SB Nation - Martin Brodeur

Game Preview: Buffalo Sabres @ Ottawa Senators

Rafal Ladysz — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:22:51 -0000

More photos » by Paul Chiasson - AP

1 day ago: Buffalo Sabres' Tim Kennedy, center, celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens with teammates Patrick Kaleta, left, and Tyler Myers during the third period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 in Montreal. The Sabres beat the Canadiens 4-3. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Paul Chiasson)

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Records, statistics and the standings don't matter, at least not for this match-up. Whether the Ottawa Senators are improving or playing poorly, they seem to have the Buffalo Sabres' number winning every season series in the last four years. Buffalo had a 41-26 shot advantage in the first contest of the season yet fell 5-3 to the Senators showing just how snake bitten they are when it comes to their Division foe.

But the Sabres don't look concerned with the past. Winners of four straight including a hard-fought 4-3 final in Montreal where they've struggled as well, the team believes they can beat anyone, anywhere. That's the mindset Buffalo needs and tonight is their best shot to really take it to the Senators which they undoubtedly would relish.

Five thoughts on each team below.

I dug up some numbers to give you an idea of how dominantly Ottawa has handled Buffalo. Since the lock-out, the Senators are 21-6-4 including this year's first clash. Of those 21 victories, 17 have ended by two or more goals and the Sabres have been outscored 126-88 when you count it all up which I did. Ouch.
Ryan Miller and Brian Elliott are the starting netminders. Patrick Lalime surrendered five goals in the November contest. If anyone can put an end to Buffalo's slump with Ottawa, it's Miller who continues to lead the league in every major category for goaltenders with the exception of wins where he is one shy of the lead held by Martin Brodeur and Jonathan Quick.
Clarke MacArthur banged home the game-winner Monday in Montreal via a five-on-three powerplay. The fourth-year winger passed Thomas Vanek in goals with his tenth by doing so. He put in 17 last season and looks to set a new career-high in the mid-20s.
Out with a torn MCL, Jason Spezza will be on the shelf as long as eight weeks possibly. It's a big break for Buffalo because the former Windsor Spitfire has 47 points in 37 career games with the Sabres. Also out of action for Ottawa is Chris Neil and Shean Donovan.
Three goals in two games including Buffalo's only two shorthanded markers have Patrick Kaleta receiving attention everywhere. Tied for sixth in team scoring with this outburst, the energetic checker has done it in style during and after the goal. A shorthanded goal would surely suck the life out of the Senators.
Spezza may be out but Ottawa still has three major threats up front. Daniel Alfredsson is always a thorn in our side, Mike Fisher is having a superb year and Milan Michalek already has 15 goals. And Alex Kovalev, in terms of work-rate, will be there maybe.
Buffalo's powerplay percentage is down to 21st and their penalty-kill has dropped to eighth which is the result of four of the last five goals they've conceded coming on the man-advantage. New York and Montreal both made two count. Ottawa is 12th on the penalty-kill and 21st when they are a man up so they aren't separated by Buffalo very much.
Against their Division, the Sabres are 4-2-2 as are the Senators strangely enough. Buffalo has won eight of ten and the Senators have lost six of ten.
Elliott is 5-0 lifetime versus Buffalo which shouldn't come as a surprise with their inabilities to close out the Senators. On the flip side, Miller is 8-11 against Ottawa but this will be his first crack at shutting them down this season.
A 15-2-2 record after scoring first is again irrelevant for Buffalo because Ottawa is one of the two squads who have won after allowing the opening goal to the Sabres. Boy have they ever had their way with Lindy Ruff's troops.

This is a must-win situation purely because Buffalo must prove it to the coaches, staff, fans and themselves that they have the ability to defeat Ottawa. With Spezza, Neil and Donovan out and a back-up goaltender standing in their way, this is their most timely opportunity. It's now or never.

New Jersey Devils Morning News, Dec 16

TibbsBeastoftheEast — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:51:00 -0000

Marty Brodeur is the enduring Devil - (The Bergen Record)
Zach Parise frustrated by drought - (The Bergen Record)

Brodeur approaches another milestone night against Canadiens - (Fire & Ice)
Devils, Langenbrunner take advantage of rest time; Lemaire believe goals will come for Zharkov - (Fire & Ice)
Jamie Langenbrunner returns to Devils’ practice - (Fire & Ice)
NJ Devils' Johnny Oduya still not at top of his game following return from injury - (The Star Ledger)
Devils try to continue streaky Hab-it - (The New York Post)
The Morning Skate: Another Record for Brodeur and Watching the Blues - (The New York Times)
Cangy: Brodeur NHL's Ripken - (Msgnetwork)
Devils-Canadiens Game Preview - (Msgnetwork)
Brodeur eyes more history vs. Habs - (NewJerseyDevils.com)
Devils make annual hospital visits - (NewJerseyDevils.com)
Not much holiday cheer around Flyers, Rangers - (NHL.com)
Another milestone in the offing for Brodeur - (NHL.com)
NHL Standings - (Yahoo NHL)
Devils' players stats - (Yahoo NHL)
Devils Team Report - (Yahoo NHL)
Canadiens-Devils Preview - (CBS SportsLine)
Allan Muir: Devils return to top of NHL Power Rankings - (CNN)

LOWELL DEVILS
Devils Dominate Falcons, 6-1 - (LowellDevilsHockey.com)
Devils Weekly #11 - Weekend Split Puts Lowell in Second Place - (LowellDevilsHockey.com)

AROUND THE NHL
Has technology made attending early season games obsolete? - (Yahoo NHL)
The 10 best hockey fights of the last decade - (Yahoo NHL)

MISCELLANEOUS
Life after NHL still good for Brick's Jim Dowd - (Brick Township Bulletin)

Game 32 Preview: New Jersey Devils vs. Montreal Canadiens - 12/16/2009

John Fischer — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:00:20 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur made this awesome save against Philadelphia on Saturday. How many will he have against Montreal tonight? (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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The Time: 7 PM EST

The Broadcasting Info: TV: MSG+ (HD); Radio: 660 AM WFAN

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (22-8-1) vs. the Montreal Canadiens (15-16-3)

The Last Devils Game: The New Jersey Devils started off great against Philadelphia, had a poor second period, but had a decent enough third period to put the Flyers away 4-1. The win was the first one this season over the team's Second Most Hated Rivals and was the game where Patrik Elias scored his 300th (and 301st) career goals. I recapped the game back on Saturday night.

