Trainor Communications has provided us with this sound from the game.

Henrik Lundqvist

Marian Gaborik

Ryan Callahan

Martin Brodeur

Ilya Kovalchuk

For more information contact Bob Trainor at trainorcomm@gmail.com.

Notes:

• New York has posted a record of 12-4-2 vs. New Jersey since the start of the 2007-08 season; goaltender Henrik Lundqvist improved to 17-6-5 in 28 career regular season appearances vs. New Jersey, including a record of 16-3-4 head-to-head vs. Martin Brodeur.
• The Rangers tallied one goal in three power play opportunities (4:36), and are now five-for-nine (55.6%) on the man advantage in the last two games.
• Henrik Lundqvist stopped 41 of 42 shots to improve to 23-21-6 on the season, including a 12-13-4 mark at MSG; he has now held opponents to two or fewer goals in 21 of his last 28 games dating back to a 2-1 win at Buffalo on Dec. 5, posting a 12-11-5 record, along with a 2.33 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and one shutout over the span; it was Lundqvist’s sixth 40-plus save performance of his career and second of the season, having registered a career-high 45 saves on Jan. 12 vs. New Jersey.
• Rangers Alternate Captain Ryan Callahan notched the game-winning goal and added a power play assist in 22:22 of icetime; he has recorded four points (two goals and two assists) in the last two games; Callahan also led all skaters with six hits, and registered a team-high five shots on net.
• Marian Gaborik opened the game’s scoring with a power play goal at 7:20 of the second period to extend his point streak to five games, registering eight points (six goals and two assists) over the span; he is currently tied for the NHL lead with 13 power play goals, which marks his single-season career-high.
• Rangers Captain Chris Drury tallied the Rangers’ third goal at 9:59 of the second, registered four hits and won a team-high 10 faceoffs in 16 attempts (63%); Drury is now two points shy of 600 career NHL points.
• Brandon Prust tallied his first point as a Ranger with an assist on Drury’s second period goal, and finished the contest with two fighting majors; he is currently tied for the NHL lead with 21 fighting majors on the season.
• Michael Del Zotto registered an assist on Gaborik’s power play goal, and has now recorded a power play assist in each of the last two games; he leads the team with 14 power play assists and ranks third with 17 power play points.
• Matt Gilroy recorded one assist in 14:00 of icetime, and now has two assists in the last two games; the Rangers have now posted a record of 6-3-1 when he registers a point.
• The Blueshirts’ next practice is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 8 (11:00 a.m.), at the MSG Training Center.
• The Rangers will conclude their three-game homestand on Wednesday, Feb. 10, vs. the Nashville Predators at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.); the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.

POST-GAME QUOTES

John Tortorella on Henrik Lundqvist…

“He played very well.  He made some good saves early.  When they mounted on us in the third period, he made some great saves.  We need it, that is how you win.  We are not the only team, every team that wins gets goaltending.  Henrik is the backbone.  He played very well tonight.”

Henrik Lundqvist on beating New Jersey…

“It doesn’t matter who you play.  The top teams are not that much better than the teams that are in 10th place, they are just more consistent.  The game, itself, is not tougher.  They have been very consistent, that is why they are up there.  Don’t get me wrong, they are a very good team.  It is going to be just as tough to play a seventh place team.  It was a fun game, a lot of action.  We scored some huge goals in the second period.  It was a good game to get.”

Marian Gaborik on the upcoming Winter Olympics…

“Everybody is focused on the season here.  The Olympics hasn’t started yet.  When the day comes we will focus on that but the main focus is the season right now.”

Martin Brodeur has done just that, appearing in his 1,000^th career game Saturday night to open the New Jersey Devils’ 2009-2010 season.

Opening the new year at home, the Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2.

Brodeur saw a lot of action early in the game, as the Flyers out-shot the devils 5-1 in the first six minutes of the game.

The Flyers struck first, when Jeff Carter fired from the right faceoff circle off of a pass from Scott Hartnell at 15:47 in the first period.

Despite plenty of chances to even the score, including two 5-on-3 opportunities, the Devils found it very difficult to keep the puck in the offensive zone and rotate lines efficiently.

“That was probably the most negative in our game tonight, long shifts by different groups,” Devils’ coach Jacques Lemaire said.  “Because after, you don’t have that energy, especially in the first game.”

Philadelphia then used the momentum of penalty kills to add to their lead.

New Jersey native James van Riemsdyk sent a pass from the left blueline to Ian Laperriere, who took a wide-angle shot from the right faceoff circle that flew past Brodeur nine minutes into the second period.

Mike Richards put the Flyers up 3-0 six minutes later. Richards dumped the puck into the zone to Matt Carle. Carle sent the puck around the back boards and Richards picked up the puck and banged it off of Brodeur’s left leg pad, where it flipped into the top of the net.

