Schwei: Patrik Elias Rises To The Top

By John Schweibacher
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Patrik Elias scored a pair of power-play goals last week for the Devils, becoming New Jersey's all-time leader in that category.

Here are the top power-play goal scorers in franchise history:

· Patrik Elias 93
· John MacLean 92
· Kirk Muller 69
· Pat Verbeek 53
· Scott Niedermayer 51
· Claude Lemieux 49
· Brian Gionta 48
· Aaron Broten 45
· Zach Parise 45
· Bobby Holik 44
· Petr Sykora 44

Martin Brodeur picked up his first win of the season this past Saturday night against Winnipeg, increasing his NHL record for all-time wins by a goaltender to 626. But Brodeur also reached a dubious milestone last week; tying the all-time mark for most career losses by an NHL goalie.

Here are the top 10 (or bottom 10), three of whom played at one time for the New Jersey Devils and five who have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame:

· Martin Brodeur# 352
· Curtis Joseph 352
· Lorne "Gump" Worsley* 352
· Gilles Meloche 351
· John Vanbiesbrouck# 346
· Sean Burke# 341
· Terry Sawchuk* 330
· Harry Lumley* 329
· Glenn Hall* 326
· Ed Belfour* 320
(*=hall of famer #=played for Devils).

Devils rookie Adam Henrique registered two points, including the first goal of his NHL career, in New Jersey's 4-3 shootout win at Philadelphia last Thursday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Henrique became the ninth man to score his first regular-season NHL goal while playing for the Devils in a game against the Flyers.

Here is the list of those nine New Jersey Devils and the Flyers goaltender they scored against (as well as one interesting empty-netter):

· Adam Henrique 11/3/11 at PHI Sergei Bobrovsky
· Rod Pelley 11/8/07 at NJD Martin Biron
· Tuomas Pihlman 11/30/05 at PHI Robert Esche
· Martin Brodeur 2/15/00 at NJD (empty-net goal)
· John Madden 10/30/99 at PHI Brian Boucher
· Vadim Sharifijanov 10/30/99 at PHI Brian Boucher
· Viacheslav Fetisov 10/8/89 at PHI Pete Peeters
· Janne Ojanen 10/5/89 at PHI Ken Wregget
· Larry Floyd 3/3/83 at NJD Pelle Lindbergh

Toronto's Joffrey Lupul scored a hat trick in the Devils' 5-3 loss to the Maple Leafs last week. All three of those goals came in the 2nd period against Martin Brodeur and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Lupul is the seventh player to record a hat trick in one period against him.

Here are the seven players to register a single-period hat trick against Martin Brodeur:

· Joffrey Lupul TOR @ NJD (2P) 11/2/11
· Martin Lapointe NJD @ BOS (2P) 3/13/03
· Alexei Morozov PIT @ NJD (1P) 10/7/99
· Stu Barnes PIT @ NJD (2P) 1/10/98
· Doug Brown NJD @ DET (3P) 12/19/97
· Mario Lemieux PIT @ NJD (2P) 10/28/95
· Cam Neely NJD @ BOS (1P) 2/12/94

Lupul's three goals were scored in a span of 6:24. Only two of these seven players scored three goals against Brodeur faster than Lupul: Neely (3 goals in 4:02) and Lapointe (3 goals in 5:15).

The Devils host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at Prudential Center and then take on the Washington Capitals in a home-and-home,Friday and Saturday nights. New Jersey defeated Carolina, 4-2, back on October 10th for their first win of the season. The Devils have won all five home meetings with the 'Canes since losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals back in 2009.

This weekend's match-ups with the Capitals will be the Devils first two of 2011-12. Washington took three of the four meetings last season. Caps captain Alexander Ovechkin has scored nine goals and added 19 assists in his 22 career games against New Jersey.

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Adam Henrique. Became only the third rookie in Devils history to score a regular season overtime goal with sudden-death tally vs. Winnipeg, joining Paul Martin (2/15/04 vs. Los Angeles) and Mattias Tedenby (2/8/11 vs. Carolina).

Minus: Injured Iron-men. Ilya Kovalchuk and Andy Greene, who played in 81 and 82 games respectively last season, both sit out with injuries.