Brodeur ties NHL all time wins Mark as Devils beat Habs

Martin Brodeur made NHL history as he tied Patrick Roy on the all time regular season win list for goaltenders, and the New Jersey Devils kept pace with the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.   Roy watched the game from a luxury suite as Montreal native Brodeur matched his mark of 551 regular season victories with a 22 save performance.

The Devils quickly gave Brodeur a 2-0 lead to work with on first period power play goals from Patrik Elias (assisted by Travis Zajac and Zach Parise) and Brian Rolston(assisted by Niclas Havelid and Patrik Elias).  Montreal would answer with their only goal of the game at the 12:29 mark when Tomas Plekanec ‘put the biscuit in the basket’ set up by Patrice Brisebois and Matt D'Agostini.   The Devils would head to the locker room after the first period with a 2-1 lead.

After that, it was all Brodeur with a significant amount of help from his defensemen who kept the pressure on Montreal and limited their shots and his forwards who peppered Habs’ goalie Jaroslav Halak with a total of 48 shots.  Halak’s performance—45 saves in a losing cause—was impressive in its own right but obviously lost amid the furor over Brodeur’s record setting night.  After a scoreless second period, New Jersey’s Jamie Langenbrunner beat Halak for an insurance goal at the 12:57 mark of the third period to produce the final margin assisted by Travis Zajac and Zach Parise.

Following the game, Brodeur spoke of his achievement talking about Patrick Roy and the warm reaction from the Bell Centre crowd who chanted his name as time ran out:

"When you do these kinds of things sometimes you don't have a chance to meet the person, I got to know the guy, I played with him, I played against him, we had great battles, he took a Stanley Cup away from me ... it showed a lot of class. I really appreciated it. To look around and see the guys reacting ... I finally did it. The only one I knew where he was sitting was my dad. He had a pretty good seat."

And he specifically commented about the cheers of the rival fans:

"The recognition from the fans was tremendous and something I will never forget."

Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner echoed Brodeur’s sentiments:

"We've just got to applaud the crowd here tonight. Amazing, and what a show of respect."

Roy, who had his iconic #33 retired earlier this season by Montreal, displayed characteristic class in his postgame comments:

"I'm happy to be here tonight and see it happen. Nothing against Montreal -- I know Montreal is in the middle of a big race -- but I think it's a great moment in the game and I'm sure Marty is very excited to see it happen in his hometown in front of his family."

Devils coach Brett Sutter commended both legendary goalies in his post game comments:

"Accomplishments like this don't come around every day and when you talk about history and the game it's a pretty phenomenal thing. Patrick Roy was an outstanding, phenomenal goaltender and I know that firsthand from playing against him."

The Devils’ focus now turns to a Tuesday night home game against the Chicago Blackhawks where Brodeur will have the opportunity to break Roy’s record.  The Devils will play at Carolina the following night before hosting Minnesota on Friday night.  Montreal will try to break a two game losing streak on Tuesday night as they host the New York Rangers.  They’ll play at Ottawa on Thursday before returning to the Bell Centre on Saturday for a matchup against their traditional rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.