Brodeur Is 2nd On Shutout List

Martin Brodeur left George Hainesworth behind and moved a step closer to Terry Sawchuk in a fitting duel between two of the NHL's top goalies. <br/><br/>The New Jersey star broke a tie with Hainesworth

Monday, December 24th 2007, 7:50 am

By: News On 6

Martin Brodeur left George Hainesworth behind and moved a step closer to Terry Sawchuk in a fitting duel between two of the NHL's top goalies.

The New Jersey star broke a tie with Hainesworth for second place on the career shutout list with 95, making 30 saves in the Devils' 1-0 overtime victory in Calgary on Sunday night. Brodeur has three shutouts this season, his 15th in the NHL, to close within eight of Sawchuk's record of 103.

``It was a weird game,'' Brodeur said. ``We did a great job on our special teams. It was definitely nice to come through in overtime.''

Patrik Elias scored the lone goal, beating Miikka Kiprusoff at 25 seconds of the extra period. Kiprusoff finished with 21 saves.

``You know that the opposing goalie isn't going to give up much, especially when he's one of the top guys, and that everybody has to work hard and I have to be sharp,'' said Brodeur, a 1-0 loser in overtime two weeks against the New York Rangers.

In the other NHL games Sunday, it was: Ottawa 3, the Rangers 1; Dallas 4, Montreal 1; Colorado 3, Vancouver 1; Chicago 3, Edmonton 2; Atlanta 3, St. Louis 2 in overtime; Nashville 3, Columbus 1; and Pittsburgh 4, Boston 2.

Elias ended it after Calgary mishandled a pass in the New Jersey zone.

Elias moved the puck ahead to Brian Gionta, then raced up to join Gionta on a 2-on-1. With Cory Sarich and Craig Conroy desperately trying to catch him, Elias one-timed Gionta's pass into the open side before Kiprusoff could slide across.

``That was totally my fault. I should have just shot it quick,'' Conroy said. ``I tried to pull it and it bounced over my stick and away they went. I've got to be smarter than that.''

New Jersey is 13-3-1 in its past 17 games.

``We had a tough start to the season,'' Brodeur said. ``We can't hide it, we started 3-6-1, but we came out of it and now hopefully we'll be a little more consistent.''

Calgary was 0-for-6 on the power play.

``Certainly, we did have opportunities,'' Flames coach Mike Keenan said. ``We weren't able to score a power-play goal, which would have been paramount in this particular contest in view of the way Martin Brodeur was playing.''

Senators 3, Rangers 1

At New York, Chris Kelly snapped a second-period tie, and Martin Gerber came back from a day off to lead Ottawa.

After sitting out the Senators' 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago at home Saturday night, Gerber made 34 saves to earn his fourth win in five outings. He gave up only Scott Gomez's goal early in the first period.

Jason Spezza and Kelly wiped out the early deficit for the Eastern Conference-leading Senators, and Mike Fisher also scored for Ottawa. The Senators took the season series 3-1 and have won 16 of 20 against the Rangers since the 2002-03 season.

Sean Avery returned to the Rangers after missing 11 games following wrist surgery.

Stars 4, Canadiens 1

At Dallas, Mike Ribeiro had a goal and two assists in his first game against his former team, and Dallas linemates Antti Miettinen and Brenden Morrow also scored.

Stu Barnes added a goal to help the Stars improve to 6-1 in their past seven games.

Marty Turco stopped 17 shots, missing his 32nd career shutout when Andrei Markov scored midway through the final period.

The game marked the return of Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau, who played five seasons for the Stars and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 1999.

Avalanche 3, Canucks 1

At Denver, Cody McCormick and Andrew Brunette scored in a 1:34 span of the third period, and Peter Budaj made 21 saves for Colorado.

The Avalanche, 5-0-1 in their past six games, moved into a tie for first place with the Canucks in the Northwest Division. Marek Svatos also scored for Colorado.

Taylor Pyatt scored for Vancouver, and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves in his first regulation loss since a 2-1 setback at Minnesota on Dec. 2.

Blackhawks 3, Oilers 2

At Chicago, defenseman Brent Seabrook had his first two-goal game in the NHL, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 25 saves to help the Blackhawks win their third straight.

Seabrook's second goal, at 1:20 of the third period, broke a 2-2 tie. His drive from the right wing beat goalie Mathieu Garon on the short side.

Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks. Tom Gilbert and Dustin Penner scored for Edmonton.

Thrashers 3, Blues 2, OT

At St. Louis, Marian Hossa scored on a break at 19 seconds of overtime after a defensive mistake, and Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 29th goal for Atlanta in the Thrashers' first win in St. Louis in franchise history.

Hossa swept in alone on goalie Manny Legace after Jay McKee fumbled the puck in the air and then lost control after Eric Perrin flipped it into the St. Louis zone.

Mark Recchi also scored to help Atlanta win its fourth straight.

Keith Tkachuk and Barret Jackman scored for the Blues.

Predators 3, Blue Jackets 1

At Columbus, Ohio, J.P. Dumont broke a tie with 38 seconds left, and Chris Mason made 30 saves for Nashville in the Predators' 11th straight victory over Columbus.

David Legwand had a power-play goal, and Jed Ortmeyer added an empty-netter for the Predators. Dan Fritsche scored Columbus.

Penguins 4, Bruins 2

At Pittsburgh, Gary Roberts had two goals and an assist, and linemate Georges Laraque added a goal and an assist for the Penguins.

Evgeni Malkin also scored for Pittsburgh. P.J. Axelsson and Petteri Nokelainen scored for Boston.