine minutes later when Andre Roy put a short backhander by Schwab from the left side. The momentum shifted when Lightning coach John Tortorella put Andreychuk on a line with Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. "David started playing a regular shift at that point, which is something I have stayed away from quite a bit," Tortorella said. "I'm glad for his 600th and it's a great tribute to him, but I'm more happy that it helped our team win." Schwab stopped 20 shots in his first regular-season action since April 10. He made just two saves in the first period. "Sometimes it just depends on the type of shots you get," Schwab said. "You may only get a few shots and they're from the outside. And sometimes you may get a few breakaways. So it really depends on what type of action you're seeing and not so much the number of shots." "He was all right," Burns said. "You've got to give it to him, the guy hasn't been in goal since last year. You don't count exhibition games because they don't count. We didn't give him much support and we had tons of chances." |
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