A perfect game proved the only way out of the Devils’ home futility, and Martin Brodeur delivered.
Brodeur’s 102nd shutout pulled him within one of Terry Sawchuk’s 39-year-old NHL record, and gave New Jersey its first victory of the season in four tries in Newark.
“Shutouts mean wins,” said Brodeur, who holds the NHL record with 561 of the latter after last night’s 2-0 triumph over Carolina in Newark. “For me, it was not about the shutout. I thought ‘I just can’t give up any goals.’ ”
Brodeur and Cam Ward dueled scorelessly until Jamie Langenbrunner put New Jersey in front 26 seconds into the third, and Brodeur withstood a late Hurricanes flurry before Zach Parise sealed the triumph with the empty netter with 39.4 seconds left.
All the while, the specter of April 28 hung over the Newark rink, when those same Hurricanes scored twice in the final 80 seconds of Game 7 in the first round to eliminate the Devils, who had been about to advance.
“Definitely, there were flashbacks,” Brodeur said. “Good thing there are so many new players here. They didn’t feel it.”
Brodeur’s 1-0 shutout in Game 5 of that first round series against Carolina was the last time the Devils had won at home, excluding exhibitions. They were at home to lose that unforgettable Game 7 last spring, then dropped their first two of the season in Newark. They reversed direction by winning three in a row on the road, then lost to Atlanta at home Friday.
Their 0-3 home start was their second longest, behind 1983, when they dropped their first six at the Meadowlands, part of a 1-12 overall start.
“I don’t know if relief is the word,” Langenbrunner said. “Oh, maybe. Maybe that is the word.”
Responding to an 0-3 home record and Friday’s 4-2 loss to Atlanta in Newark, head coach Jacques Lemaire broke up the Z Line and his top defensive pair. He removed Travis Zajac from between Parise and Langenbrunner, using Dainius Zubrus and then Rob Niedermayer there. He also separated Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya. Martin skated with Bryce Salvador, Oduya with Andy Greene.
Langenbrunner broke up the scoreless tie 26 seconds into the third. Niedermayer went behind the net from the left side and his centering pass deflected off Cam Ward’s goalie stick, caroming off Langenbrunner’s body into the net. Video review certified Langenbrunner’s second of the year.
Langenbrunner missed the empty net in the final minute, but Parise hit it, dispelling Devils fears of Hurricanes history repeating itself.
“You want to give your fans something to cheer for,” Parise said. “It just took us a few games.”
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For the third straight game, and fourth time in five, New Jersey was penalized for too many men on the ice, though this one didn’t cost them. . . . The Devils sat out Ilkka Pikkarainen, Andrew Peters and Cory Murphy from Friday’s 4-2 loss to Atlanta in Newark, inserting Matt Halischuk, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Andy Greene. . . . The Devils are off until they visit the Rangers Thursday.