The Last Canadiens Game: Oh, it's been a season of inconsistency for Les Habs. Up against Buffalo on Monday, the Canadiens got into penalty trouble and that led to Clarke McArthur's game winning power play goal. The Sabres went on to win 4-3 and Robert L of Habs Eyes on the Prize lamented the team's lack of discipline from that game, which truly stems from the team being outworked more than anything else.

The Goal: Try to win the second period. Oh, tonight would seem so magical for Martin Brodeur to get his 104th shutout against the team he seemingly owns on a regular basis, the Montreal Canadiens, in front of the hometown fans. Well, forget that noise. I'm more concerned with the team's performances in the period of the long change. Against the Lightning (Dec. 4), the Red Wings (Dec. 5), the Hurricanes (Dec. 9), the Panthers (Dec. 11), and the Flyers (Dec. 12), the Devils were arguably the second best team on the ice in the second period from what I saw. That's 5 of the Devils' last 7 games. That's disappointing.

I'm not saying the Devils should forgo playing well in the first period or the third period; I just want to see a good, solid second period performance. A second period where the other team doesn't make the game competitive after a great first period by the Devils. A second period where the Devils don't ease up on their work effort. A second period where the Devils don't loosen up on defense. Sure, the Devils have been getting results in the end, but they aren't doing it with complete games and they'll have to start giving more 50-60 minute efforts to keep getting results.

Read on for the rest of the preview for tonight's game, including some insight from Robert at Habs Eyes on the Prize.

First, let's get this out of the way, expect the lineup to be the same. So my guess will look awfully familiar to those who saw the team against Philadelphia:

Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Nicklas Bergfors
Brian Rolston - Patrik Elias - Jamie Langenbrunner
Jay Pandolfo - Rob Niedermayer - Vladimir Zharkov
Rod Pelley - Dean McAmmond - Ilkka Pikkarainen

Andy Greene - Bryce Salvador
Colin White - Mike Mottau
Mark Fraser - Johnny Oduya

Martin Brodeur
Yann Danis

The Devils have been getting wins with current lineup and there's no way Martin Brodeur isn't starting against Montreal. Tonight, he'll tie Patrick Roy's career record for games played (1,029) and, well, Brodeur has done incredibly well over his career against Montreal, per Yahoo's career split stats:

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Career vs. Montreal - Martin Brodeur	55	3326	35	15	5	99	1.79	1448	1349	.932	8

In a word: DOMINATION. Please note that those are his best split statline compared to all the other teams he faced.

Yeah, I'd expect Brodeur to do pretty well tonight. But as usual, this doesn't mean the defense can relax against Montreal. Sure, the team averages only 2.47 goals per game, but they had no issue putting up 3 goals past Ryan Miller. The big concern for the defense, on paper, will be the power duo of Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Tomas Plekanec	34	6	28	34	5	16	1	0	0	0	74	8.1
2009 - Mike Cammalleri	34	18	12	30	10	12	3	0	4	0	114	15.8

Behind them, it's a mix of seemingly inconsistent forwards. Talented players like Andrei Kostitsyn, ~~Alexei Kovalev~~, and Scott Gomez (P.S. The Rock will still boo you, all is apparently not forgiven.) are just not producing like the above two players. I'm sure the Canadiens faithful would love to see them improve on that front. Hence, the low goals scored per average for Montreal.

I'm also sure they'd love to see less penalties committed by their team. The criticism from Robert's recap of the Buffalo-Montreal game is not only echoed by Kevin Mio of Habs Inside/Out, but the team stats provide additional evidence. In terms of penalty minutes per game, it doesn't look so bad as the Canadiens average 13.4 minutes per game - that puts the team squarely in the middle of the league at 15th. But the minor penalties, oh, that's a different story. Les Habs have taken 170 minors this season, the second most in the league behind Philadelphia (172). By contrast, the Devils have only taken 101, the fewest in the league.

While that may not mean much in tonight's game, I think it highlights the importance of the Devils needing to outwork the Canadiens. They'll get beat, they'll do something dumb like hook, slash, or hold a player, and then they'll take a call that hurts them. Even if they kill all of the Devils' power plays (an increasingly difficult prospect as the Devils' PP is converting 22% of them), it's time they're spending mostly in their own end instead of attacking. That's opportunity to pressure them further and that's a benefit. So again, the Devils giving a complete - this includes the second period - effort on the ice will lead to many dividends beyond just possession of the puck.

The Canadiens have suffered a number of significant injuries to their roster along with inconsistent results. I had some additional questions about how Montreal on Sunday night. Thankfully, Robert Lefebvre, the man behind the epic Canadiens encyclopedia Habs Eyes on the Prize, was able to provide me with some answers.

Question #1. After a very busy summer, the Montreal Canadiens certainly haven't wowed many with a 15-15-3 (now 15-16-3) record. Regardless of what happened in Buffalo on Monday night, is there any one aspect that really sticks out that is holding the Canadiens back from success?

