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Brodeur gets 40th win as Devils topple Avalanche

Mar 16, 2008 - 2:44 AM By Derek Nagy PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- All it took to cool off the red-hot Colorado Avalanche was Martin Brodeur.

The three-time Vezina Trophy winner made 24 saves to notch his NHL-best seventh 40-win season and Jay Pandolfo scored a goal and set up another as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Avalanche, 4-2, on Saturday afternoon.

Captain Jamie Langenbrunner netted the game-winner and Brian Gionta recorded two assists for the Devils (42-24-6), who maintained the top spot in the Eastern Conference by handing the Avalanche just their second loss in 10 games (8-2-0).

With Patrick Roy's No. 33 hanging in the rafters at the Pepsi Center, Brodeur picked up his 534th career victory, moving him within 17 of the Hall of Famer's all-time record.

"I've built my career and the way I play on being consistent, and the way I do that is winning 30 or 35 games," Brodeur said. "Those are the times that I see that the season has been consistent. I play a lot of games, my teammates expect me to win 35 games."

Colorado, looking for its league-leading ninth win against the East, had the better of the chances throughout the game but just could not muster anything past Brodeur.

"He (Brodeur) played pretty good, but I don't think we generated enough," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "It wasn't one of our better performances in the last two weeks. Once you get down to that team, they don't give you much. We took a few chances and got caught. That's the game."

Brodeur, who has won five of his last six starts, turned aside seven shots in the first period, eight in the second and nine in the third.

"When we need a save, Marty makes them," Devils coach Brent Sutter said.

"They missed the net a lot early on. They had some quality chances, they just didn't hit the net," Brodeur said. "That kind of woke me up a bit. Their offense around our net was one of the best we've seen all year."

Colorado did manage to solve Brodeur just 7:15 into the second period.

With a power play winding down, Andrew Brunette held the puck behind the net and waited for a streaking Paul Stastny to come clear. He did so in the middle of the left faceoff circle, and Brunette made a perfect pass for a one-timer that beat Brodeur to tie the game at 1-1.

It did not stay tied for long, however, as the Devils grabbed the lead less than two minutes later. Keeping the puck in the offensive zone, Gionta left it for a streaking Pandolfo, who wristed a perfect shot that found its way through two defenders and under goaltender Jose Theodore's blocker for a 2-1 edge at 9:02.

"I kind of lost it for a second, but I expect myself to make those saves," said Theodore, who stopped 23 shots.

Langenbrunner and Madden scored in the third period to extend the Devils' advantage to 4-1.

"We've played a lot better the last four or five games," Langenbrunner said. "We've been staying within our game. We've got no business running and gunning with teams. That's not when we're successful. We've done a lot better job doing our thing these last few games."

New Jersey opened the scoring with 5:52 left in the first period, when Dainius Zubrus saw a loose puck under Theodore and poked it in.

Defenseman John-Michael Liles netted a power-play goal with 7 1/2 minutes remaining for Colorado (39-28-6), which saw Minnesota (38-26-8) pull even with it in points for first place in the Northwest Division. The Wild posted a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.