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Brodeur, defense lead Devils over Bruins

Dec 10, 2006 - 2:55 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Thanks to Martin Brodeur and a suffocating defense, the New Jersey Devils remained on a roll.

Brodeur made 19 saves as the Devils clamped down defensively en route to a 5-1 victory over the the Boston Bruins.

Jay Pandolfo, captain Patrik Elias and Sergei Brylin each had a goal and an assist for the Devils, who did not face a shorthanded situation in extending their winning streak to five games.

"For us, I think our team has been pretty disciplined all season long," New Jersey coach Claude Julien said. "When you stay out of the penalty box, you give yourself a chance. We all know about the game this day and age. It's a specialty-teams game, so staying disciplined is important."

"They always play the same style, and I didn't think the officiating was that great tonight, either," Boston center Marc Savard said.

New Jersey has outscored its opponents, 19-7, during its winning streak.

"Top to bottom, through the lineup, from the start of the game and right to the end, we played our best road game of the year," New Jersey's Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We had four lines going and everyone chipped in. We were solid, created a lot of opportunities and definitely could have had a few more (goals) and really limited their chances."

Langenbrunner scored what proved to be the winner with 72 seconds left in the first period. After taking a pass from behind the net by rookie Travis Zajac, Langenbrunner snapped the puck over goaltender Tim Thomas' glove for a 2-0 lead.

The tally was the second game-winner in as many days for Langenbrunner, who also scored the decisive goal in a 2-0 victory over Philadelphia on Friday.

Thomas, who was making his 20th consecutive appearance, was replaced by Hannu Toivonen after allowing two goals in the first period. Thomas finished with 12 saves, while Toivonen stopped 25 shots.

"I felt pretty good, got a couple of shots and got into the game right there (in second period) and started feeling pretty good," Toivonen said. "But there's a couple of saves in the third that should've been made, and it cost us the hockey game."

"We had to change things up a bit," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "Timmy had no real chance on either one of those goals, a 2-on-1 and a great shot. I just thought I'd change it up, and it worked for a while. The guys responded and got a goal, but we could never get that tying goal."

Savard scored the lone goal for the Bruins, who lost for only the second time in their last seven games.

Erik Rasmussen scored the other goal for the Devils, who went 1-for-4 on the power play. The center's tally came when he backhanded a shot from a sharp angle past Toivonen at 10:10 of the third period, giving New Jersey a 3-1 lead.

"That third goal was a big goal for us," Julien said. "(Rasmussen) went to the net hard and just threw it in. I thought we were playing hard, and that goal took a lot of pressure off us."