RL: While the Canadiens record may not have wowed many, fans in Montreal have generally been impressed with the majority of the new players. Cammalleri especially, [Brian] Gionta, before the injury, [Travis] Moen on the penalty kill, and with strong play from [Jaroslav] Spacek, [Hal] Gill and [Paul] Mara, the Canadiens are far from being in a desperate situation. If anything has held the team back, it has been the injury to Andrei Markov. After he was lost long term after being injured, the hope was that when he returned, Montreal would be somewhere around eight spot, looking at the playoff picture. It's mid December and Markov's return is imminent, so things are good.

Question #2. While Brian Gionta is injured and won't be at the Rock on Wednesday, Scott Gomez will make his first appearance in a Canadiens uniform. I can almost guarantee the Devils fans still haven't forgiven him for jumping to the Rangers, but how has he been received in Montreal? How is he performing so far, outside of what his stat line says?

RL: Scott Gomez - would you take him back? Personally, I haven't much good to say. I find he's a player who avoids making the tough plays in the offensive zone. When confronted, he seems to coil away and pass off, and it often appears that every set of defensemen in the league know it. While Gomez has merit defensively, that ain't what he's getting the big bucks for. For the anchor of a cap hit, he ain't worth it.

Question #3. Let's talk goalies. Chris Boyle's monthly analysis of Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak is an impressive statistical analysis. While the latest article notes that Price has been criticized for his glove side, but the numbers show he's been beaten low and to the right slightly more often. Why do you think that is the case?

RL: In November, there were many more accolades accorded Price for his strong play than there were criticisms of any glove side or low side weaknesses. Generally, the goals beating Price are less his fault than in the past. Why he would be more susceptible in one area is anyone's guess. My smirky answer would simply be because shooters are firing less to the upper regions since Carey's made certain corrections to his style.

Question #4. One of the more impressive team stats for the Canadiens this season is their winning percentage after scoring the first goal. The Canadiens are fourth in the league with a .846 percentage when they score first in a game. In contrast, they have one of the worst winning percentages when they give up the first goal, .200 and tied for 5th worst in the league. With that in mind, is it fair to say that the gameplan for Montreal will be to get that first goal?

RL: Every game plan in the history of hockey includes scoring the first goal, because as stats show, most teams have a losing record when they don't. Against the Devils, with a busy schedule, the Canadiens will place an emphasis on avoiding being pinned in their zone for long stretches. They'll also be tactical in using their speed to break through Lemaire's system in hopes of spending more time in the opposite end of the rink for a change. While the Habs aren't always getting that early goal, this team has shown that it rarely quits.

Question #5. Lastly, do you have a prediction for tonight's game?

RL: My prediction? How about a one goal game with the Canadiens taking it in a shootout. Boos for Gomez too, as he'll perk up some and put in solid effort.

Thanks to Robert for his answers. From them, I'm thinking the Canadiens could be better what their record indicates. Most of their free agent signings outside of Gomez have done well - most notably Cammalleri. Apparently, Andrei Markov is being talked up as the answer in Montreal - and when he returns, some of their troubles will ease. But he won't be playing tonight, and Scott Gomez and his pass-first ways will be. Now, with respect to the first goal question, I'd like to defend myself here. The Devils are one of three teams with a winning percentage after trailing first in a game (.571, behind Washington at .667 , ahead of Pittsburgh at .500). Rare, but the Devils have done it so many times this season, I don't think it is that far fetched to wonder why a team has trouble coming back from games. Still, look for Montreal to try and strike first and push ahead with speed.

All the same, it all goes back to whether the Devils play hard for all three periods. I really stress the second period because it's been 20 minutes of trouble in recent games; but as usual, hard work will lead to results. Don't worry about Martin Brodeur. Don't worry about the media. Don't worry about "what could be" in terms of any records. Be concerned with how the team performs.

Steve will have the GameThread up later today. Please comment on tonight's game in the comments (feel free to post any updates from Gulitti or Chere), and Go Devils!

Tim Kennedy Living the Dream

Rafal Ladysz — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:59:23 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

about 1 month ago: Buffalo Sabres' Tim Kennedy, right, reacts after a goal by teammate Tyler Ennis, not shown, against Philadelphia Flyers' Ray Emery, left, in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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Tim Kennedy has had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. First, he was drafted as a sixth-round selection of the Washington Capitals in 2005. Almost immediately, Kennedy was then exported to his hometown of Buffalo to one day dress for the Sabres. Before such a development, he would have to work vigorously and pay his dues similarly as most smaller players must.

The active forward developed through the USHL ranks with the Sioux City Musketeers avoiding OHL offers in order to preserve NCAA eligibility. Two years later, he joined Michigan State of the CCHA where he enjoyed a Championship triumph in 2007. When the time came for an entry-level contract with the Sabres, Kennedy assured himself that the stay in the AHL wouldn't be a long encounter.

While he played in one match for Buffalo last year, the 23-year-old is staring at a full season under Lindy Ruff's tutelage and hasn't let stardom slow him down. Kennedy's first NHL goal didn't arrive until the end of October but it was well worth the wait. Coming out from behind the net, he garnered the puck and beat the goaltender five-hole. That the goalie was Martin Brodeur made it extra special for the youngster.

Four goals and ten points are just a fraction of Kennedy's success. In plus-minus, he is at plus-3 which is in a four-way tie for fifth best on the team. Administering 27 hits, he's seventh on the team in that field and has sent 50 shots on their way to a cage. With just over 13 minutes of ice time typically being his fortuity, Kennedy is making every second count.

Understanding the game very well, his play making is obviously there as is his heart and drive. Kennedy doesn't panic and can be approved as either a center or winger giving Ruff options. Special teams are a promotion he deserves, hopefully sooner rather than later. Taking the hit for the sake of the play, grappling for loose rebounds, moving the feet and creating chances; Kennedy is suitable and capable to come through with every single demand there.

