Brodeur gets shutout #100 as Devils beat Flyers

If the New Jersey Devils knew that Martin Brodeur would have come back from his elbow injury in this kind of form they would have let him take half the season off a long time ago.  On Sunday afternoon, Brodeur earned his 2^nd shutout in three games as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 at the Meadowlands Arena.

Of course if the rest of the Devils had always played this way in front of Brodeur, he wouldn’t have wanted to stay away.  For much of his career, Brodeur has been forced to keep his team in games when the defense broke down or the offense wasn’t clicking.  Since his return, however, the Devils have been scoring goals and playing great defense in front of him.  On Sunday, New Jersey used goals early in each of the three periods to give their goaltender a nice cushion and let him do the rest.

Jamie Langenbrunner got the opening score of the contest just over three minutes into the game on an even strength goal from Zach Parise, Travis Zajac.  Brian Gionta tallied just 37 seconds into the 2^nd period, assisted by Johnny Oduya, Dainius Zubrus.  Oduya himself would score the game’s final marker with assists to produce the final margin of victory.

Martin Biron took the loss in net for the Flyers, though he played well considering that his team was outshot 42-27, including a lopsided 18-6 margin in the second period.  The star of the game was once again Brodeur, who earned his 100^th career shutout.  He’s now three shutouts shy of the all-time NHL record of 103, held by Detroit Red Wings legend Terry Sawchuk. After the game, Brodeur ruminated on reaching the century mark:

"It's a big number, it's kind of hard to believe. You get to different numbers and at times you think, 'OK, it's just another one.' When you get to a round number, it looks more impressive."

And he continued to praise his team’s play in all phases of the game:

"Any goalie, that's your dream team in front of you, one that scores goals and is responsible defensively. I don't think we are cutting corners in our own zone. We've been really disciplined in these three games and that makes a big difference in keeping the puck out of your net."

"This is as good as it gets.”