Fans began to leave 7:34 into the third period when Darroll Powe fired a routine shot from the left faceoff circle that riccoted off of Brodeur’s mitt and into the far corner of the net. With his second assist of the game, van Riemsdyk notched his third point of his two-game-long NHL career.

The Devils maintained a shot lead over the Flyers for most of the game, but the visitors took advantage of the opportunities given.

New Jersey got on the board 9:44 into the final period when Philadelphia took a too-many-men penalty. Brian Rolston moved in from the point to the left faceoff circle and fired a dart into the net behind Flyers’ goalie Ray Emery.

Nicholas Bergfors and Dainius Zubrus were credited with the assists.

Any thought of a comeback was squashed at 11:13 when Matt Carle skated cleanly into the offensive zone and shot a puck that deflected off of Brodeur’s leg bad.

The Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner restored some energy to the building when he and Zubrus combined on a 2-on-1 short-handed breakaway. Langenbrunner fired five hole and Emery was unable to stop the puck.

“The best thing out of this game, I thought the guys kept playing, even though they took a big league,” Lemaire said.  “The guys were positive on the bench and talking about ‘don’t let up’ and working, and ‘we’ll get goals’.”

Brodeur stopped 22 of the 27 shots he faced, and Emery stopped 24 of the 26 shots aimed in his direction.

Had the Devils won, it would have been Lemaire’s 200^th career coaching victory.

New Jersey has another opportunity to get the milestone win for Lemaire against another Atlatic Division foe Monday in the second game of the season when the New York Rangers visit the Prudential Center at 7 p.m.

But that remains to be seen.

“I am planning to spend the next couple of weeks with my family to reflect on and evaluate my plans for the future,” the 40-year-old left wing said in a statement. Nowhere did he say that he was done.

After re-signing with the Devils over the summer, both parties had an agreement in place as an escape clause. “If we were unable to find a suitable fit in which I would be able to compete and contribute at the level I expect from myself, then I would simply step aside.”

Don’t count Shanny out. A similar situation occurred at the beginning of last season when the Rangers decided to not re-sign him after two campaigns at Madison Square Garden. More than half the season went by before Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello called and signed Shanahan for the final 34 games of the regular season. He scored only six goals and had eight assists after scoring at least 20 goals in every season since his second in the league.

The Devils are looking to get more playing time for a trio of prospects in Niclas Bergfors, Matt Haliscuk and Ilkka Pikkarainen. Their development would not continue as well if any of them were sent to the minors and the team is looking to give them the best opportunity to succeed at this level.

All three players showed promise during training camp and the preseason schedule and it takes a big man to step aside for the good of the team, plus he also was not satisfied with a limited roll. “I have great respect for Lou, Jacques (Devils head coach Lemaire) and the entire Devils organization,” Shanahan continued in the statement. “The decision was both mutual and amicable.”

In 1,524 career games, Shanahan has scored 656 goals and 698 assists (1,354 points) and a 151 +/- ratio. In 184 playoff games, he tallied 60 goals and 74 assists. The eight-time All-Star won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings (1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02) and was a mainstay of their mini-dynasty. After nine years in Motown, Shanahan signed with the Rangers as a free agent and tallied his 600^th career goal as a Blueshirt on October 5, 2006 against Washington’s Olaf Kolzig.

Shanahan’s highest single season goal total came in 1993-94 when he had 52 with St. Louis. The year before, Shanahan had 51 goals for the Blues. During international play, Shanahan won a gold medal for Canada in the 1991 Canada Cup and another for his home country in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Needless to say, Shanahan should find himself in the Hockey Hall of Fame one day. That may be delayed if he finds a taker at this time. Certainly Lamoriello left the door open just a crack when he didn’t rule out a possible return for Shanahan or even a role within the organization in the future.

The New Jersey Devils have a great left-right wing combination that’s been known to throw a few punches, with left wing Mike Rupp and right wing David Clarkson on the fourth line, the heart of the team’s toughness.

On a team with a balanced attack of youth and experience, and skill and toughness, Rupp and Clarkson represent the grit that the post-season requires.

“I think in the history of the NHL playoffs, it’s kind of cool because it’s not always the most skilled players that make the difference,” Rupp explained.  “You look in the past at guys who have been big in the playoffs, you look at Darren McCarthy in Detroit and some of these guys that just by grit alone are getting the job done.”

Clarkson and Rupp hope to have that kind of impact during the run for the Stanley Cup this season.

Clarkson led the team during the regular season with 164 penalty minutes, many from big hits or fights to defend and inspire his teammates.

