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Brodeur records 12th shutout of season

Feb 28, 2007 - 5:00 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Martin Brodeur parlayed some rest into another shutout.

Brodeur made 31 saves for his league-leading 12th shutout of the season as the New Jersey Devils widened their Atlantic Division lead with a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After having his streak of 32 consecutive starts stopped Sunday when Scott Clemmensen got the call in a 3-2 win at Washington, Brodeur was back in his familiar spot in net.

"It felt good (to get a game off)," Brodeur said. "It's always good to go into a big game like that as fresh as you can and play well."

Brodeur frustrated the likes of Sidney Crosby and dynamic rookie Evgeni Malkin as he blanked the Penguins for a second time this season. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner made 12 saves in the first period, seven in the second and turned aside 12 shots in the final session en route to his 92nd career shutout.

"Brodeur was again phenomenal," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "There were three or four times the puck went through him but he just got a little piece of it and we couldn't get that break. You need some breaks and we didn't get the breaks tonight."

Brodeur, who set his single-season mark for shutouts in a season, is three shy of tying Tony Esposito's single-season record of 15 set in 1969-70.

"I'm really excited about it," Brodeur said. "It means you win some hockey games when you get some shutouts, but I definitely didn't expect this. Especially last year the way it went early on, that I would be able to get so many shutouts. I finished the season strong last year, and all this year has been going well. It's a big commitment to what the team's doing defensively."

The Devils also relied on their All-Star netminder to be their best penalty killer. The Penguins were 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

"They crashed the net pretty hard in the third period, I thought," Brodeur said. "They had some chances, a lot of traffic, a couple shots I didn't really see. My defensemen were blocking them for me a couple times but we found a way to pull it through."

While the Penguins failed to get their power play going, the Devils took advantage of one of their four chances.

Jamie Langenbrunner blasted a one-timer from the slot past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury 33 seconds into the second period to account for the game's only offense. It was the 21st goal of the season for Langenbrunner, who also had the go-ahead tally in the third period Sunday.

"It was a great pass from Scott Gomez, right on my tape, and I was able to walk right into it," Langenbrunner said. "Sometimes, those find their way through, and sometimes they hit a body, so I'm glad that got through."

"There was a lot of traffic and I was just going to try and cover (the net) the most I could and I just didn't see it go in," said Fleury, who made 24 saves.

New Jersey (40-18-6) moved 11 points ahead of Pittsburgh (33-20-9) in the division.

"They've got a couple games in hand on us that definitely can cut into that quickly and we see each other two more times," Langenbrunner said. "I think something we learned from last year when we came way back is that it's very possible so we know we can't let down our guard, we know we have to keep picking up points if we want to finish in one of those top three seeds."

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar nearly got the Penguins on the board while on the power play in opening minute of the third period when he drilled a shot from the right point off the right goalpoast. Brodeur was able to gather the loose puck in the crease.

"He's a great goalie; one of the greatest to ever play but he got some lucky bounces," Crosby said. "There were some pucks behind him but his D-men backed him up. Not to take anything away from him but he played solid and made saves when he needed to."

It was a busy day for the Penguins, who made four trades prior to Tuesday afternoon's deadline. Their biggest deal landed them veteran left wing Gary Roberts from Florida.