Devils Hold Off Hurricanes For 4-2 Victory

New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur will have to wait for another chance to break Terry Sawchuk's record for most career shutouts until another day, but Hockey Highlighter is sure he will be happy to take the win over the Carolina Hurricanes which moved the Devils into 1st place in the Atlantic Division, 2 points up on the idle Pittsburgh Penguins, and as an added bonus, New Jersey enjoys 2 games in hand on the Pens.

Left winger Patrik Elias put the Devils up 1-0 11:11 into the game with a backhand he shovelled towards Canes goalie Cam Ward that trickled through the netminder's legs. New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene got his 4th goal of the season late in the 1st period on a long wrist shot that eluded Ward to give the Devils a 2-0 lead.

Greene struck again with his career-high 5th goal six minutes into the 2nd on the power play and you know that in the back of the minds of every Devils fan that they were thinking maybe this would be the game that Brodeur broke the Sawchuk mark, but that hope was shattered 43 seconds after Greene's goal as Carolina center Brandon Sutter beat Brodeur on a long shot from the Devils blueline.

Two minutes later, with New Jersey center Rob Niedermayer in the box for hooking, Tuomo Ruutu got Carolina back to within one with a lightning fast wrist shot that beat Brodeur for the speedy right winger's 7th goal of the season.

The shots were pretty much even in the 3rd period, and Niedermayer made up for having been in the penalty box for the Hurricanes' 2nd goal by getting the empty net insurance marker with one second remaining in regulation after Carolina pulled Ward for the extra attacker with about one minute remaining.

Carolina next heads to Washington to do battle with Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals on Friday. New Jersey is off until Saturday when they make a home stand against the Philadelphia Flyers.