THE winningest regular-season goalie of all-time didn’t become so by beating Henrik Lundqvist, that’s for certain. Should the Rangers and Devils find each other this spring for a third first-round matchup in four years, Martin Brodeur will have a hard time making up four of the 56 postseason wins by which he still trails Patrick Roy on that all-time list.
Brodeur leads Lundqvist three Stanley Cups to zero, 20 postseason series wins to two, 553 regular-season victories to 139, 101 shutouts to 13. Lundqvist, 3-0 winner last night, leads Brodeur 18-6-4 in all time head-to-head meetings — regular and postseason combined.
Three guys who haven’t been hitting the broad side of Eighth Avenue beat Brodeur in the second period. Brandon Dubinsky picked up a rebound and patiently roofed one over the flopped Brodeur, Dan Girardi hit a low corner through multiple bodies off a smart tip pass from Nik Antropov, and Ryan Callahan impressively nailed a top corner after taking a return pass from Scott Gomez.
Meanwhile Lundqvist, stoning Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik’s rebound on a second period two-on-one, was sharper than he looked even on the cover of Page Six Magazine. He saw everything, the only exception being not seeing fit to insist he owns Brodeur like every designer suit in King Henrik’s closet.
“As a team we have been really good against New Jersey,” Lundqvist said. “And it’s fun to play against the best.
“Every team has a great goaltender but there are a few who stand out a little bit more and Marty is obviously one of them. But mostly it was an important game and a fun atmosphere on the ice and in the stands.”
Especially in the stands, where “Maaaaaarrrrttyyy” repeatedly echoed, just to keep fans interested until the frustrated Devils inevitably started to go after Sean Avery.
As the New Sean lawfully kept his back to the goalie, “Fatso” as the Old Sean called Brodeur after the Devils’ elimination 11 months ago, settled for a couple of light stick jabs. Otherwise Brodeur had bigger fish to fry or maybe was the fish being fried during a 20-shot Ranger first period panned by Brent Sutter.
“The first two periods we were very passive,” said the Devils coach. “Their goaltender didn’t have to make any tough saves where he never saw the shots.”
If Lundqvist saw everything, it was because of his exceptional concentration.
“He seemed to be in the right spot at all times,” said John Tortorella. “I don’t think there was much wasted motion. If we [are] to go where we want to be he’s going to have to be a mainstay.”
It has always been about the goaltending. It was last April when Lundqvist outplayed Brodeur in a five-game Ranger victory. It was in 2006 when Lundqvist, a rookie, crashed in a four-game Devils sweep.
It has been since Brodeur’s last Cup in 2003, too. He has won only two postseason rounds in that time, a similar pace to 1996-99, when he won one, rendering any proposed chase of Roy’s 151 post-season wins hopeless.
The Devils have won it all because of Brodeur and lost early because of him, too. Absolved of blame last night by his coach, he nevertheless was outplayed like the losing goalie is in 85 percent of all games.
“[Lundqvist] must love playing us,” said Brodeur, who then smiled. “Or me. It was the same way when I played against Mike Richter. Against the older goalie you try to pick up your game.”
Most goalies will tell you they are playing only against the shooters, not the guy in the other net. Most goalies lie.