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Brodeur shines in return as Devils blank Avalanche

Feb 27, 2009 - 4:18 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The song "Happy days are here again" echoed throughout the Prudential Center before the New Jersey Devils took the ice for pregame warm-ups.

In Martin Brodeur's much-anticipated return, its message sure rang true.

After missing four months with a devastating injury, Brodeur made 24 saves and All-Star Zach Parise and Travis Zajac each recorded a goal and two assists as the Devils blanked the Colorado Avalanche, 4-0, on Thursday.

"I didn't want to disappoint anybody," Brodeur said. "Everybody was excited, I was excited to come back. I know all my friends and family are excited. I just wanted to do well. It was a lot of pressure for just one game."

Captain Jamie Langenbrunner scored a goal and set up another, Patrik Elias also tallied and defenseman Paul Martin notched two assists for New Jersey, which went 32-17-1 without Brodeur.

A four-time Vezina Trophy winner, Brodeur turned aside five shots in the first period, 12 in the second and seven in the third to register his third shutout of the season and 99th career - leaving him four behind Terry Sawchuk's all-time mark of 103.

"I was really anxious all day, more nervous than I thought I'd be," Brodeur said. "I had butterflies. I don't feel them too often. I thought I was going to be able to go out there and just be my old self and not think about much. But it was a big deal for me to get back in the net.

"It was kind of a nice game to play because I was able to get my feet wet in the first period, a couple of saves in the second and we shut them down pretty well in the third."

Brodeur also recorded his 545th career win, pulling within six of Patrick Roy's all-time record.

"This was just a good game for me to come back on the schedule," Brodeur said. "As far as chasing that record, every day I'm going to have to deal with it. I'm excited about it, no doubt about it, but what's in my mind right now is getting back in top form for the playoffs. Winning is what we're in business to do. Hopefully, we'll get it done, put it past us and move on."

Andrew Raycroft stopped 28 shots for Colorado, which has lost three in a row.

"You knew he was going to come with a lot of energy and a lot of hype and his team's going to play well around him," Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote said. "I don't think we gave him a good test, that's for sure. I don't think we made it too difficult for him."

The 36-year-old Brodeur was not tested often but appeared to shake off whatever rust built up from not playing since a 6-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on November 1, when he suffered a tear in his distal biceps muscle in his left arm.

"The elbow was great," Brodeur said. "I didn't feel anything all game long. I tested it a couple of times, especially getting up and moving across (the net), anchoring myself on the post. I didn't get many shots on the glove side. Even playing the puck, I didn't feel anything."

Although Brodeur also received plenty of help on the offensive end, most of the booming cheers were directed toward him.

"I heard it," Brodeur said. "It was fun. I think the fans were great. I expected that, too. I've always had a good relationship with the fans. There were a lot of people out there and they were all into it."

Langenbrunner opened the scoring at 4:38 of the opening period, accepting a pass from Zajac and firing a hard slap shot from the right faceoff circle that sailed by Raycroft.

In the following session, Elias doubled the lead by lifting a wrist shot into the vacant net while stationed on the doorstep at 8:43.

"We have to stay in the frame of mind where the only thing that matters is how we perform in the next game," Colorado coach Tony Granato said. "Tonight's a tough loss to swallow. We have to go back and figure a way how to be a better team on Saturday."

Parise netted his team-leading 36th goal of the season, skating in toward the low slot and using a nifty deke before beating Raycroft at 8:06 of the third.

"I think tonight we did a better job of limiting their scoring chances," Parise said. "We were giving up too many shots, but we buckled down tonight and did a lot better."

Zajac secured the victory with a wrister with 3:13 remaining in the contest.

"We wanted to come out with a good effort and help Marty out and make it easy on him," Zajac said. "Tonight, he made some big saves for us. The whole crowd was cheering every save he made. That was fun to be a part of."

The Devils, who suffered a 4-0 blanking to the lowly New York Islanders on Saturday, improved to 6-1-0 in games after being shut out.