Facing 100-mile-per-hour shots is the price. Martin Brodeur says he’s a goalie because he can be The Man.
“Ask a pitcher or a quarterback. You have the opportunity to have the game in your hands,” said Brodeur, now within one of Patrick Roy’s NHL record of 551 victories.
“I’m not going to score, but you’re the last line of defense,” Brodeur said. “I don’t go onto the bench. You’re by yourself a lot.
“You’re an individual player in a team sport. You have that more as a goalie than at any other position in the game.”
Brodeur was to face the Coyotes last night in Newark seeking his 550th victory, hoping to set the stage for a potential record-tying visit tomorrow to his native Montreal, where Roy won most of his games.
“It would be a nice little script,” Brodeur said.
Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky, who knows something about records, said he hoped to spoil that story line.
“We’re going to do our best,” Gretzky said. “We’re a young team with a lot of energy. We’ll go right at them.”
Gretzky said he recalled when teams tried to spoil some of his exploits.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Gretzky said.
“I’d gone about 45 games [in a row with a point] when we went into Chicago,” Gretzky said. “We were winning, but I hadn’t had a point and [Blackhawks coach] Orval Tessier pulled his goalie. The fans were booing, and he was trying to win the game, but they wanted me stopped.
I scored into the empty net with six seconds left to keep the streak alive.”
Gretzky’s 1983-84 streak ran to a still-standing record of 51 games, during which he piled up an astounding 61 goals, 92 assists and 153 points in a 205-point season, fourth best of his career.
Entering last night, Brodeur was 5-1 in his comeback from missing 50 games for elbow surgery, the first lengthy injury of his 17-year career. He was 11-3-2 on the season, needing two victories to tie
Roy’s record.
He tried to recall his first NHL victory on March 26, 1992, when he was called up as a 19-year-old from junior hockey to back up a game, then beat the Bruins 4-2.
“It was like a dream come true,” Brodeur said. “On Tuesday I was in my junior hockey team rink, playing cards, four o’clock, and the next morning I was on the flight to New Jersey and two [or] three days later, had my first start and first win.
“You sort of pinch yourself. What just happened here, you know? It was unbelievable. Just that would have satisfied me enough. All right, that’s enough. I did it. Pretty cool. That was a little taste of it.”
He went 2-1 in four appearances with New Jersey that year, then spent the entire following season with the Devils’ Utica farm team.
The Coyotes were to put Montreal native Josh Tordjman in net for his second NHL game after losing to the Islanders on March 8. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 153 pounds, even Gretzky, no muscle man, commented on his beanpole look.
“I’m sure he’s thrilled. It’s an exciting day for him, his entire family is here, and he’s going up against one of the greatest of all time,” Gretzky said. “He’d better have his A-game going. I’m sure he will.”
Devils were seeking to surpass their team-record home winning streak of eight games. They hadn’t lost at home since Feb. 7. … Devils were 19-5 in last 24 and 36-13-1 in 50. … Forward Jay Pandolfo and defenseman Andy Greene were to sit out.