MONTREAL — Even the Devils’ climb to a home-ice playoff slot for the first time in more than 22 months is trivial compared to the anguish Martin Brodeur has been rising above so completely.
For Brodeur, the constant thread in a run of 14-of-17 first- or second- place Atlantic Division finishes, there’s something more urgent, more important, that made his 3-1 triumph over the Canadiens last night even more poignant.
Brodeur won in his hometown, where his father Denis, 81, underwent brain surgery Friday, the night Brodeur beat the Ducks in a shootout at Prudential Center. Brodeur spent Saturday night with his father here.
“He’s fine. He was up and walking around and he recognized me, so that’s good,” said Brodeur, who learned of his father’s impending surgery Feb. 7, the night he beat the Rangers 1-0 at the Garden.
Brodeur last night continued to be his rediscovered old self, the all-time great who owns all the records, 646 victories, 117 shutouts, 1,171 games. He won for the seventh time in eight games and has keyed the Devils’ climb to second in the Atlantic, the best they’ve been in 140 games, since they won the division April 11, 2010.
The 39-year-old face of the franchise somehow held it together last night, even after seeing the Canadiens’ tributes to his “family friend,” former Expo and Met Gary Carter, who succumbed to brain cancer the day before his father’s surgery. In coincidences that couldn’t be overlooked, Brodeur came to know Carter through his father, a team photographer of the Expos and Canadiens.
“Sad news,” Brodeur said yesterday morning of Carter’s passing. “He came to our home a lot. My brother and I have pictures autographed to us. Gary Carter is somebody really close to our family without being part of the family. It’s part of me growing up in Montreal.”
Part of Brodeur playing in Montreal is winning. He improved to 21-12-1 in his native city while backstopping the Devils to their sixth straight road victory.
The Devils pulled a point ahead of the Flyers and Penguins in the Atlantic with last night’s triumph, and they are not ruling out catching the first-place Rangers, who hold a nine-point lead.
“You never know,” captain Zach Parise said with a twinkle in his eye.
“It’s been a long time,” Brodeur said of being among the top two in the division.
The Devils have won the Atlantic nine times in the past 17 seasons. Before finishing fourth last year, they’d won two straight, four times in five seasons and five times in seven. Home ice in the playoffs hasn’t helped lately, though, as they’ve been ousted in the first round in each of their last three appearances, and lost that way in their last four series.
They’d prefer to try again anyway. They stand 8-1-1 since the All-Star break, and 22-8-3 in their last 33.
This victory was another variation on the theme that has brought them to where they stand today. They scored a couple, faltered in the third, yet triumphed at the end.
Parise tied Kirk Muller for fourth place on the Devils’ all-time list with his 185th goal to open the scoring at 18:03 of the first. Adam Henrique won an offensive draw for Ilya Kovalchuk to shoot from the trigger, and Parise deflected his 22nd past the stick of Carey Price. David Clarkson made it 2-0 with 17.2 seconds left in the second, deflecting Elias’ long wrister over Price’s glove for his 22nd goal of the season.
Then the Devils resumed their third period struggles, giving up Max Pacioretty’s power play goal 1:46 in. Matt Taormina quelled the concern with his first since Oct. 30, 2010, through Steve Bernier’s screen.
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The Canadiens honored Carter’s memory by wearing No. 8 jerseys in warm-ups, along with a video tribute and a moment of silence. The jerseys will be auctioned to benefit the Gary Carter Foundation in Florida. … Patrik Elias holds the Devils team record with 354 goals. … Anton Volchenkov took one of eight Devils’ blocks on the right cheek in the first but returned in the second. Bryce Salvador left the game after the second, ill. … The Devils visit Toronto tomorrow. … Defenseman Kurtis Foster sat out last night with a back strain, with Peter Harrold recalled from Albany to take his place. The Devils already are without Henrik Tallinder and Adam Larsson on their regular backline.