“There’s no fighting in the playoffs, or not as much, but going around crashing, hitting guys. If I get a chance to finish a check, doesn’t matter who it is, I need to make sure I finish it,” Clarkson said. “That’s the way I can help.”

Finish he has, scoring two goals in the first five games of the opening round, including the game-winning goal in Newark on Thursday.

Clarkson scored on the power play 11:22 into the second period to give the Devils a 1-0 lead that would hold until the final buzzer. The tipped shot from Andy Greene came as a big surprise; Clarkson doubted he would be used on the power play at all.

Rupp knows what it feels like to score a big goal during the post season, too.

Rupp worked his way into the Devils line-up just in time to score the Cup-clinching goal in game seven of the 2003 Finals. He earned his spot in this year’s playoff line-up by refusing to quit when he was forced out of the starting rotation for several games at a time after the Devils acquired Brendan Shanahan.

“It’s a long ride, and skill can take you so far, but the heart and the determination I think is really what can put you over the top,” Rupp said. “I think a guy like myself and Clarkie, and a lot of our team, we pride ourselves on that and I think that’s good. If your hands are failing every night, it’s a matter of your determination.”

Determination from this duo has led to points during the regular season; 32 from Clarkson (17g, 15a), and nine from Rupp (3g, 6a).

“You know guys are going to turn away from you when you hit them. Our job is to get in the corners, bang and crash, and cycle the puck,” Clarkson said. “We’re going to try to build through it in the series and create more offense for the team.”

Part of the Devils success this year has been the ability of all four lines creating offense, something Clarkson credits to the team’s depth.

“There’s not many teams in the league that have depth we do, where you can have certain guys on your fourth line or certain guys on your third line. I think if a lot of guys on our team were on other teams, they’d be top two, top three line guys and here it’s third or fourth,” Clarkson said.

The experience and the versatility of the team are not lost on Rupp, either.

“We were going around the room and counting how many Cups each guy has and its pretty impressive. You rely on that, you rely on your skill, your youth, your energy. You rely on your grit, your goaltending. We’re able to lean on any one of those crutches,” Rupp said.

The deeper the Devils go into the playoffs, the more they will be able to rely on the toughness of Rupp and Clarkson, when grit alone is what’s needed to get the job done.

“Well, I like the 2, 3-nothing better,” Brodeur joked. “It makes it tough at the end, because one lucky bounce, anything could happen.”

The all-time winningest goalie knows better than anyone, coming off a last-second controversial loss on Tuesday. Brodeur gave a fiery response to referees and media after Jussi Jokenin’s goal in game four, and played like a man-on-fire in game five.

Brodeur made 44 saves and tied Patrick Roy for playoff shutouts with 23 in his 98^th career playoff victory.

On the other side of the ice, Cam Ward saved 42 shots by the Devils, but was unable to stop a deflection on the power play by David Clarkson.

At 11:22 in the second period, defenseman Andy Greene, seeing action for injured Bryce Salvador for the first time in this post-season, received a cross-ice pass from Patrik Elias and fired a shot from the right point. Clarkson screened Ward and raised his stick enough to tip the puck into the roof of the net.

The goal is Clarkson’s second of the post-season and second playoff goal of his career.

“Patty made a nice pass across to me and I just tried to shoot as hard as I can, and Clarkie made a great deflection. Just a great tip in by him and the rest is history,” Greene said.

Coach Brent Sutter was pleased with his defenseman’s play on short notice.

“Greene played very well,” Sutter said. “At different times throughout this year for us he’s come in and played very well. He’s a very poised and controlled young man. He prepared obviously, he got himself ready.”

If Clarkson’s goal were to hold up as the game winner, the Devils still had 30 minutes of ice time to defend the small lead, including some penalty time.

“You look at tonight, you score a goal on the power play allows us to win the game one nothing. And we had to kill off some big penalties,” Sutter said. “Specialty teams are a big part of the playoffs and if they’re not doing the job, you’re going to have a tough time finding success.”

The Devils killed off five penalties during the game and 18 of 19 penalties during the first five games of the series.

Much of the penalty kill was Brodeur, stopping 10 power play attempts by the Hurricanes.

Asked if Brodeur brought motivation from the previous loss, Sutter responded, “If there is, he certainly used it in the right way. He used it in a positive way.”

Brodeur went on the offensive when he strolled 15 feet in front of the crease to play a puck at 15:30 of the second period.  Johnny Oduya and Chad Larose were chasing after it, and Brodeur and Larose careened into each other.

Brodeur laid on the ice for a few moments while play continued, and leaped back into net as a shot barely missed the left post. When play was stopped to call Brodeur on an interference penalty, Brodeur got his ankle checked out.

Larosa’s skate cut the back of Brodeur’s leg as the two collided. Brodeur was concerned about the blood, but the cut did not hamper his play the rest of the game.

