NEWARK, N.J. â€" The New Jersey Devils remain alive in the Stanley Cup chase because of a player who spent most of the season off the ice, working his way back from an Achilles tendon injury.
Travis Zajac scored at 5:39 of overtime and the Devils beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 to force a deciding seventh game in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Panthers, seeking their first playoff-series victory since 1996, will host Game 7 Thursday.
"It's fun to be back competing and playing at this time of year," said Zajac whose activity was limited to 15 regular-season games because of the Achilles injury in August that required surgery.
Steve Bernier and Ilya Kovalchuk also scored, and Martin Brodeur made 14 saves for New Jersey.
Kris Versteeg and Sean Bergenheim scored for Florida, which was outshot 42-16. Scott Clemmensen, a former Devils goaltender playing because of an undisclosed injury that sidelined Jose Theodore, made 39 saves.
Canucks' Luongo is willing
to waive no-trade clause
Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo said he is willing to waive his no-trade clause.
Luongo, 33, is owed slightly more than $6.7 million for each of the next six seasons. He was the goalie as the Canucks lost the first two games of a best-of-seven West first-round series to the Los Angeles Kings.
Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault went with Cory Schneider, 26, for the last three games. The Kings won the series 4-1.
In the regular season, Luongo had a 2.41 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. Schneider had a 1.96 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage.
When Luongo was asked whether he would waive the no-trade clause, NHL.com reported, he said, "Yeah, of course, if they ask me to. I don't want to be one of those guys that's going to stand in the way of anything. I always want to put the team ahead of me first.
"I don't want to be one of those selfish guys."
Luongo said Schneider "is going to be a superstar in this league the next 10, 12, 15 years," according to NHL.com.
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