Devils Rally for Atlantic Title, 4-3

Jamie Langenbrunner capped a sensational third-period comeback Tuesday night that earned New Jersey the Atlantic Division title with its 11th consecutive victory, 4-3, at Montreal.

The Devils, who trailed division-leading Philadelphia by 19 points Jan. 6, registered the biggest comeback to claim a division title since the league divided into two conferences with the 1974-75 expansion. Detroit held the previous record, overcoming an 18-point deficit in 1993-94.

Brian Gionta had three points, including his franchise-record 47th and 48th goals, then Langenbrunner scored with 2:23 to go in regulation, and the Devils rallied from a 3-0 deficit. New Jersey, which was battling for one of the last playoff positions a month ago, won its sixth division championship in nine seasons.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in,” Langenbrunner said.

“We were basically so far out of it even three weeks ago that somehow we won this division and have home ice is -- I think we’re all a little bit in shock about that. But we definitely earned it.”

The Devils’ last loss was March 26, a 4-3 setback at Toronto.

In other games:

Dany Heatley scored his 50th goal in the third period to help Ottawa to a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, making the Senators the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference playoffs.... Jeff Carter beat Garth Snow on a breakaway with 7:22 left to help Philadelphia to a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y.... Chris Drury scored to reach 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career and Buffalo defeated Carolina, 4-0, at Raleigh, N.C.

Mike Van Ryn’s overtime goal lifted Florida to a 2-1 victory over Atlanta at Sunrise, Fla.... Mats Sundin scored two goals and added two assists and host Toronto defeated Pittsburgh, 5-3. Sidney Crosby scored his 39th goal for the Penguins.... Sergei Fedorov’s 14th career overtime goal gave Columbus a 5-4 victory over Dallas at Columbus, Ohio.

Paul Kariya notched his ninth career hat trick and helped Nashville to a 6-3 victory over Detroit at Nashville.... Jeff Halpern scored twice and goalie Brent Johnson stopped 42 shots to lift Washington to a 4-1 victory over Tampa Bay at Tampa, Fla.... Kyle Calder scored at 3:20 of overtime to lift Chicago to a 3-2 victory over St. Louis at Chicago. St. Louis missed the playoffs for the first time since 1979.