Devils" Clarkson, a Tough Guy, Is Playing and Scoring More NEWARK - The bridge of Zach Parise's nose still bore a bump and a thick scab Sunday, five days after Parise, the Devils" captain, was shoved face-first into the boards by Dion Phaneuf, a big defenseman for the Toronto Maple Leafs who plays with a glowering scowl. Phaneuf was not penalized, but he was punished, in a sense, moments later by Devils forward David Clarkson, who picked a fight with Phaneuf and landed three hard rights. "A player like me appreciates that, when a player comes in there and sticks up for you," Parise said. Things like that go a long way. Clarkson, a genial, mild-mannered 27-year-old from Mimico, Ontario, is still every bit a tough guy. But he is doing more than just settling scores. He has been transformed. Clarkson is playing more and is scoring a lot more for the Devils. He already has 24 goals, surpassing his career high, 17. The Devils (35-22-4) lost, 4-3, Sunday to the Tampa Bay Lightning as the speedy forward Martin St. Louis scored three goals. The loss, the Devils" second straight, should make Monday's game at Madison Square Garden against the first-place Rangers (39-15-6) even more interesting than usual. "The Rangers don't give you a choice but to play the right way," said Peter DeBoer, the Devils" first-year coach. Although the Feb. 7 game between the Devils and the Rangers opened with side-by-side fights, Clarkson was not involved in either. In fact, the fight with Phaneuf was his first since he fought the Rangers" Brandon Dubinsky two months before. Clarkson has only six fighting majors this season; he had 21 fights in 2007-8, his first full season in the N.H.L., and 20 the next year. The Rangers lead the league in fighting majors. "I don't feel like I have to do those things to be the player I am," Clarkson said. "When the team's winning - and we have been - and we're up one goal or two, guys will ask you" to fight, "and you have to be a bit smarter and think about it: "Well, we're up two. We're up one. So there's no point in fighting tonight. That has a lot to do with it. I think the team's success is the reason I haven't had to fight as much. I've just been able to play. Clarkson is not as gifted as, say, Ilya Kovalchuk, the $100 million forward who has only one more goal than Clarkson. Most of Clarkson's goals have come on tips or rebounds. He scored a tying goal with 48 seconds left in regulation in a Jan. 31 victory over the Rangers when the puck took an odd bounce off a metal stanchion and landed on his stick. Clarkson has also benefited from a teammate's misfortune. Travis Zajac, a crafty center, has missed all but eight games this season with an injured Achilles" tendon, and Clarkson replaced him on the first power-play unit and has seven power-play goals. His playing time has increased by an average of more than two minutes a game, and he has found a home on the Devils" second line, which is centered by Patrik Elias and has Petr Sykora at the other wing. The line's production has been one of the team's pleasant surprises. "He's been put into a position to get more offensive opportunities," Elias said of Clarkson. He's playing the first power play, and he's playing more minutes than he did before. He's not just playing on the third or fourth line, like he did in previous years. He has a good release, good shot. Combine those things, and that's why he's having the year he's having. A potential restricted free agent, Clarkson signed a three-year, $8 million contract before last season but had only 12 goals and a career-worst minus-20 rating. Even his fighting majors were down, to 13. But hardly any member of the Devils had a good season, and the team missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons. "Everyone saw him as a top-nine forward who could score and play a tough game when they gave him that contract, and he had an off-year, for whatever reasons," DeBoer said. He's just back to where he was before. He's still got a lot of upside in his game. I think he can continue to get better. These Devils barely resemble the tenacious, defense-first-and-foremost teams that won three Stanley Cups. Seven players already have 15 goals. The Devils, who sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, have won 9 of their last 13 games and have scored three or more goals in all but one of those victories. DeBoer said Clarkson was capable of doing more than fighting or scoring. He could, for instance, play better on defense. DeBoer would love to put Clarkson on the ice for the final minutes of tight games, when the Devils need to shut down an opponent's top scorers. DeBoer did not sound as if he wanted to say Clarkson had been transformed from an enforcer. He will still be counted on to agitate and intimidate opponents - and, when necessary, deliver a point with a punch. But he has learned when to fight, too. "That might spark their team," Clarkson said of a fight. They can come back and win the game. You've got to learn to time your fights. As I've gotten older, I've learned when is the right time and place. I think that just comes from the years you've played in the league and what you've been through.