The number of shots Brodeur stopped including several in the final 30 seconds of the game, with Carolina looking for a repeat performance.

With less than 19 seconds remaining in the game, Brodeur covered a slap shot from point blank range off of a Carolina face-off win. After stopping it, his teammates took over.

Blocking 22 shots overall, two of the most important came in the final ten seconds.

Jay Pandolfo threw himself on the ice and took a shot from the left point in the stomach. The puck bounced off of him and stayed in the Carolina offensive zone, but Brendan Shanahan dove to swipe it past the blue line.

Pandolfo and Shanahan’s linemate also was a big factor in the game, according to Sutter.

“John was extremely good in faceoffs,” Sutter said of the veteran Madden.

With solid play from every line of forwards and defensemen, the Devils were able to put the game in Martin Brodeur’s hands, and Brodeur responded with terrific play that showed once again he can secure a win, no matter how big the lead.

Fifty-six seconds into the second period, down 1-0, starting goalie Kevin Weekes stopped a routine dump-in shot. What wasn’t routine was Weekes not getting up and not lifting himself off the ice.

“When he got hurt, he was down. Usually you get hurt you’re able to see his face. I went back because I didn’t have my mask with me it was in the locker room. I told Matty to get my mask and after that I was like, ‘Did he get up?’ and ‘No he’s still down.’ So now I figure, let’s take the baseball cap off and put the work helmet on,” Brodeur said.

Weekes was helped off the ice by Dainius Zubrus and Mike Mottau, not moving his left leg at all as he headed to the locker room.

Brodeur stopped the first shot he saw from Lukas Krajicek, but the Lightning’s power play five minutes into the second proved to be more difficult to handle.

Steven Stamkos scored from the left faceoff hash marks after Martin St. Louis, Matt Lashoff and he executed text-book perfect puck cycling on the man advantage. In three passes, the Devils penalty kill unit was cleared out of the way for Stamkos to have a clear shot at Brodeur.

Being down 2-0, the recent incarnation of the Devils would have looked as flat as a sheet of Plexiglas. But the Devils stayed together, and the fate of luck started to return to their favor.

Brendan Shanahan had a wrist shot from the left circle that hit the crossbar and bounce off the back of Tampa goalie Karri Ramo. Ramo covered the puck behind him and swiped the puck out of the way. Play continued despite video replays looked like the puck crossed the goal line while it was under Ramo’s glove.

Tampa Bay’s effort to clear the shot out of their zone took a funny bounce off the boards and almost careened back into an empty net. Ramo threw his stick at the puck to knock it out of harm’s way, an automatic penalty shot.

At 13:05, the officials reviewed Shanahan’s first shot attempt, and if it were a goal there would have been no penalty shot awarded, but video was inconclusive. Coach Brent Sutter sent Shanahan to take the penalty shot.

Shanahan took the puck straight up the ice to a thunderous standing ovation, and without a tricky move or a slight of hand, he shot the puck straight between the legs of Ramo to get the Devils back in the game at 2-1.

“We’re just waiting for a break and something to feel good about. I was happy to be in that situation,” Shanahan said.

The other Devils were also happy the veteran was in that situation.

“Shanny’s goal really seemed to energize the bench and really take a little bit of weight off our shoulders,” Captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. “I think Shanny’s goal kind of brought us back together a little bit. When you’re struggling like we were, unfortunately it’s tough to be around each other a little bit. It’s hard for everybody. That goal got us really excited and back together and I think hopefully it’ll catapult us back in the right direction and we’ll roll from there.”

With new-found confidence and camaraderie, New Jersey continued to make detailed plays that set them up for success.

Less than two minute later, Tampa Bay turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and Jay Pandolfo, filling in for the injured Patrik Elias, skated in against two Lightning defenders but was unbothered. Pandolfo skated to the front of the crease and roofed a shot over Ramo to tie the game at two.

Pandolfo has only been seen in 12 of the last 33 games since the arrival of Shanahan to the club. The long-time Devil has stayed with team mentally and physically, preparing to help at any point.

“It was great. He’s been one of the best teammates a guy can have, a team could have. To see him get a little success in obviously a tough year for him, and the way he’s handled it is I guess what we can expect from Pando. Coming out of the line up but still working as hard as he does to keep himself ready and ready to go when he’s given a chance. He scored a huge goal and it was great to see,” Langenbrunner said with a smile.

The captain himself was ready to jump in the scoring, and with less than a minute and a half to go in the second, Langenbrunner found an open spot to Ramo’s right and fired a shot that deflected off the goaltender’s stick, giving New Jersey its first lead of the night.

The game would not be that easy for the home team, though.

