It was a night of breaking records and setting career milestones for the New Jersey Devils. Travis Zajac scored his 20th goal of the season. Patrick Elias, in breathtaking fashion, scored his 702nd career point to put him atop the Devils' franchise all-time scoring list. But the biggest hallmark that everyone in the hockey world was looking at on St. Patrick's Day of 2009, was Martin Brodeur's 552nd career victory in the National Hockey League, putting him 1 above Patrick Roy as the league's all-time winningest goaltender in the 92 year history.
It was easy to tell that the Devils wanted this game more badly than any other win in the regular season. New Jersey jumped out offensively, and in just over 30 seconds, the captain Jamie Langenbrunner one-timed a soft backhand pass from Zach Parise to put the Devils up 1-0. Then, a second after their first power play expired, Parise once again passed a puck in front of the net, but this time it was Zajac scoring his 20th goal of the 2009 season to give New Jersey and Brodeur a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Chicago opened up things offensively in the second period, but it was New Jersey who took advantage of the open ice. On a late power play for Chicago, New Jersey broke out on a 3-1 rush, but Elias was robbed by Nikolai Khabibulin's blocker. Chicago then proceeded to go on a 3-1 rush of their own, but Brodeur stuffed Brian Campbell's shot into his chest. Then, after the ensuing faceoff, Patrick Elias skated the puck threw the neutral zone, drew three Blackhawk defenders, and made a perfect backhand pass at the last second to Brian Gionta, who one timed it past the leg of Khabibulin to score shorthanded and give Elias his 702nd career point, and the Devils the 3-0 lead. But Chicago was determined not to let Brodeur get his win easily, as 30 seconds later, still on the power play, Cam Barker blasted a puck that Brodeur never saw through a crowd and into the net to put the Blackhawks right back in the game. The crowd didn't seem to mind, as they were still on their feet celebrating Elias's milestone while the Blackhawks celebrated on the ice.
Both teams went on defense in the third period, as each team only had 5 shots on goal. Emotions ran high as the clock ran down and the crowd began chanting Brodeur's name. But with a little over 2 minutes left, Dustin Byfuglien got the puck, spun in a circle, and rifled the shot past Brodeur's blocker to put the Blackhawks in a position to play spoiler. With Chicago's goalie out and an extra skater on, the faceoff was to the left of Brodeur with a little over 8 seconds to go. Then, out of his 30 saves of the night, Brodeur possibly made his finest, sticking his right leg out just in time to turn away a deflected shot that would've tied the game with 4 seconds left. Instead, the puck was redirected into the corner, and the clock wound down as Brodeur was able to celebrate his record-breaking win.
After the game, Brodeur's teammates all gathered around him on the ice as he cut the netting off his goal to commemorate the victory and the record, while receiving a standing ovation from a sold out crowd at Prudential Center. The net was also the recipient of the puck that gave Elias's franchise record setting assist. During the game, Brodeur also passed the 29,000 total career saves mark. Fittingly, Elias and Brodeur took the second and first star awards, respectively. Brodeur's win broke the record that his childhood idol and longtime rival Patrick Roy set, while Elias's assist broke the record his now assistant coach John MacLean set for the Devils franchise. Despite the loss, Chicago still has a 2 point lead over Vancouver in the standings for 4th place. The Devils now have moved to within 4 points of taking first place overall in the Eastern Conference from Boston.
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