Here's a scary thought as the NHL heads towards the home stretch -- Martin Brodeur still isn't in top form. After three games back from a torn triceps, including Sunday's 3-0 win over Philadelphia, there are still aspects to Brodeur's game -- recovery speed, conditioning -- that need the sort of work that will only come with more playing time. Yet in those three games he's also 3-0 with a 0.67 goals against average and two shutouts. He's now up to career win No. 547 and career regular season shutout No. 100, five and four away, respectively, from breaking the NHL records. I know I've already gone all homer on how great Brodeur is, but in the two games since it's only become more obvious that this is unreal.
I guess we can forget about any notion of Brodeur easing back into his return; he's started all three games since rejoining the team, including back-to-back day games. Brent Sutter pointed towards his relatively light workload in the first two games for getting the start on Sunday, but the Flyers made sure to put Brodeur through his most strenuous testing yet.
The Flyers peppered him with 27 shots, the most he's faced since returning, and many were challenging shots from close-range that required a lot of lateral movement on Brodeur's part. The contest was also, as Devils/Flyers tilts typically tend to be, very physical, and the Flyers seemed intent on testing Brodeur's health, especially as the game went on. Brodeur's arm continues to hold up, however.
So Brodeur posts another perfect game, and if you look at the two goals he's let up so far -- a wrist shot in which he was screened by two Panthers and a slapshot that deflected off of Brendan Shanahan and changed directions -- you have to consider his performance in total since returning as infallible. He seems hellbent on getting the records out of the way as soon as possible, and the Devils seem hellbent on helping him. On top of playing some of their best defensive hockey of the season of late, they've also supported Brodeur with 14 goals in three games.
While discussing Brodeur's surprising return, Ted Starkey told me that he thinks Brodeur will break Patrick Roy's wins record in Montreal, where Roy made his career and where Brodeur grew up, on March 14. That's five games from now, meaning the Devils will have to go a perfect 4-0 leading into that game to give Brodeur a chance to break it there.
That's not far-fetched, however, considering that the Devils are playing almost near-perfect hockey right now, with Brodeur leading the way.
