The year may have ended, but Father Time — who was on the ice at Prudential Center Tuesday wearing No. 30 in red — still is sticking around. Martin Brodeur, who will turn 42 in May, backstopped the Devils to a 2-1 win against the Penguins in the Devils’ last game of 2013.
It was the 681st win of Brodeur’s career, who stopped 19 shots including seven in the third period, almost all of which were quality scoring chances.
“He was huge. Made big saves for us at key times and gave us a chance to win. That’s all you can really ask for from those guys,” said Adam Henrique, who scored the game’s first goal, his third in three games.
The Devils dominated most of the opening period, outshooting the Penguins 13-8 and holding a distinct advantage in offensive zone time.
The teams traded goals in the second period with the Devils taking a 2-0 advantage on Michael Ryder’s almost end-to-end rush, which was started by a pass from Brodeur, who got an assist on the play, his second of the season and 44th of his career.
“I almost gave up the puck and that’s why I kind of got lucky on the assist, but I’ll take it,” Brodeur said.
Pittsburgh’s lone goal came 6:58 into the second period on a Matt Niskanen shot from the right circle. Despite eight players on injured reserve, the Penguins didn’t make it easy.
“They are missing a few key players especially on defense and [Evgeni] Malkin, [Pascal] Dupuis, and the speed that they have. It’s a different dynamic sometimes but … I thought we contained Crosby pretty good,” Brodeur said.
Perhaps Brodeur’s best save came in the third period, when the Penguins had a 2-on-1 and he got his glove on James Neal’s shot from the right point to preserve the Devils’ lead.
The Devils took a 2-1 lead into the third period, taking their only penalty with under five minutes remaining in the third period. Pittsburgh — which ranks No. 1 in the league in power-play percentage — managed one shot over those two minutes.
“You got to stay out of the box against teams with good power plays and I think we did a good job of that tonight,” Henrique said. “We stayed disciplined.”
Pittsburgh, who tied a season-low with 20 shots, was unable to get goalie Marc-Andre Fleury off the ice in the final minutes for an extra attacker.
“I thought our whole third period was good. That’s a team that can put you on its heels whenever Crosby and his line is on the ice, they have a lot of weapons even with the players out,” Devils head coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought we did a great job in the neutral zone in the third not giving them a lot of zone time in our end.”
Patrik Elias crashed into the boards in the first period, left the game and did not return. He is the team’s second-leading scorer with 25 points, and DeBoer did not have an update on his condition after the game.