FTS - 2/27/09

TOP STORY

He's Baaaaaaaaaack

Photo Credit: (Newark Star-Ledger)

Leave it to Martin Brodeur to post a shutout in his first game in four months

Devils goalie Martin Brodeur recorded his 99th career regular-season shutout, making 24 saves in his first game since elbow surgery in early November and the New Jersey Devils beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 last night. It was Brodeur's 545th career win - six from tying Patrick Roy for most all-time. Zach Parise scored his 36th goal and added two assists for his sixth three-point game of the season. Jamie Langenbrunner, Patrik Elias (PPG) and Travis Zajac scored the other New Jersey goals.

The four-time Vezina Trophy winner as hockey's best goalie was greeted by a standing ovation from fans when he stepped on the ice for the warmups and they cheered every time he touched the puck, even when he simply directed it to the corner. "The fans were great," Brodeur said. "I don't know if they were sarcastic about cheering me on the saves sometimes but it was definitely nice." "It was an exciting night to get out there and perform," Brodeur said. "I was really anxious all day, more nervous that I thought I was going to be. We pulled it off. It was nice to score early in the game. I didn't get much work. It was a nice game to play."


Marty Brodeur really is unbelievable. An elbow injury isn't devestating to a goalie like it would be to a pitcher in baseball, but it is something akward to deal with. You never want to rush someone back from an injury, but Brodeur looked like he was perfectly ready to come back and showed no signs of rust. With Marty between the pipes and the Devils actually having some offensive punch for the first time in a long time, the Atlantic Division and the rest of the Eastern Conference should be very worried after what we saw at the Prudential Center last night.


ACTION FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE...

-Up in Beantown, Chuck Kobasew and Michael Ryder each scored twice (each had a PPG) in the 2nd period to lead the Bruins (42-12-8) past the Ducks (30-28-5) 6-0. Tim Thomas stopped 35 shots for his fourth shutout this season, as Boston won their 42nd game of the year, surpassing last year's total.

-Patrick Kaleta scored for Buffalo in the 2nd period, Anton Babchuk tied it up for Carolina in the 3rd, and Jussi Jokinen scored the shootout winner (he's 21 for 39 in his career in shootouts) as the Hurricanes (32-26-5) beat the Sabres (31-24-7) 2-1. With the victory, the Hurricanes moved into a tie with the Sabres for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

-Tim Stapleton ended his first NHL game with a decisive shootout goal as the Maple Leafs (24-26-12) beat the Islanders (18-36-7) 5-4. Nikolai Kulemin, Dominic Moore, Pavel Kubina and Nik Antropov scored for Toronto, while Vesa Toskala stopped 40 shots for his third straight victory. The Maple Leafs have also won three straight in extra time.

-The Florida Panthers (31-22-8) spoiled John Tortorella's MSG Ranger coaching debut with a 2-1 win over the Blueshirts (31-24-8). Markus Naslund scored his 19th of the season in the 1st period, but David Booth and Nathan Horton would score a minute apart in the 3rd period. Craig Anderson made 40 saves for Florida. Florida and the Rangers are tied for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 70 points. They are one point ahead of Buffalo and Carolina.

-Alexander Semin had a goal and two assists and Mike Green added a goal and an assist as the Capitals (39-18-5) beat the Thrashers (22-34-6) 4-3. Three of Washington's four goals came on the power play. Thrashers winger Ilya Kovalchuk added his 32nd of the season on the power play.

-Mike Fisher would open the scoring for Ottawa on the power play in the 1st period, but San Jose answered back with two of their own power play goals in the 2nd period to give the Sharks (42-9-9) a 2-1 win over the Senators (23-28-9). Milan Michalek and Patrick Marleau scored 1:18 apart in the 2nd period and Brian Boucher made 23 saves in the win.

-Steve Sullivan, Jason Arnott, Joel Ward and David Legwand all scored goals for Nashville as the Predators (30-28-4) roll the Coyotes (27-30-5) 4-1. Pekka Rinne made 25 saves in the win while Ilya Bryzgalov made 43 saves in the loss. Even with the win in their 800th game as a franchise, the Predators remained 11th in the Western Conference standings; a point behind Edmonton, Anaheim, Dallas and Minnesota, all tied for seventh with 65 points in the race for the eight playoff spots.

