The New Jersey Devils knocked off the Philadelphia Flyers by a 4-1 margin on Sunday night to extend their current winning streak to four consecutive games. It was also a pretty big individual night for two of their best players.
Martin Brodeur stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced, and with the win added to his already NHL record win total by recording his 650th career victory (and, in case you're wonder, yes, 40 of those did come in the shootout, and no, that's not hating, that's just pointing out facts -- it's a big part of this NHL era and needs to be included).
That's 99 more wins than the No. 2 goalie on the list, Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, and 166 more than the No. 3 goalie, Ed Belfour.
It takes the perfect combination of skill, durability and, of course, playing for a consistently competitive organization to reach such a level, and he will obviously continue to add to his record for the remainder of this season. And if you're a fan of arbitrary round number milestones (and, hey, who isn't?) the next one is obviously 700 wins, which would probably require him to play another two seasons. Even if he doesn't reach that mark, it's probably going to be one of the hardest individual records to break in the NHL as a goalie would need to average 35 wins per season for more than 18 years to reach 650.
Even with the shootout, that's going to take a legendary effort.
Also during Sunday's game Ilya Kovalchuk added his 30th goal of the season at the 8:08 mark of the third period, giving him at least 30 goals for a ninth consecutive season.
Kovalchuk's evolution as a player continues to be a wonderful development for the Devils as he's become a far better two-way player than he ever was in Atlanta -- and a regular on the penalty kill -- and is still the best offensive player on the team.
The only season that Kovalchuk did not score 30 goals was his rookie year in 2001-02 when he scored 29. In only 65 games.
The Devils seem to be hitting their stride over the past two weeks, and are 5-1-0 in their past six games, completely shutting down the opposition, having allowed just five goals during that stretch, never allowing more than one goal. The only loss was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Islanders last Sunday.
Photo: Getty Images
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