Gomez Is Glad to Score

Scoring slumps are funny things. Unless you happen to be mired in one, as New Jersey Devil winger Scott Gomez was until Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday.

Gomez went 12 games without a goal until he received a gift from Colorado Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy in Game 4. Roy misplayed the puck behind his net, Devil winger Jay Pandolfo intercepted it and passed out front to an unmarked Gomez, who tucked it into an open net.

“Knowing my luck right now, I’m surprised the shot didn’t hit the post,” Gomez joked.

The goal was Gomez’s fifth of the playoffs, but his first since Game 3 of the Devils’ second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had been shut out in the first three games of the finals and was blanked in the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Gomez, the 1999-2000 rookie of the year, wasn’t the only Devil in a drought going into Game 4. Forwards Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora also scored their first goals of the finals, leading New Jersey to a 3-2 victory Saturday that tied the best-of-seven series at two victories apiece.

Game 5 is tonight at the Pepsi Center.

“It was tough looking at myself in the mirror and saying, ‘Hey, you’re not giving it your all,’ ” Gomez said. “I think it was just a matter of time and I got a little lucky, I guess.”

New Jersey winger Alexander Mogilny could use the sort of good fortune that helped Gomez end his skid. Mogilny, who led the team with 43 goals during the regular season, has been blanked in 14 consecutive playoff games.

Mogilny played his strongest game of the finals in Game 4, recording five shots.

And he came within an eyelash of ending his slump when he sent a slap shot from the left wing off the crossbar midway through the second period.

“They were both skating and getting involved,” New Jersey Coach Larry Robinson said about Gomez and Mogilny.

“I look back to the Toronto series and that’s the kind of game that Gomez was playing. He was always around the puck. Alex had a couple of great chances [Saturday], but more than that, he was just involved a lot more.”

Neither team is paying a heavy price for taking foolish penalties.

The Devils have scored on one of 17 chances with the man-advantage for a 5.9% success rate.

The Avalanche is three for 20 (15%).

Robinson praised his penalty killers, who blanked the Avalanche five times in Game 4--the first game Colorado has failed to score a power-play goal in the finals.

“If we don’t have that, we’re not even in this series,” said Robinson, who added, “If I was to look back in the series at something I’m completely disappointed in it’s the number of stupid penalties we keep taking.”

After splitting two games in the other team’s arena, the question was put to Colorado defenseman Jon Klemm: Who has the edge now that the series has shifted back to the Pepsi Center for Game 5?

“We’ve still got home-ice advantage,” Klemm said. “But as you’ve seen throughout the playoffs, home ice doesn’t really matter at this time of the year. We just want to play better. We weren’t very good [Saturday]. We definitely want to come out in Game 5 and have a great game.”