The trio of Thomas Vanek, Mike Grier and Kennedy brings a bit of everything: toughness, speed, courage, passing and goal-scoring. Lately, he's been matched with Patrick Kaleta and Jochen Hecht which has brought encouraging results from all. Is it my imagination or does Kennedy seem to flourish with which ever line-mates are presented to him?

As one of a select few (the others being Tyler Myers, Grier and Steve Montador) who have come to make this a much more balanced squad, he has genuinely earned his spot on the roster.

Here's to hoping Tim Kennedy's last NHL shift replicates his first one: in a Buffalo Sabres uniform.

New Jersey Devils Morning News, Dec 15

TibbsBeastoftheEast — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:22:13 -0000

Devils' hockey team cheers up N.J. pediatric patients - (The Bergen Record)
Corrente will have to sit and wait for now; Brodeur to go retro with March 17 mask - (Fire & Ice)

Parise trying to remain positive through goal drought - (Fire & Ice)
Langenbrunner missing from today’s practice - (Fire & Ice)
NJ Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur has chance for yet another milestone night against Montreal Canadiens - (The Star Ledger)
NHL Standings - (Yahoo NHL)
Devils' players stats - (Yahoo NHL)
Devils Team Report - (Yahoo NHL)
Brodeur is not just good – he's great - (National)
Lemaire's presence takes Rolston to new heights - (NHL.com)
Brodeur making history - (Canada.com)
Martin Brodeur can make history vs. Habs this week - (Montreal Gazette)

TRENTON DEVILS
Week 9: The Devils Went Down to Georgia - (TrentonDevils.com)

AROUND THE NHL
THN.com Blog: Sather the architect of Broadway's blues - (The Hockey News)
Power Rankings: Where the Wild are - (The Hockey News); Devils in 1st position
Players don't mind `loser point' that skews NHL standings. - (Kelowna.com); Devils in 2nd position

New Jersey Devils Morning News, Dec 12-14

TibbsBeastoftheEast — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:40:55 -0000

Devils notes: Big night for Niclas Bergfors - (The Bergen Record)
Patrik Elias scores No. 300 in Devils' win - (The Bergen Record)

Evolution of a record

Bruce McCurdy — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:04:25 -0000

If a picture tells a thousand words, sometimes a graph tells a million. The jiggly blue line is the average number of goals per team per game in the 92-year, 91-season history of the NHL. There are three distinct peaks and three valleys, with the troughs occurring in the late 1920s, the early 1950s, and throughout the Bettman Era. The career spans of the three shutout kings clearly show how each took advantage of a different valley to make his mark. (All raw data courtesy Gabriel Desjardins; thanks Gabe! The gap near the right edge of the curve courtesy Gary Bettman; thanks again, Gary!)

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I have long been fascinated by the evolution of sports records. On the individual sports level they are gradually but inexorably chipped away from one generation to the next. The 100-metre sprint is a classic example (on the men's side, that is; the less said about FloJo the better). When I was born Jesse Owens held the world record at 10.2 seconds, a time which wouldn't get him through a round of heats in a modern Olympics, if indeed he qualified for the Games. Far more impressive is the fact that Owens' magnificent sprint stood against all comers as the world record for 20 long years. Whereas in the last 20, the standard has been improved no fewer than 10 times and by 6 different men. Typically these incremental improvements are by razor thin margins representing very gradual advances in human physiology, kinesiology, training and technique across the field of elite sprinters; only the current holder, Usain Bolt, has carved such a significant chunk off the previous mark -- 1/6 of a second, a positively Beamonesque leap -- to stake a claim as a "generational talent" in the class of Owens. I won't be surprised to see the name Bolt atop that particular list for a number of years; his time was ahead of its time, but ultimately it surely represents just a little jitter in the long term improvement curve.

Team sports are a much more complex beast. Rather than a collective effort against a clock or a measuring stick, there is competition between athletes with one group trying to help one another while working together to prevent the other group from succeeding. Moreover, there are constantly shifting trends and strategies, tweaks to the rule book, and an ever-levelling playing field in terms of athletic talent as the stakes grow higher. Some records become not so much unbreakable as they do obsolete due to fundamental changes in the evolution of the sport. Take for example my other favourite sport, baseball, in which a record like Cy Young's 511 wins has become ever further beyond reach with the passing of the decades. Today's starting pitchers throw much more infrequently -- typically every 5th day -- and are often replaced by relief specialists before a game is decided. 20-game winners are a rarity these days (there were none in 2009). Cy Young won as many as 36 games in a season, and 12 times recorded at least 25 wins. He dominated his own generation, and subsequent ones haven't had a snowball's chance against his statistical legacy. 749 complete games? I don't think so.

Sometimes, though, a sport fluctuates around a rough balance point, "breathing" in and out as first offence, then defence hold sway. In baseball Babe Ruth's career home run record seemed untouchable for decades before Hank Aaron toppled it; the new mark seemed unassailable for decades more before it too fell to Barry Bonds. These men were not just generational talents, but in the right generation.

So it is with hockey. In its 92-year history the NHL has seen three distinct peaks in scoring where goal totals approached and briefly exceeded 4.0 goals per team-game. These have been offset by three valleys, each a couple of decades in duration, where scoring has dropped well below 3.0 G/G. These variations have had a profound impact on the record book. One such category is career shutouts, a major goaltending record which was equalled earlier this week.

Scoring was at its most volatile at the birth of the NHL. In the first NHL season in 1917-18 just 2 shutouts were recorded, 1 each by Clint Benedict and Georges Vezina. Teams scored close to 5 goals per game at the beginning of the 1920s, but this number dropped precipitously over that decade, crashing to fewer than 1.5 goals per game by 1928-29. George Hainsworth of the Montreal Canadiens found himself in the perfect storm that season, recording no fewer than 22 shutouts, a mark that has never seriously been approached even in modern seasons of nearly double the length. His 0.92 GAA of that season has also survived for eight decades; both marks presumably will stay on the books forever.