With just under three minutes gone in the third period, Johnny Oduya whiffed on a one-timer opportunity, and Tampa’s Ryan Malone swiped the puck away and took the puck coast-to-coast. Malone took a backhand shot that went over Brodeur to tie the game up again.

“I just felt it wasn’t going to be easy. It couldn’t be. To get a win after a six game losing streak … We went in to the third period up 3-2, and you just had a feeling it wasn’t going to be 4-2, 5-2, 6-2. It was going to be one of those you have to earn,” Shanahan said.

The Devils kept working, putting in enough effort to outshoot the Lightning 27-10 in the second and third periods.

New Jersey took the advantage again at 10:35. With a faceoff in the offensive zone, Travis Zajac won the draw and pushed the puck back to Paul Martin at the point. Martin passed to Parise on the right wing, who fired a shot at the net. Zajac, screening Ramo, tipped the puck across the crease to Langenbrunner, who was ready to put the puck behind the goaltender.

Back and forth it went, and with six minute left in regulation, Tampa struck back when a shot from Matt Pettinger bounced off Brodeur and straight to Martins Karsums, who was ready for the rebound.

“They got a couple shots early and scored a goal. After that they didn’t get any shots, and then got a breakaway goal. I felt something bounce in front of me and they get an empty net goal. I couldn’t wait for that game to end,” Brodeur explained about his evening.

He didn’t have to wait much longer.

One minute, twenty one seconds into the overtime session, Zajac and Parise teamed up to win the game.

“I guess we caught them on a line change there, and Paul (Martin) got me the puck, and me and Zack, we sort of had a 2-on-1 there. He drove the net and I was able to slide it across to him and he was able to put it away,” Zajac said.

Parise had a little different take on his 43^rd goal of the season.

“(Travis) yelled at me to go there. I came over to him and he yelled at me to go the net, and I did, and that was a great pass by him. It was unbelievable,” Parise said.

No matter who takes the credit, the goal revitalized a team that looked like it was repeating the late-season slide of last year that derailed any momentum going into the playoffs.

The Devils have four remaining games to continue the winning trends, including a game Saturday in Buffalo against a Sabres team fighting for the playoffs.

“You need something to get you going in the right direction hopefully tonight will be it. We have a tough game tomorrow against a team that needs every point they can get, so it’ll be a tough battle for us,” Langenbrunner said.

New Jersey proved on Friday that the battle isn’t out of them yet.

There was no rescuing the club from themselves, resulting in a season-high fifth straight loss, a 3-0 shutout by Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers.

“There was no offense because there is no urgency. You’ve got to pay a price to score goals and we don’t want to do that right now. We aren’t playing like we need to play at this time of the season, bottom line,” Devils coach Brent Sutter explained.

New York put 20 shots on goal in the first period, but it took until 4:35 into the second period for the Rangers to get one past Devils’ goaltender Martin Brodeur.

Brandon Dubinsky grabbed a rebound on Brodeur’s right side and faked Brodeur to the ice. Dubinsky had a wide open net and put the puck right over Brodeur. Dan Girardi and Fredrik Sjostrom assisted on the goal.

The Rangers added two more goals, one by Girardi from the slot and one by Ryan Callahan, who went top-shelf over Marty from the right circle.

Callahan’s goal earned a wave of cheers from the fans at Madison Square Garden, especially for Sean Avery’s secondary assist. Avery had screened Brodeur all night, getting in his face and frustrating the goaltender.

The Devils took 28 minutes in penalties during the game, most of them coming from roughing calls for trying to get Avery out of the crease after the whistle blew play dead.

“There’s guys in this league, that’s their job to disturb,” Captain Jamie Langenbrunner said of Avery. “He has a job and he does it well.”

In the third period, with what little life the Devils had left, David Clarkson tried to fight Avery and he would not fight back.

Clarkson threw the forward to the ice, picked him up and threw him back down, earning Clarkson two roughing penalties and a game misconduct, eliminating him from the rest of the game. Avery was slapped with two minutes for roughing, but really tried to have nothing to do with Clarkson.

“It certainly takes discipline for sure. You fight for your team and fight for your teammates. At that point, I didn’t need to fight for either of them so there really was no point,” Avery explained.

Both teams, though, were fighting for the postseason; the Rangers to get in and the Devils to get back the second place seed in the Eastern Conference they had all but locked up.

The win puts the Rangers three points ahead of eighth-seed Montreal and one point behind sixth-seed Pittsburgh. But Rangers Coach John Tortorella is not going to assume anything yet.

“We don’t have a playoff spot. We are in the playoffs but we are still fighting for our lives. We are just trying to find a way to get points,” Tortorella said. “We are just taking it a game at a time. I know playoffs is a subject, but we want to just get in and we are going to take it a game at a time to give ourselves a chance to get in there.”

