BOSTON — Another broken record and probably another broken bone. These Devils defy injuries like Monty Python’s carved-up knight — at least those who remain standing long enough to triumph.
First the Devils saw David Clarkson crawl to the bench after Zdeno Chara’s shot appeared to hit him in the right ankle 2:20 into play. Then they heard the crowd applaud when the PA announcer proclaimed Martin Brodeur passed Patrick Roy to become the NHL’s all-time workhorse goalie, having now played 60,280 career minutes.
Finally, they saw Jamie Langenbrunner seal their 10th victory in 13 road games, clinching the shootout for a 2-1 triumph over the Bruins.
“We’re kind of getting used to it now,” Zach Parise said of the latest Devils injury. “It seems like it’s every game.”
The prognosis for Clarkson would be grim if it turns out the ankle is broken.
“It does not look good,” coach Jacques Lemaire said.
Lemaire said the Devils will call up someone for this afternoon’s game with the Islanders in Newark, though Rob Niedermayer could return to action for the first time since separating his shoulder on Nov. 4.
General manager Lou Lamoriello had barely, and reluctantly, allowed that Jay Pandolfo (shoulder dislocation) and Johnny Oduya (groin/hip) could practice with the team next week, and that Paul Martin (broken arm) also is skating, when Clarkson tried to block Chara’s shot. This one came little more than a week after Dainius Zubrus suffered a cracked kneecap from a shot.
“It’s terrible,” Lemaire said of the injury plague. “Terrible.”
Clarkson was tied for second on the team with seven goals and led the Devils with 39 penalty minutes.
The fashionable solution is a call for a return to wooden sticks, an eminently reasonable notion, but former Bruins general manager Harry Sinden, now a senior advisor to owner Jeremy Jacobs, identified another culprit.
“The problem is the four extra feet in the offensive zone [64 feet since 2005-06],” Sinden said. “The defensemen can stand back there at the point and you can’t cover them. They just get to wind up and shoot, and too bad for anyone in front.”
After Brodeur broke Roy’s record, Zach Parise gave the Devils the opening lead with his 14th goal at 9:45 of the second. Matt Halischuk jabbed away at Bryce Salvador’s point shot rebound in front, and at the right side, Parise used his stick to shove Tuukka Rask’s left pad, and the puck, over the line.
“Push everything into the net,” Parise said of his strategy, which stretched his point streak to nine games.
Boston tied the game 12 seconds into the third, when Brodeur’s pass behind the net caromed wildly off the end glass behind intended receiver Colin White. Byron Bitz wheeled the feed around the horn to the left side where Blake Wheeler had enough net to score, though Brodeur got a piece of it.
In the shootout, Patrice Bergeron and Patrik Elias were stopped in the first round. Wheeler put Boston in front before Parise answered. Brodeur halted David Krejci and Langenbrunner gave Rusk a dip fake before firing past his stick for the winner.
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Lamoriello said Martin still is weeks away from action. He is skating with a half-cast on his left arm. . . . The other 25 goalies in Devils history have amassed 67,364 minutes combined. . . . The Devils have won two in a row, and are 10-2-1 in their last 13. . . . New Jersey is 4-1 in shootouts. . . . The Devils have won five in a row at home.