Those Habs were the most defensive-minded team in a defence-first era. They got shut out 6 times in 1928-29, and never lost a one of them: six 0-0 ties when even "overtime solved nothing" as the talking heads are wont to say. Hainsworth backstopped nine 1-0 wins, while 7 other affairs ended 1-1. That's 22 games -- half the schedule! -- in which the Habs scored one goal or less and still got at least a point. Soccer anyone?

The next season the NHL changed the rules to allow forward passing, and scoring returned. When goal sucking became an issue, the offside rule was introduced midway in the 1929-30 season, which explains the (first) sharp spike in the graph. A second rule change had been needed to moderate the first, and between them some semblance of balance was restored, although the game remained fairly low scoring right into the war years. Still, Hainsworth's totals dropped from 49 shutouts in his first 3 NHL seasons to "just" 45 in his next 7. Soon he had toppled the career marks of early shutout kings Clint Benedict and Alec Connell. Hainsworth retired in 1937 after a 10-year NHL career that saw him record 94 shutouts in just 461 games, less than 5 GP per shutout. It's also worth mentioning that Hainsworth had racked up 10 shutouts in the old Western Hockey League in the years before the NHL took full control of the Stanley Cup, thus technically he still holds the "major league" shutout record of 104, one ahead of the two men who currently share the NHL record and the headlines.

The first of these, Terry Sawchuk, came to the NHL in 1950, just in time for the next goal-scoring drought. Scoring had surged in the 1940s and peaked during the height of World War II. By Sawchuk's arrival, post-war scoring had dropped to about 2.7 G/G and would bottom out around 2.4 early in his career. During that defence-first era Sawchuk played on the best defensive team in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings, maintaining a GAA below 2.00 for 5 years running and racking up shutouts galore in the process. At the end of his sixth NHL season Sawchuk already had 66 shutouts in the books and Hainsworth's mark was clearly in jeopardy. In subsequent years as NHL scoring rebounded again and Sawchuk's own skills waned, he made slower but steady progress, finally toppling Hainsworth's career mark 8 seasons and 29 shutouts later. Sawchuk became the first goalie to reach 100 NHL shutouts just before expansion changed the game forever, and when he died in 1970 his career mark of 103 clean sheets seemed secure. He had also played a record 971 games, just under 10 GP per shutout. The two-goalie system held sway and both records looked rock solid.

As the expansion era took hold, scoring ratcheted upward throughout the 70s and into the 80s, where it once again peaked above 4.0 G/G, remaining above 3.7 throughout the decade. Shutouts became rare birds indeed; after Tony Esposito retired in 1984, no active goaltender reached as many as 30 career shutouts until 1996. The two-goalie system was no longer in vogue, so Sawchuk's GP record came under attack and would eventually be surpassed by Patrick Roy. Still, that shutout record looked like Mount Everest.

When Gary Bettman became NHL Commissioner in 1993 goal scoring was a respectable 3.63 G/G. The next wave of expansion was just underway, only this time it had the opposite effect, as new teams found it easier to prevent goals than to actually score any themselves. Parity was encouraged in not-so-subtle ways, including lax rules enforcement of obstruction penalties. Hockey's new fans from the football country of the deep south seemed to accept blocking and tackling as part of the game. Within 5 years of the Bettman regime, NHL scoring had plummeted by a full goal per game for each team, and despite various attempts to kick-start offence in recent years, the Dead Puck Era has persisted from the mid-90s right through the oughts.

The timing couldn't have been better for Martin Brodeur, who like Bettman joined the NHL in 1993. He has played in one organization throughout his career, the New Jersey Devils, probably the NHL's best defensive team in a defence-first era -- spot the trend? -- and certainly a club ideally suited for a man of Brodeur's considerable skill-set. Among his many talents is longevity: earlier this season MB30 set the NHL record for minutes played, and in the next week or so will topple Patrick Roy's mark for GP by a goaltender. After a slow start (during the highest-scoring years of his career) he has racked up shutouts at a very steady rate of about one for every 10 GP; indeed at this writing he stands at 1028 GP and 103 SO.

The list of the NHL's top 10 career shutouts leaders currently features exactly three goalies from each of hockey's three low-scoring eras, with a lone outsider creeping on to the very bottom of the list. Listed career spans exclude "cups of coffee" seasons of fewer than 10 GP.

Rank	Goalie	Career span	Era	SO
1	Terry Sawchuk*	1950-1970	Post-War	103
	Martin Brodeur	1993-2009	Dead Puck	103
3	George Hainsworth*	1926-1936	Depression	94
4	Glenn Hall*	1955-1971	Post-War	84
5	Jacques Plante*	1953-1973	Post-War	82
6	Tiny Thompson*	1928-1940	Depression	81
	Dominik Hasek	1991-2008	Dead Puck	81
	Alec Connell*	1924-1937	Depression	81
9	Ed Belfour	1988-2007	Dead Puck	76
	Tony Esposito*	1968-1984	Other	76

(Stats courtesy Hockey-reference.com)

Each of the low-scoring eras had good competition but featured a clearcut shutout champion. Whether he was the best goalie of the day, played on the best team, or had a career that was best centred on his low-scoring era is open to discussion. I will return to this matter with another methodology in the coming days.

Patrik Elias Scored 300th & 301st Career Goals in New Jersey Devils' Win over Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1

John Fischer — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:06:17 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

It may look small in this picture, but Patrik Elias and Devils fans have every reason to smile as Elias' 300th career goal helped the Devils decisively beat the Philadelphia Flyers. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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The New Jersey Devils defeated their Second Most Hated Rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, for the first time this season 4-1 at the Rock tonight. The NHL.com recap is already up with all the stats that you'd like to see. Check out Broad Street Hockey for the Flyers' take, which contains a lot of frustration and or disappointment about the Flyers' performance.