Despite having a playoff spot locked up, the five-game skid the Devils are on is nearly identical to the losing streak New Jersey took into the post-season last year, when these same Rangers bumped them out in five games.

“Don’t you want to finish second in your conference? Don’t you want have home ice advantage if you advance past the first round? Don’t you want to have pride in the fact that you have your game at the top of your level this time of year? You can’t turn a switch on. This group tried to turn a switch on last year. It didn’t work. You can say it’s a different group but the personnel a lot of it is the same,” Sutter said emphatically.

With six games remaining for the Devils, three at home and three on the road, there is not much time left for the team to get back into the winning form they had just a few weeks ago.

The Rangers’ playoff hopes may still crash, but they are showing more signs of life than their rivals across the Hudson River.

“Five in a row is five in a row. Doesn’t matter if you play well, you play poorly, you score a lot of goals or you give up a lot of goals. Five in a row in this league is unacceptable,” Langenbrunner said.

Just like the structure of the human body, the anatomy of a losing streak is all connected and sometimes has a mind of its own.

After a 2-1 loss, the first of the season after taking a lead into the third period, the New Jersey Devils find themselves in the midst of a four game losing streak (0-3-1), matching the longest downturn of the season.

What has happened to the once machine-like team that compiled 22 of 28 available points in January and recently won 11 straight at home?

The first place to start is special teams. The Devils have allowed 60 power play goals this season, and have only scored 55 while on the advantage. In the past five games, New Jersey has scored just two goals in 20 power play opportunities (10% success rate).

Not to mention, the teams they are facing are buckling down and taking fewer penalties, while the Devils find themselves more and more in the sin bin.

Against the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night, the Devils found themselves on the penalty kill for most of the first 15 minutes of the game. The Hawks scored the first goal of the game while on the advantage, and went on to win by one.

The Devils were called for 17 minutes of penalties compared to the nine called against Chicago.

With the playoffs fast approaching, teams are becoming more disciplined to ensure wins for post-season positioning and in some cases for a final playoff spot.

But the Devils, known for most of the club’s existence for its disciplined, defensive-minded game, have been making mental mistakes that would be expected in pre-season, tolerated in the first thirty games and absolutely unforgivable in crunch time.

With just under seven minutes left against Carolina, up 1-0 and in control of the game, it seemed the Devils lost concentration.

David Clarkson committed a cardinal-sin of making a cross ice pass in the Devils own zone. The puck caromed off the boards, and the Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour picked it up and restarted the offense. Moments later, Sergei Samsonov had the puck in front of Martin Brodeur and found an opening to tie the game.

The tied game seemed to deflate the Devils, and three minutes later Paul Martin headed to the penalty box on a questionable hooking penalty. On a play off of the opening faceoff of the advantage, Tuomo Ruutu put a rebound over Brodeur’s blocker for the game winning goal.

After 53 minutes of controlled, smart hockey, the Devils let two points slip away in matter of two mistakes.

“You make that mistake in your own zone, we hadn’t done that all night. You do it in a 1-0 game. It’s got to be a learning experience for those guys. I hope they learn from it. You’re going to get in these one-goal games. You have to do the details, the little things, well. You look at last night’s game (at Chicago) and tonight – two mistakes cost us goals … I’m not blaming them, but they have to learn from it,” Head Coach Brent Sutter said after Saturday’s game.

Now the novelty of Brodeur returning from injury and reaching milestones, the unspoken thought is the team is depending too much on number 30 to bail them out in tight situations.

That attitude ended the Devils’ season without a Cup for the past few seasons.

New Jersey has allowed 40 or more shots twice in the past four games, a reversal of the minimal work Brodeur saw in his first few games returning from injury.

Despite the goaltender being the face of the organization, the Devils have preached, and proven, all season that they are not a one-man team.

That mentality seems to have left with Scott Clemmensen.

The fact that New Jersey has its playoff spot locked up, and the rest of the schedule is made up of teams fighting to get in, the difference in strategy may also be affecting the Devils’ play of late.

“You can’t go with that mindset, and unfortunately that may be a bit of the case right now that we are kind of resting on the way, but we have to keep battling because there are teams around us. The next two games are going to be an example of  two teams battling for playoff spots that we better get our level back up,” Captain Jamie Langenbrunner said after Saturday’s game.

But New Jersey is not ruined by this losing streak. The Devils currently still sit atop the Atlantic Division, and six points ahead of the number four seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Devils also can right the ship Monday at Madison Square Garden for the final regular season meeting against the rival Rangers. New Jersey has won three straight against the Blueshirts, and the intensity of the rivalry as well as New York’s post-season push should be good for the Devils.

