Martin Brodeur

Martin Brodeur stopped 30 shots for his first shutout of the season and the record 117th of his NHL career, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers, 1-0, last night in New York for their fifth consecutive win. Brodeur was sharp and steady throughout, despite going several stretches without facing much action. David Clarkson gave him all the offense he needed with a first-period power-play goal. Brodeur made it stand for the Devils, who didn't need any help from Ilya Kovalchuk, who had 3 points in each of his previous three games.

NEWARK - The Eastern Conference finals between the rival New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils finally got ugly - real ugly. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was sucker punched in the third period by former teammate Mike Rupp. Coaches Peter DeBoer of New Jersey and John Tortorella of New York screamed at each other after the incident. And the Rangers blew their cool, as the Devils rode two goals and an assist by Zach Parise to a 4-1 victory on Monday night that evened the series, 2-2. "Throughout a seven-game series," Parise said, "both teams are going to get frustrated with things.

All done in Boston. David Krejci with hat trick. 20:00 2d period: 3-3 Bruins with a point. Fortunate given how poorly they played in second period. 14:26 3d period: 3-3 Chris Kelly replaces Brian Rolston on No. 2 line. Rolston having hard time fitting in. 9:15 3d period: 3-3 Chris Kelly rings a shorthanded shot off the post. NJ gives up shorties like candy. 8:57 3d period: 3-3 Andrew Ference to the room. Had left earlier and returned to the bench.

If you have any doubt the New Jersey Devils are frustrating the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference finals, just look at Game 4. Forget that Zach Parise scored two goals and set up another in the Devils' 4-1 win that evened the series at 2-all. Look at the extracurricular stuff in the game Monday night. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur got sucker-punched by former teammate Mike Rupp, who might now be facing a suspension. New Jersey teammates Patrik Elias, Adam Henrique and Steve Bernier were the victims of cheap shots, and the Rangers spent most of the final 20 minutes...

NEW YORK - Rangers rookie Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Girardi both had a goal and an assist in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, as weary New York opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-0 victory over the well-rested New Jersey Devils Monday night. Playing just two days after eliminating Washington in a stirring 2-1 Game 7 victory, the top-seeded Rangers hit their home ice again and won their third straight Game 1 of these playoffs.

Petr Prucha broke host New York's power-play slump, and fellow rookie Henrik Lundqvist outdueled goalie counterpart Martin Brodeur to lift the Rangers to a 3-1 victory last night that ended the New Jersey Devils' nine-game winning streak. Prucha staked the Rangers to the lead in the first period, his 24th goal snapping New York's 3-for-41 power-play slump. Michael Nylander doubled the lead in the second and Lundqvist did the rest, stopping 31 shots. Dominic Moore sealed it with an empty-netter on New York's 33d and final shot.

Martin Brodeur stopped 30 shots for his first shutout of the season and the record 117th of his NHL career, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers 1-0 on Tuesday night for their fifth consecutive win. Brodeur was sharp and steady throughout, despite going several stretches without facing much action. David Clarkson gave him all the offense he needed with a first-period, power-play goal. Brodeur made it stand for the Devils, who didn't need any help from Ilya Kovalchuk, who had three points in each of his previous three games.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Sidney Crosby has dominated at every level of hockey he's played. Last night, the night of his life, he wasn't even the best rookie on the ice. Zach Parise, New Jersey's first-round draft pick in 2003, scored a power-play goal and assisted on one of Brian Gionta's two goals in an outstanding debut that led the Devils to a 5-1 victory over Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins. Sergei Brylin also scored twice for New Jersey, which upstaged Crosby's long-awaited but not very satisfying opening night by winning the same way it almost always does.

Kevin Weekes hasn't made anyone forget Martin Brodeur yet, but he got the New Jersey Devils a much-needed win. One day after the Devils learned their franchise player Brodeur will be sidelined for months, Weekes gave the team the kind of goaltending it will need to get by without him. After allowing a shootout goal to Vincent Lecavalier, Weekes stopped Jussi Jokinen and Vaclav Prospal to give the host Devils a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay...