The game changed from period to period. The first period was simply fantastic hockey by the Devils. They straight up dominated the Flyers in every aspect of the game, converted two power play goals, Patrik Elias tacked on a third which was his 300th career goal, and nearly put four past Brian Boucher. A part of me hopes that the Devils coaching staff has a tape of that first period so they can show the Devils exactly what they are capable of - and use it to prevent periods like, say, the second one in tonight's game.

The second was the exact opposite, it was almost as if the teams switched mentalities. The Flyers decided to show up for this one and the Devils decided to take it easy. I really have no answers as to why, but it happened. The Devils were pinned back, the Flyers had more possession and more shots, and Martin Brodeur had to come up huge in a few situations. Of course, he was not perfect. Claude Giroux scored on a bad-angle shot on a power play and gave the Flyers a lifeline. Thankfully for New Jersey, that lifeline was yanked out of it's cord when Patrik Elias put home a fantastic pass by Brian Rolston on a 2-on-1 in the final minute of the period.

The Flyers were surely deflated during the third period. While the Devils didn't look as good in the first, they kept the Flyers honest in their own end, they tried some good attempts on Boucher, and as time went on you can tell that the game was essentially over. The Flyers kept mishandling the puck and conceding possession, whereas the Devils slowed their pace a little bit. Not a bad effort, something I wouldn't have minded seeing from the Devils in the second period.

Read on after the jump for further thoughts on the game.

First, some highlights from NHL.com:

The two top players on the ice were the goal scorers themselves, Nicklas Bergfors and Patrik Elias. Both got braces, both got 4 shots on net, and both somehow racked up a few official giveaways according to the Event Summary of the game. Hmm. In any case, both players looked real strong going forward. Bergfors was constantly going to the net and you saw in the video, thankfully he did just that. His first goal was simply impressive, leading the breakout through the neutral zone and just got through Braydon Coburn and then got it through Boucher's legs. Great stuff on the power play.

But Patrik Elias was just all over the place. Strong in his own end, he was pretty good with his passing all night long, and his goals were fantastic. His first one was a one-timer you'd expect from a pure sniper, a classic highlight-reel worthy goal fitting for a milestone like a 300th career goal. Credit Vladimir Zharkov for his fine work along the boards to protect the puck and get it to Elias. But the second period goal from Elias was far more important. Not just because he is now only 46 goals away from tying John MacLean's franchise record.

The Devils were truly bad in that second period, and again, I don't know why. Maybe they were tired? Maybe they were surprised the Flyers would come out with energy (I hope this isn't the answer)? Maybe they couldn't sustain the level of intensity for two straight periods unless Philly fell flat on it's butt? Whatever you and I may think it is, the fact is that the Flyers got the better of the Devils and pulled within one goal. Martin Brodeur really should have had Claude Giroux's shot. (Aside: I didn't think that was honestly a holding penalty on Jamie Langenbrunner to begin with as a Flyer hugged Langenbrunner's stick for a good 5 feet, but what do I know.) He said as such to Tom Gulitti after the game - not because it killed a shutout, but because he did get a piece of it. However, I think he more than made up for it when he had to make some dynamite saves on the Flyers. 12 shots by Philly, they kept pushing forward, leaving the Devils back, and even on the one power play the Devils did get, the Flyers went up and had a good scoring chance. The Devils only put 5 shots on net, yet the last one was crucial.

Elias' goal at the end sent the message, "We sucked this period, but you know what, you're not winning this game." Most, if not all, of the momentum the Flyers built up in that period, the things they could have built on for the second, was wiped away with 34 seconds left in the second period. The Devils regained their three goal lead in spite of how they played. The Flyers looked deflated as the period ended. As one of the lovely and classy Flyer fans behind me said, "I'm just glad they got a goal, forget the win." And so that fan just must be thrilled as the Flyers just settled for that. Elias goal didn't just restore a lead, it rattled the Flyers' focus. They should have spent the intermission trying to forget about the goal and focus on how they did in those other 19 minutes. But they didn't.

And instead of just trying to look past that goal, they got dumber on the ice. They took two unnecessary calls that they should be happy Brian Boucher and some execution issues prevented the Devils from making the Flyers pay the price. Even so, it meant 4 minutes where the Flyers had to focus mainly on their own end. Outside of that, the Flyers conceded possession easily in the neutral zone, which just hurt their attack. Their passes were poor and the Devils just kept dogging them when they could.

On offense, they didn't make decisions quick enough or correctly enough to make Brodeur really sweat in even strength. Their best scoring chance came while killing a penalty when Brodeur stacked the pads on Jeff Carter. Nice save, but why is Brodeur having to make nice saves on a power play, Devils PP Units? Nevertheless, that was the biggest threat by Philly. The Flyers stopped battling somewhere after the third minute of the third period and the Devils were unfortunate to not make this a bigger score. The Devils were happy to take control of all of these loose pucks - especially Andy Greene, who cleaned up a lot of pucks in his 27:19 of ice time, and that pretty much meant the end.

Admittedly, the Devils weren't as aggressive as they were in the first period, but they did go forward and put a few shots on Boucher. I don't think the Devils stopped trying, but you could tell they didn't have to try as hard given how Philly was playing. Not trying to step up their intensity was a big mistake and really dumb. Why not try to at least make it a game again against a rival? Why give up? I don't know and I'm sure the Flyer fans are asking similar questions as well.

