Martin Brodeur spent the early part of last night’s season opener just watching.
The veteran Devils goalie was tested very little in the first two periods of his team’s 2-1 win over the Islanders at the Coliseum, but when he was called upon to make big saves, it became clear why someday he will have a plaque in the Hall of Fame.
“I was happy about the way I felt,” said the 40-year-old Brodeur, who finished with 18 saves, eight of them coming in the third period. “I’ve been working really hard the last week to get to the same level of my game. I haven’t played the game for six, seven months. I knew it was going to be hard.”
Brodeur made it all look so easy in the third period, when he embodied the old cliché of goalies being the best penalty killers.
After Devils’ defenseman Henrik Tallinder was called for hooking, the Islanders peppered Brodeur with shots, the first coming from the point from Mark Streit, and the rebound being wristed back on net by Frans Nielsen.
Brodeur, on his stomach, made the stops and froze the puck.
“Give credit to them and give credit to Marty,” said Doug Weight, who filled in behind the Isles’ bench after head coach Jack Capuano was hospitalized for kidney stones. “He played great when he had to.”
On another Islanders’ power play eight minutes later, with the Devils just having bounced back to take a 2-1 lead, Brodeur robbed Travis Hamonic on an open wrist shot from the slot, flashing his glove like it was 1995, the last time there was a 48-game, lockout-shortened season and the Devils won the Stanley Cup.
“It was fun,” Brodeur said. “There was a lot of speculation about the fans, how they are going to react with us coming back.’’
You’re coming to a building that’s usually empty and it’s packed, that’s great.” The building, with a substantial amount of Devils’ fans, was pretty quiet for the first 30 minutes. The Isles couldn’t sustain a forecheck and had very little pressure. Their three shots in the first period seemed like a gift from the scorekeeper.
“Not a lot of work, but you still got to stand on your feet for 60 minutes and move around,” Brodeur said. ”We’ll see tomorrow, but I feel good now.”