Mark Recchi and John LeClair each had a goal and three assists, lifting the Philadelphia Flyers past the Capitals, 4-1, last night in Washington. Michal Handzus and Kim Johnsson also scored to help the Flyers win for the fifth time in their last six games. Recchi opened the scoring at 5:30 of the first period, beating goalie Rastislav Stana with a wrist shot after LeClair's strong play to keep the puck in offensive zone. LeClair made it 2-0 less than three minutes later, tipping a shot past Stana, who started in place of Olaf Kolzig for the first time since being recalled from Portland.

NEW YORK - David Clarkson's deflected goal 2:31 into the third period snapped a tie and lifted the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers that evened the Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece Wednesday night. Clarkson built off the momentum created by Ryan Carter's goal late in the second period that tied the score, 2-2. Ilya Kovalchuk had given the Devils a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first. Defenseman Bryce Salvador added two assists, and Martin Brodeur stopped 23 saves for the win. "We had to keep going to the net, and I think we were doing some...

NEW YORK - Rangers rookie Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Girardi both had a goal and an assist in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, as weary New York opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-0 victory over the well-rested New Jersey Devils Monday night. Playing just two days after eliminating Washington in a stirring 2-1 Game 7 victory, the top-seeded Rangers hit their home ice again and won their third straight Game 1 of these playoffs.

Martin Brodeur bounced back from his shortest postseason performance with a record-setting 24th Stanley Cup playoff shutout, leading the host New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers Thursday night, tying their first-round series at 2-all. Brodeur made 26 saves in taking over sole possession of the postseason shutout mark from Patrick Roy. The 39-year-old goaltender also added his second assist of the series, giving him 10 for his career, four behind all-time leader Grant Fuhr.

Don't write Martin Brodeur off after one bad playoff game. The 39-year-old bounced back from his shortest postseason performance with a record-setting 24th Stanley Cup playoff shutout, leading the New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers Thursday night, tying their first-round series at 2-all. "He was on top of his game," Devils captain Zach Parise said. "You could tell. He was seeing the puck really well. He made the big saves early. I think we all knew he would have a great game but when you see the first couple of saves, we have all the confidence in the...

Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias scored in a shootout and Martin Brodeur made 37 saves and stopped four of five shooters to give the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Brodeur made a sprawling stop on Andrew Shaw to end the contest and give New Jersey a four-point lead on Ottawa in the race for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Zajac, who returned to the lineup Sunday after sitting out with an Achilles' tendon injury, snapped a shot over Corey Crawford for the winner in the shootout.

On March 13, with his team down, 2-0, to Philadelphia with five minutes remaining in regulation, Devils coach Peter DeBoer did something that would have startled most of his counterparts. During four-on-four play, he yanked goaltender Martin Brodeur and replaced him with forward David Clarkson, leaving the net empty. The brassy move caught the attention of Michael Schuckers, associate professor of mathematics at St. Lawrence University. Schuckers doubles as the cofounder of Statistical Sports Consulting.

New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur was forced to leave the Devils' game against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday after one period because of a minor shoulder injury. Brodeur said he tweaked his right shoulder with about 8 minutes left in the first period of the Devils' 2-1 shootout win when he landed awkwardly while diving across the crease to made a blocker save. Brodeur finished the period but he said he lost stretch in his arm and had trouble holding his stick. "It was swollen a little bit in the shoulder and I decided not to go back," Brodeur said.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The New Jersey Devils eventually were going to lose. Boy, did they ever. Ray Whitney scored two fortuitous goals, rookie Cam Ward got his first career playoff shutout, and the Carolina Hurricanes ended New Jersey's 15-game winning streak with a 6-0 victory yesterday in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinal series. It was the first loss for the Devils since March 26 -- they won the final 11 games of the regular season on the way to the Atlantic Division title, then swept the Rangers in the first round.