-Patrik Berglund had a goal and an assist while Chris Mason made 41 saves (and got plenty of help from the iron behind him) as the Blues (27-26-8) beat the Stars (29-24-7) 3-1. Jay McClement and TJ Oshie scored the other St. Louis goals as the Blues improve to 11-3-5 in their last 19 games.

-Raffi Torres scored the game winner against his old team on a feed from Jared Boll and Fedor Tyutin as the Blue Jackets (31-25-6) beat the Oilers (30-26-5) 1-0. Steve Mason turned away 19 shots for his 8th shutout of the season (Calder Trophy anyone?) as Columbus moved in to a tie with Vancouver for 5th place in the West. Edmonton remains tied for 7th with Dallas, Anaheim, and Minnesota.

OTHER HEADLINES

-The Pittsburgh Penguins have cleared up a bit of their logjam along their blueline as they have traded Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks for Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi. ''It's a new start and a team that I feel wants me,'' Whitney told The Canadian Press. ''They gave up a good player and a real good prospect. 'Last season was great. We went to the Stanley Cup final and personally, I had a good playoff. Then, I had the foot problem and got that fixed, so I missed a lot of time.'' The 26-year old Whitney was a vital piece of the Penguins' Stanley Cup run last year; however foot surgery caused him to miss the first 31 games of this season. He has two goals and 11 assists in 28 games for Pittsburgh this year. ''I know that I can play better than I have this year and I think I will,'' Whitney said. ''It's about me getting some confidence back and having a new start.'' Whitney is in the second year of a six-year contract he signed with the Penguins last season. He was chosen fifth overall by the Penguins in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. In Kunitz, the Penguins will be getting an offensive-minded player who won the Stanley Cup in 2007. After campaigns where he put up 60 and then 50 points, the 29-year old Regina-native has 16 goals and 19 assists this season. He has spent the majority of his four NHL seasons with Anaheim.

-The Montreal Canadiens have traded Steve Begin to the Dallas Stars for defenceman Doug Janik. The 30-year old Begin has played in 42 games this season for the Canadiens, and recorded 6 goals and 4 assists. He is in his 9th season, having begun his career with the Calgary Flames before being picked up off waivers by the Canadiens prior to the 2003-04 season. The native of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec had a career-high of 23 points in 2005-06. "Steve is a gritty, honest player with a very strong work ethic," said Stars Co-General Manager Les Jackson in a statement. "He's good on the penalty kill and he is a competitor in every sense of the word. We think he'll be a very good addition to our group as we continue to fight toward the playoffs." Janik, 28, has spent the majority of the season with Rockford of the AHL. He has one assist and three penalty minutes in 13 games this year with Dallas. He started his career with the Buffalo Sabres, and played last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

-Danny Briere is expected to return to the Flyers lineup on Friday, when Philadelphia plays host to the Montreal Canadiens. "I think we will know in the morning with what is going on," said Flyers head coach John Stevens. "As far as today, we are going to wait and see how he feels tomorrow. I don't think we will wait until game time. We will decide in the morning whether he is going to play or not." The club waived center Glen Metropolit and defenseman Ossi Vaananen on Thursday to clear salary cap space for the pivot's impending return. Briere had surgery on his groin/stomach area last month and has skated in just nine games this season because of injury, registering five goals and four assists.

RUMOR MILL

-Rangers center Scott Gomez's name is coming up all over the place in trade rumors. Jay Bouwmeester from Florida and Olli Jokinen from Phoenix are the two new names popping up. Lets not forget that Coyotes GM Don Maloney was the assistant GM of the Rangers before this season.

-Erik Cole to Boston is hot, but the Devils are starting to come up when it comes to Cole as well. Can you imagine the Devils, who are a great defensive team, adding Erik Cole to their offensive pop with Zach Parise?

-No new updates on the Vinny Lecavalier front, but this could get real intriguing before it's done.

TONIGHTS ACTION:
Montreal @ Philadelphia - 7PM
Los Angeles @ Detroit - 7:30PM
%Pittsburgh @ Chicago - 8:30PM
Minnesota @ Calgary - 9PM
Tampa Bay @ Vancouver - 10PM

% = Game of the Night
^All Times are Eastern

*My weekly power rankings comes back on Monday

~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out on Thursdays

TO EMAIL FTS, EMAIL FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM

Have a great weekend everyone!