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Schwei: Brodeur's Brilliance In Montreal, Stadium Series & More Devils Notes

By John Schweibacher
» More Columns

After going 1-1-2 on their four-game road trip, the New Jersey Devils will host the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals at Prudential Center this week before heading to Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon to face the Rangers in the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series.

New Jersey has not been a part of any of the previous NHL outdoor regular-season games, but at least one former or current Devils player has appeared in each of the Winter Classics or Heritage Classics, which began in 2003:

11/22/03: Montreal vs. Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium)

Michael Ryder (Mtl)

Darren Langdon (Mtl)

Sheldon Souray (Mtl)

Jason Smith (Edm)

1/1/08: Pittsburgh vs. Buffalo (Ralph Wilson Stadium)

Petr Sykora (Pit)

Henrik Tallinder (Buf)

Adam Mair (Buf)

1/1/09: Detroit vs. Chicago (Wrigley Field)

Brian Rafalski (Det)

1/1/10: Philadelphia vs. Boston (Fenway Park)

Arron Asham (Phi)

Michael Ryder (Bos)

1/1/11:  Washington vs. Pittsburgh (Heinz Field)

David Steckel (Was)

Arron Asham (Pit)

Paul Martin (Pit)

Mike Rupp (Pit)

2/20/11: Montreal vs. Calgary (McMahon Stadium)

Brian Gionta (Mtl)

Scott Gomez (Mtl)

Brendan Morrison (Cgy)

1/2/12: NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia (Citizens Bank Park)

Mike Rupp (NYR)

Jaromir Jagr (Phi)

1/1/14: Toronto vs. Detroit (Michigan Stadium)

David Clarkson (Tor)

The Devils had their season-high six-game point streak (3-0-3, 9 pts) snapped with a 3-2 loss Saturday night against the Phoenix Coyotes, dropping their overall record vs. the Western Conference to 4-9-5 (13 pts) this season.

The Devils set an NHL record for consecutive shootout losses when they lost their 12th in a row, 2-1, to the Avalanche last Thursday night in Denver. New Jersey is now 0-8 in shootouts this season after losing its last four shootouts in 2012-13. The old record of 11 straight shootout losses was held by the Detroit Red Wings, a drought that ended with a tiebreaker win at Toronto on December 21.

The Devils went 14-7 in their first 21 shootouts under Pete DeBoer, but overall his teams have struggled in the tiebreaker, posting losing marks in all three seasons in Florida and dropping 15 of 17 the last two years in New Jersey.

·       2008-09: Florida -- 3-8

·       2009-10: Florida -- 6-10

·       2010-11: Florida -- 4-7

·       2011-12: New Jersey -- 12-4

·       2012-13: New Jersey -- 2-7

·       2013-14: New Jersey -- 0-8

Martin Brodeur recorded his 20th regular-season win at Bell Centre when he made 29 saves to lead the Devils to a 4-1 road victory over the Canadiens last Tuesday night. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that, although he has never played for the Canadiens, the Montreal native ranks seventh in career wins at Bell Centre, which opened in March 1996. The only visiting goaltender with even half as many regular-season wins in that building as Brodeur is Ryan Miller with 11.

Bell Centre is the third NHL venue in which Brodeur has posted at least 20 regular-season wins as a visiting player; the others are Pittsburgh's former home rink, Mellon Arena (23), and Nassau Coliseum (22).

Here are the buildings (listed by their current names) in which Brodeur has recorded at least 15 or more career road victories (totals through 1/17/14):

·       Mellon Arena (Pittsburgh, PA): 23

·       Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY): 22

·       Bell Center (Montreal, Que): 20

·       Madison Square Garden (New York, NY): 18

·       Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia, PA): 18

·       HSBC Center (Buffalo, NY): 17

·       Canadian Tire Centre (Ottawa, Ont): 16

·       BB&T Center (Sunrise, Fla): 16

·       Tampa Bay Times Forum (Tampa, Fla): 15

Jamie Langenbrunner announced his retirement last week, ending a career that spanned 16 NHL seasons. The former Devils captain won two Stanley Cups, one with Dallas in 1999 and the second with New Jersey in 2003. Langenbrunner appeared in 564 regular-season games for the Devils, the 14th-most in club history, and his 385 points (142g-243a) rank 12th all-time for New Jersey. His 50 points (18g-32a) in the postseason are 10th-best in Devils history.

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Ryane Clowe -- He scored his second goal of the season and added an assist for his second multiple-point game in the loss to Phoenix. Clowe now has two goals and seven assists (nine points) in his last seven games.

Minus: Shootouts -- New Jersey is now 0-8 in the shootout this season after going 0-for-2 on shot attempts in the loss at Colorado. The Devils are now 1-for-25 overall on shootout attempts this season.

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