Martin Brodeur has always been viewed as one of the best puckhandling goaltenders in the NHL. This aspect of his game has been so strong that he is often cited as one of the goalies that pushed the league to make one of its dumbest rule changes to date by putting in the trapezoid prior to the 2005-06 season, limiting the area in which goalies can play the puck below the goal line.
His ability to play the puck has also made him one of the highest-scoring goaltenders to ever play the game, scoring one goal and recording 40 assists in 1,191 regular-season games.
That point production has also carried over to the postseason.
During New Jersey's 4-2 win over Philadelphia on Sunday night, Brodeur recorded an assist on Dainius Zubrus' empty net goal (shown above), giving him his third helper of the playoffs. That ties an NHL record for points by a goaltender in a single postseason, and it's the first time since 1993 that a goalie recorded at least three points in the playoffs. He's done it in just 11 games ... and he was benched in one of them, which makes it more like 10 1/2 games.
Just for some perspective, the league leader during the regular season was Nashville's Pekka Rinne, and he only had five assists in 73 games.
For his playoff career, Brodeur now one goal and 11 assists, which moves him ahead of Patrick Roy for second place on the all-time playoff scoring list for goalies, just two behind Grant Fuhr.
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