Outside of this, I do want to point out that Martin Brodeur had a very good game from what I saw. Some of those shots by the Flyers were truly dangerous shots. After all, there is a reason why he has more highlight saves than Boucher per the highlight video earlier in this recap. He came up huge on a couple of shorthanded attempts by the Flyers, which were also important as giving up a shortie is a great way to let an opponent back into a game. According to Jacques Lemaire, as reported by Gulitti, that save on Carter in the second period was massive. Honestly, his only real error was the Giroux goal but ultimately that didn't matter thanks to Elias' important second period goal. Could you fault the defense on some of those chances? For some, like the shorthanded chances, seriously those were breakdowns, yes. However, could you really complain about the defense overall as they held the Flyers to 23 shots? Probably not, unless you have high expectations.

So my real complaints about the Devils' performance was their second period and that the power play gave up a few scoring chances while not really frightening the Flyers on those last few man advantages. Yet, the Devils settled things down in the third period - something I would have liked to have seen in the second, admittedly. The power play did convert twice thanks to Bergfors and those two third period power plays went a long way in killing the Flyers' spirit (they did so little after them), so I can't gripe too much about the power play units.

There were some areas I would have liked to have seen the Devils perform better upon further reflection. Had the Devils not take their foot off the proverbial pedal, they could have had 30+ shots instead of just 28. That would have really forced the Flyers back more, and who knows, blow up the score. The one thing Flyers fans can say they dominated the Devils at tonight was at the faceoff dot, as the Devils only won 37% of faceoffs. Though that ultimately didn't mean much. For example, Rob Niedermayer, who played a ton of minutes (22:57), got owned the most as he won only 6 out of 21. Then he usually followed that up by forcing a Flyer to make a hasty decision wherein a Devil picked up a stray puck. So faceoffs were not as crucial tonight.

I'd say the Devils played 40 minutes out of this one. A great 20 followed by a poor 20 and finished with an acceptable 20. Were it not for some unlucky bounces or Brian Boucher coming up big - Brian Rolston nearly had a goal like Elias' second, but Boucher made a fantastic sliding save - this could have easily ended as a big blowout in favor of New Jersey. Instead, I and the Devils fans left the Rock very happy that the Flyers lost in a decisive fashion. The Devils got some revenge for the last two Devils-Flyers games, which were wins where the Flyers outplayed the Devils. The performance by the home team was improved upon some of the recent ones at the Rock, so there's that. The passing was much improved over the dreck that was seen against Florida. The Devils kept cool in light of Philadelphia's lack of discipline save for Colin White shoving Daniel Briere down after a whistle. Bergfors and Elias had huge nights as the difference makers tonight with braces; and Elias hit a career milestone. And, well, the Devils just beat the Flyers, 4-1. Plenty to be happy about, in my view. Now the Devils can rest for three days and try to improve upon their second period performances against Montreal on Wednesday.

Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to Steve for setting up the GameThread as well as a big thanks to the commenters on it as my mobile messaging was lacking tonight. The crowd was good and largely pro-Devils and I enjoyed the company around me despite the class acts whining about the Flyers behind me. (Aside #1: Oh well, they all got a good view of my New Jersey Devils scarf after the goals. Aside #2: Pro-tip for the Flyers fans, bragging about the team value of the Flyers being better than the Devils means little as Elias scores a one-timer.) Combine that with few breaks in the action and so there wasn't much time to text. All the same, the result is what matters and the Devils got it. As usual, please leave your thoughts on tonight's game in the comments.

Devils Win 4-1, Flyers Still Hellaciously Bad

Ben Rothenberg — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:24:41 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

It's okay, Brian, you don't have to look. Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher cannot stop the puck as New Jersey Devils' Patrik Elias scores a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009 in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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The good news: Claude Giroux scored a crazy soft goal to prevent Martin Brodeur from claiming a record 104th career shutout against the Orange and Black.

The bad news: Everything else.

I don't want to go into the gruesome details of this game too much, but suffice it was nothing new. They looked terrible. If his last name starts with a "C," he was especially terrible.

The Flyers, as we know them right now, are simply not a good hockey team. The switch to Laviolette clearly was not enough to put this team back on track. It's now pretty clear that something pretty drastic has got to happen, and soon. I recommend confiscating the players' cars and making them walk to work every day. They could use that kind of character building. I would let Boucher keep his car for now, though. He's not to blame at all for this mess.

Here are some harsh realities the team has to deal with right now:

In their last ten games against teams that don't rhyme with "Die Flanders," the Flyers are 0-10-0, earning exactly zero points.
In those ten games, the Flyers have scored 14 goals, which works out to an average of 1.4 goals a game. The all-time record for lowest GAA for a goalie for a season is 1.91, a full half-goal above the Flyers current production.
For the first time this season, the Flyers have more regulation losses than they have wins. Yowch. They also now average less than a point-per-game for the first time in this campaign

After the jump, highlights from the game, questions answered, and tonight's pick for the best Philadelphia bridge to jump off of.

Questions answered with the same amount of effort as the team put in:

Does this team come out ready to play? Nope.
Can they get a 60 minute effort? Nope.
Will the special teams do their job? Nope.
Can Brian Boucher continue his stellar play? Nope.
Is it possible to win two in a row in New Jersey? Nope.

The Market Street Bridge is lovely this time of year.

Game 31 Preview: New Jersey Devils vs. Philadelphia Flyers - 12/12/2009

John Fischer — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:49:21 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

The Devils need to make the Flyers look unhappy and also celebrate. The best way to do that is to score goals and to do that, the team must be at least decent in their passing. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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The Time: 7 PM EST

The Broadcasting Info: TV: MSG+2 (yep, commence complaining...elsewhere); Radio: 660 AM WFAN

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (21-8-1) vs. the Philadelphia Flyers (14-14-1)

The Last Devils Game: It was not a good game for the Devils. The Devils didn't give a 60 minute effort, but their opponents, the Florida Panthers, did and scored some fantastic goals. The winning streak was snapped at 4 with a 4-2 loss and I wasn't happy with the performance. But it could have been worse...

