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Brodeur breaks shutout record in win vs. Pens
This was more than a regular-season game for Martin Brodeur, more
than another night at the rink, and his Devils teammates knew it.
They threw themselves at every Penguins shot and played as if the
Stanley Cup was being decided, all to make sure Brodeur reached the
NHL record book again.
Brodeur broke Terry Sawchuk's 40-year-old record with his
104th career shutout, further strengthening his case to be
considered the best goaltender to play the game, and the streaking
New Jersey Devils had little trouble beating Pittsburgh 4-0 on
Monday night.
Brodeur made 35 stops to surpass the coveted shutout record
only two games after setting the NHL mark for regular-season
appearances by a goaltender. The shutout record came in his 1,032nd
game over 16 seasons, all with the Devils.
Now the question is how long Brodeur will own his latest and
hardest-to-surpass record. Twenty-five years? Fifty? Forever? Until
Brodeur came along, no other goalie was within 10 shutouts of
Sawchuk, who last played in 1969-70.
"This record was held for so long, when you do break records
and see how long they lasted, it's cool," Brodeur said. "Tying it
was amazing and surpassing him, was a great honor for me to be in
that position."
Brodeur has long been compared to the game's greats, and for
obvious reasons - no other current-day goalie can begin to compare
to the 37-year-old, the only active player among the top 22 on the
career shutouts list. He has three shutouts this season and six in
his career against Pittsburgh. He broke the record two weeks after
beating Buffalo 3-0 on Dec. 7 to tie it.
As the game ended, his teammates swarmed to congratulate him,
and the remaining fans from the standing-room crowd of 17,132
applauded as a congratulatory message from Penguins owner Mario
Lemieux was read on the public address system.
"It's great, but I wasn't focusing on it," Brodeur said. "I'm
definitely happy it's passed and we can just go play, and I don't
have to answer the questions about it."
Brodeur, the NHL's winningest goalie with 580 wins, is 23-8-1
this season.
"When it got down to 10 minutes, five minutes, everybody's
thinking about it (the record)," teammate Zach Parise said. "We're
on the ice when a lot of these records are happening and it's fun.
... I don't think much needs to be said. It's all self-explanatory,
all the winning he's done, the shutouts, the (three Stanley) Cups.
It's unbelievable."
Brodeur's latest shutout came only two days after he was
pulled during a rare off night in New Jersey's 5-4 victory over
Atlanta on Saturday. He left after allowing three goals in the
first.
"Surpassing a record definitely becomes a little
nerve-racking," Brodeur said. "I don't get nervous, but today I was
a little nervous. It was a like a good playoff game, everybody was
trying to get the puck out and blocking shots and definitely it was
a great effort by my teammates for me to break it."
Brodeur made nearly every save look easy as the Devils -
owners of the NHL's best record - gave him plenty of support by
taking a 1-0 lead in the first, then scoring three times in the
second to chase Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury has been playing as well as any NHL goalie other than
Brodeur with a 10-1-1 record and 1.80 goals-against average in 12
games, only to be yanked after allowing four goals on 16 goals.
Pittsburgh came into matchup between the NHL's two
best-record teams with a five-game winning streak and a 13-2-1
record in the last 16 games, but were dominated at home by New
Jersey for the third time this season. The Devils outscored the
Penguins 12-2 in winning all three games at Mellon Arena, where
they won't play again unless the teams meet in the playoffs.
Brodeur might be one of the few visiting players unhappy to
see the cramped, 48-year-old arena shut down after this season,
given his 16-4 record there in his last 20 games.
"It's great that we got it the way we did, in maybe our last
game here," Brodeur said. "It was a big game for us, so to get the
shutout on top of it is great."
Patrik Elias scored his fourth goal in five games and Zach
Parise had three assists as the Devils won their fourth in a row to
improve to an NHL-best 26-8-1. They won their fifth in a row, ninth
in 10 games and 12th in 14, and are 27-9-1 in Pittsburgh since
March 4, 1997.
Brodeur's toughest save probably came with the teams skating
4 on 4 and the Devils up 2-0 early in the second. Evgeni Malkin got
loose on a short breakaway, but Brodeur easily turned aside his
shot.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had a good chance to end the
shutout with about 90 seconds remaining, but his shot struck the
right post. Brodeur made a glove-hand save on Jordan Staal's
in-close shot with 42 seconds remaining.
"It's pretty incredible. The records are piling up," Crosby
said of Brodeur. "He's a legendary goalie and he proves it every
year."
New Jersey, a league-best 13-2-1 on the road this season,
took its 1-0 lead on an unlikely goal by Bryce Salvador, whose
wrist shot from the left point eluded Fleury 4:39 into the game.
The Devils made it 2-0 with a similar goal by Niclas Bergfors on a
power play 23 seconds into the second.
Notes: Staal left a pool of blood on the ice after
being struck in the face by a puck about seven minutes into the
second period, but returned early in the third wearing a full face
shield. ... Elias has four goals in five games. ... New Jersey won
its earlier two games in Pittsburgh by 4-1 scores. ... Parise has
two goals and five assists in three games against Pittsburgh. ...
New Jersey took the Atlantic Division lead with 53 points to
Pittsburgh's 51.