The way New Jersey recovers from the current losing streak could say a lot about the team’s chances for the cup.

Remember, the arm bone is connected to the wrist bone, and the wrist bone is connected to the hand bone. And it takes a whole body of work to lift a Stanley Cup.

Sutter could have been referring to a few different things happening in the Devils organization.

The win over Phoenix marked a team-record ninth straight home win, which comes after the team has clinched its 17^th straight winning season and 12^th straight 40-win season.

New Jersey is in second place in the Eastern Conference with 91 points, and has 15 more games to reach the 100 point plateau.

Individually, Martin Brodeur is one win away from tying the all-time record for career wins, making 26 saves against the Coyotes for his 550^th career victory.

Zach Parise notched his 40^th goal of the season 18 seconds into the game, giving the league’s second-leading goal scorer a 40-goal, 40-assist season.

All four lines scored against the Coyotes, and the defense is a collective +25 over the last seven games.

Sutter was not kidding when he said that “things” can be accomplished.

Standing in the path of the storming Devils were the extremely young Phoenix Coyotes.

To put in perspective how young the Coyotes are, the team’s average age is 25.68, with Ken Klee (37), Shane Doan (32), Steven Reinprecht (32) and Ed Jovanovski (32) being the team’s elder statesmen.

On the Devils, the age of 32 would make you a junior senator.

New Jersey used that experience to control the puck and the game from the beginning.

With the early 1-0 lead, defenseman Johnny Oduya pushed the puck up the right wing to John Madden at 2:56. Madden stuck his stick out and tipped the past goaltender Josh Tordjman to extend the lead.

“I got pretty lucky. Johnny Oduya made a great play to get us on net. I was going hard to the net, I actually thought their goalie was going to poke-check the puck before I got there so I stuck my stick out hoping I would beat him to it and I found the lane on that shot and I was pretty lucky,” Madden explained.

Phoenix made things interesting in the first period when Dainius Zubrus was called for a double-minor high sticking penalty when his stick caught Jovanovski in the mouth at 8:58.

Less than a minute later, Devils’ defenseman Colin White attempted to clear the puck out of the New Jersey zone with his skate, but Scottie Upshall took the puck away and fired past Brodeur, who was still recovering from stopping a previous shot.

The score remained 2-1 through the end of the first period, despite the Devils out shooting the Coyotes 16-5.

“It helps when guys are scoring goals and you don’t have to worry about the next goal being maybe a game-changer,” Brodeur said.

The Devils used the middle of the second period to insure their lead and remove any pressure from their goaltender.

Zubrus fired a one-timer from the right circle off of a backwards pass from Brendan Shanahan. Tordjman did not have a chance.

“Once Shanny got it, he cycled it quickly, and he put it on his backhand with a lot of guys around him. I bounced off and he read what I was going to do and put it right on my tape, so it was an awesome play by him,” Zubrus said.

Turnovers were key to New Jersey’s control of the game. The Devils took the puck away 11 times from the Coyotes, using the puck control to get a head start on the offense.

At 13:03, Brian Gionta and Patrick Elias forced an odd-man rush, and Gionta on the left side passed the puck through the wide open middle of the ice to Elias on the right. Elias fired a wrister that Tordjman initially stopped, but the puck took a bounce and trickled into the net.

Sutter had switched up his second and third lines during the second period of Tuesday’s game against Calgary, moving Zubrus to the third line with Shanahan and David Clarkson and bringing Brian Rolston up to the third line to center Gionta and Elias.

Another recent development in the Devils game plan has been using Rolston at the point for one of the power play lines instead of a defenseman. That move paid off for New Jersey’s fifth and final goal of the game.

Upshall was penalized for hooking at 3:39 in the third period, and at 4:41 Dmitri Kalinin put the puck over the glass and was called for a delay of game penalty, giving New Jersey a 5-on-3 situation for 55 seconds.

It only took 18 seconds for Rolston to fire a shot from the left point that went on net. Travis Zajac was ready on the opposite side and pushed in the rebound for his 19^th goal of the season.

With the game in hand, the Coyotes got frustrated and began to instigate the Devils.

Clarkson crashed the Phoenix net with only six minutes to go, and the Coyotes took exception, shoving Clarkson around after the whistle. But it was Clarkson who ended up in the penalty box for roughing.

Immediately after serving his time, Clarkson got on the ice and found Brandon Prust, who had already fought Bryce Salvador in the second period, and began an altercation. Clarkson got in the majority of blows on Prust, and once the two were separated, they immediately reported to their respective locker rooms to serve their five minute penalties.

The Coyotes seemed to be invigorated by their teammates’ boxing match, and Steven Reinprecht tried to make the score more respectable at 17:52 by putting the puck past Brodeur.

