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Brodeur, Devils face red-hot Thrashers

Nov 23, 2007 - 2:45 PM New Jersey (9-10-2) at Atlanta (11-10-0) 7:30 pm EST

ATLANTA (Ticker) - For Martin Brodeur to reach 502 career wins Friday, he will have to shutdown one of the NHL's hottest teams.

The three-time Vezina Trophy winner will look to lead the New Jersey Devils to their third straight win when they visit the surging Atlanta Thrashers.

Brodeur followed up his historic 500th career win against the rival Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday with a 25-save performance in Wednesday's 2-1 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 14-year veteran, who became the first goaltender in NHL history to win 500 games with one team, is 50 wins shy of Patrick Roy's all-time record of 551. Despite his recent surge, Brodeur is off to slow start by his standards, going just 7-10-1 with a 2.60 goals-against average.

The Thrashers are finally starting to look like the team that won the franchise's first division title last season. After getting swept out of the playoffs, Atlanta started the 2007-08 campaign with six consecutive losses, prompting a coaching change.

The move has worked - since general manager Don Waddell replaced Bob Hartley behind the bench, the Thrashers are 11-4-0.

The biggest reason for Atlanta's quick turn around has been the play of Ilya Kovalchuk, who leads the NHL with 19 goals and has 33 points on the season. The 24-year-old Kovalchuk has at least a goal and assist in each of his previous four contests, tallying five goals and six assists in that span.