The Last Flyers Game: ...it could have been something like what Philly had against Ottawa on Thursday. The Senators held off Philadelphia and shut them out in spite of being on the road and being outworked, per this recap from Broad Street Hockey. The Flyers couldn't solve Brian Elliott and Travis Hughes - along with many other Flyers fans - is unhappy with how the team has performed.

The Last Devils-Flyers Game: In Philadelphia, the scoreboard was closer than the game that was on the ice. The Flyers outplayed the Devils and if it weren't for Martin Brodeur, the score would have been a rout in favor of the Flyers. The 3-2 loss by New Jersey snapped their road winning streak at 9 and then overall winning streak at 8. I recapped the game here; for the Flyers' side, Travis Hughes recapped the win over at Broad Street Hockey.

The Goal: Passing, passing, passing, PASSING. I want to see passes that hit their targets, that aren't straight giveaways to the other team, aren't leading their target into multiple opponents, and aren't easily read by defenders. You can easily tell when it's going to be a long night for the Devils and it's when they struggle moving the puck up ice in making those passes. It's not that the team doesn't have good ideas, an observer can see that if the passes got to where they needed to be, then the Devils' offense would be raking in the goals. And that's the problem - the execution isn't there and the team struggles to adjust. This was a problem yesterday and this was a problem in the last Devils-Flyers game. The Devils fans just have one simple request: a win over the hated Philadelphia Flyers. They're not going to do it unless their passing improves tonight.

Read on at Broad Street Hockey for the Flyers' point of view on tonight's game as well as a current state of their affairs. Continue after the jump for my further thoughts.

Now, the last two opponents were teams that were struggling in the NHL - the last-place Carolina Hurricanes and a Florida Panthers team mired in a haze. As proof to the theory that there are no doormats in the NHL, both of these teams were quite competitive against the Devils. In comes the Philadelphia Flyers, who now have a new coach but that has generated little momentum as the team remains in the bottom of the Atlantic Division (they are only ahead of the Islanders since they have played fewer games) and 2-8-0 in their last 10. The frustration continues for the Flyers faithful as Travis Hughes of Broad Street Hockey wrote this after their 2-0 loss to Ottawa:

Six games, three shutouts. Watch America's Most Wanted this weekend and maybe we can find out who kidnapped the Philadelphia Flyers offense. With the exception of one game against the New York Islanders, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, and Danny Briere have been invisible over the last month.

I don't know what to think and I don't have answers, but this team just can't score. They have absolutely zero confidence. Maybe a trade is necessary to shake up the offense. Maybe they just need Simon Gagne, Blair Betts, and Darroll Powe back in the lineup. Maybe we overrated them and they're just bad. I simply don't know. With the amount of games coming up in the next few weeks -- really, up until the Olympic break -- they can't afford to continually give up points like this. It's frustrating, not to mention depressing.

Today, Travis put up this commentary emphasizing how important the next set of games are for the Flyers.

Now, it's up to them to respond and show they have something to prove. They have to take this personally. Richards has to lead the charge, emotionally and on the ice. He can set the tone for this team early on, and he'll have to against the Devils for the team to have any success. It's not that Richards has to score a goal in the first ten minutes. But when he's at his best, he's zipping around the ice, doing anything possible to make a high-percentage play. He has to set that tone, but his linemates and the other goal scorers on the team have to follow. That means Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, James van Riemsdyk, and most of all, Jeff Carter, have to match his intensity.

This should be a concerning point. All of the previous Flyers named are very talented. This is a team that should be scoring tons of goals, but aren't. The Devils absolutely cannot just rely on their continued failure. This is a rivalry and the Flyers were very amped in both games between the two teams - two losses for the Devils. If anything, I'd forget about the recent struggles down in Philadelphia and expect the Flyers to come out, well, flying. Maybe I'm overreacting a bit; but given that the recent performances, especially the games against Carolina and Florida, nobody should be underestimated even if their recent form is terrible.

As far as the Devils are concerned, well, I hope I made my point about the passing. So let's focus on guessing a lineup. The Devils didn't practice this morning, so Gulitti and Chere will have the facts later this afternoon. It sounds weird, but Martin Brodeur hasn't exactly got a lot of work as of late. He's faced a total of 122 shots, or an average of 24.4 per game, in the last five games. The Detroit game was the only one where he faced more than 25 shots, much less 30 (he faced 31). Given that and the fact that Our Second Most Hated Rivals Who Have a History of Looking Good but Falling Apart in Hilarious Fashion (OSMHRWHHLGFAHF) is coming to the Rock tonight, I would think Brodeur would be starting.

With respect to goonery because OSMHRWHHLGFAHF has a history of making it look "mean," I wonder if Andrew Peters or Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond would be inserted into the lineup. If it were up to me, I wouldn't bother as the fourth line has played well together recently and no one else in the lineup needs to be benched - just play more consistently better (I swear this is a phrase), that's all. So I would guess the same lineup that was seen last night, except ZZ Pops starts the game again:

Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Jamie Langenbrunner
Brian Rolston - Patrik Elias - Nicklas Bergfors
Jay Pandolfo - Rob Niedermayer - Vladimir Zharkov
Rod Pelley - Dean McAmmond - Ilkka Pikkarainen

Andy Greene - Bryce Salvador
Colin White - Mike Mottau
Mark Fraser - Johnny Oduya

Martin Brodeur
Yann Danis

As usual, check up with Gulitti and Chere will have the updated info later today. I'll take care of the GameThread, though my commenting will be a bit sparse so I try not to enter comments as action is on the ice. Do join in commenting all the same. Until then, please leave your thoughts and comments here. Go Devils!