But the comeback attempt was thwarted, and the Devils did reach nine straight wins at home, the longest current streak in the league.

“We certainly have been a focused group here through this. I still think it’s a very good accomplishment to do what we’ve done, but we’re not patting ourselves on the back. There’s a lot of hockey left to be played here. We want to be a good team down the stretch,” Sutter said.

The Devils go on the road this weekend to face the Montreal Canadiens, Brodeur’s hometown team, on Saturday. If New Jersey wins with Brodeur in net, he will tie Patrick Roy’s career win record.

New Jersey then returns to the Prudential Center for a St. Patrick’s Day game with the Chicago Blackhawks, a possibility for Brodeur to make history at home.

If Brodeur does take the record on Tuesday, they may have to switch the holiday to “St. Marty’s Day.”

In a game that some predict may be a Stanley Cup Final preview, the Flames took an early lead while the Devils continued to figure out what the rarely-seen Western Conference opponent had in store.

“That’s a pretty patient team. When you play teams you don’t see often, you don’t know what they’re going to do,” said Zach Parise.

Trade deadline acquisition Ollie Jokinen, one of the biggest names involved at the deadline, continued to make a positive impact for the Flames, scoring at 10:22 in the first.

Jokinen positioned himself on the far post, and was able to put a pass from David Moss behind Martin Brodeur.

Down 1-0, New Jersey began to respond with increased energy and physicality.

Mike Rupp and Andre Roy dropped gloves at 12:58 after Rupp hit Roy into the side boards. Rupp, who was out of the line up for the previous five games, over powered Roy and sent the Prudential Center into a frenzy.

When asked about how Rupp responded to returning to the lineup, Head Coach Brent Sutter said he was pleased.

“Exactly what I wanted. We need that aggression and we need that physicality, and I’m not talking about the fight. I’m talking about finishing checks,” Sutter said.

Despite having to switch up the forward lines because of Rupp’s time in the penalty box, the Devils tied Calgary in shots on goal by the end of the period.

“Later in the first period, we started moving better. In the second period, our game went to another level,” explained Head Coach Brent Sutter.

At 5:10 in the second period, with the Flames on a power play, defenseman Colin White cleared the zone and had Jamie Langenbrunner with him on a odd-man rush.

White brought the puck up the left side of the ice, and passed to Langenbrunner in the slot. Langenbrunner fired, and the puck bounced pass goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to tie the game.

“Whitey was able to freeze the ‘D’, and I was able to get a quick shot off,” said Langenbrunner. “I got a pretty good shot off there.”

The goal marked the 22^nd of the season for the Devils’ captain and the 11^th shorthanded goal of the season by New Jersey.

The special teams did it again for the Devils at 18:01 in the period.

On the power play, Niclas Havelid passed the puck from the point to the left face-off circle, where Brendan Shanahan was waiting. With Dainius Zubrus and Brian Rolston positioning themselves on each post, Shanahan threw the puck on net, and while Kiprusoff was sprawled in the crease, Rolston controlled the rebound and scored on a wide open net.

“Brendan made a really smart play. He found the seam to put the puck towards the net. He was patient there. That’s why he’s so effective,” Sutter said of Shanahan’s assist.

The secondary assist for Havelid marked his first point as a Devil in his second game with the team.

With a 2-1 lead, it did not take long in the third period for the Devils to establish their control of the game.

With just over a minute gone in the third, a pile-up occurred in front of the Flames net. Langenbrunner pulled the puck out and fired a shot from the right side that was saved, but Parise was able to poke the puck under Kiprusoff before he fell on top of the goaltender.

The goal was reviewed, but was upheld after video judges deemed the puck had crossed the red line before Parise toppled onto Kiprusoff.

Kiprusoff was pulled in favor of Curtis McElhinney after the goal, ending his night allowing three goals on 28 shots.

At the other end, Brodeur was challenged often but, after the first goal allowed, he stopped opportunity after opportunity.

With 4:33 gone in the third, Jamie Lundmark had two point blank shots on Brodeur, who stacked his pads make the saves. That would be his biggest challenge until the final moments of play.

Calgary made the game a 3-2 final with .9 seconds left. With White in the penalty box for a delay of game and the Flames having an empty net, Curtis Glencross put the puck past Brodeur as the final buzzer sounded.

Brodeur finished with 35 saves on 37 shots faced.

When asked if he was upset with the last second goal, Brodeur responded, “A little, you don’t like to get scored on, but it doesn’t matter. We’re here to win.”

The team first approach gave Brodeur his 549^th career win, two short of Patrick Roy’s record. His first opportunity to tie the record will come on Saturday in Montreal, his hometown.

But that would mean the Devils would need to continue to win, a “snowball” effect in the right direction.