NEWARK — Devils coach Pete DeBoer has been looking for one of his goalies to get hot and take over the majority of the playing time.
Marty Brodeur gave DeBoer a clear answer Saturday night with one of his best games of the season.
Dainius Zubrus scored two goals in the third period and Brodeur made 33 saves, leading the Devils past the Lightning, 3-0.
“It’s exactly what we needed at the right time,” DeBoer said of Brodeur. “That game [Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Penguins] night took a lot out of us and I knew the difference was going to be the goaltending.”
Brodeur earned his third shutout of the season and 124th of his career.
“I know for me, it’s always been hard not to be there all the time,” Brodeur said. “It’s the way it is when you have two guys who can play. It always makes decisions difficult.”
Jaromir Jagr assisted on both goals to raise his assist total to 1,024.
Damien Brunner’s seventh goal had broken the scoreless tie in the second period.
“It was a really nice pass and it doesn’t happen a lot these days,” Brunner said. “I was able to generate some speed and Geli [Eric Gelinas] made a great pass.”
Jagr skated behind the net and passed to Zubrus on the doorstep of the crease for the goal at 6:44 of the period.
Then, at 9:36, Jagr put a backhand shot on goal and Zubrus was there to knock in the rebound for his seventh goal and a 3-0 advantage.
Brodeur came up with a huge third period to thwart the Lightning.
He turned away a breakaway chance with a pad save on Nikita Kucherov’s shot. Then he smothered a point-blank shot by J.T. Brown.
“I have no clue,” when asked how he made the save on Kucherov. “I didn’t feel it and didn’t know what it was. I got lucky.”