Tukkaa Rask who has been in net for the injured Tim Thomas looked like the Vezina Trophy winner he was replacing stopped 33 of 34 shots faced in regulation as Martin Brodeur was equally as good coming up huge in with 3 seconds left in the third period making his 29th stop of the afternoon to force the extra session.When the puck dropped at the beginning of the third period,  Brodeur broke the record for most minutes played in the NHL by a goalie passing Patrick Roy’s mark of 60,235. Brodeur is at 60,280 and counting.

The back and forth game went to a shootout. After both goalies stopping the first shots faces the two goal scorers in regulation ,Zach Parise and Blake Wheeler score in the second round of the shoot out. Jamie Langenbrunner broke the stalemate and beat Rask on the final shot of the shootout making the Devils 10-2-1 on the road this season. Someone had to win and neither team deserved the loss in this great matinee game. No rest for the weary as the B’s are right back at it hosting the Sens tomorrow night. The Bruins are now tied with Ottawa for 1st place in the Northeast Division.

Dwayne Roloson has played over 500 NHL games in his 13 year career and at 40 years old, Roloson is still proving that he has what it takes to play in the NHL. The New York Islanders signed the veteran goalie to a two year deal  in July and are getting their money’s worth. Last night Roloson made a career high 58 saves to help the Isle’s beat the struggling Maple Leafs in overtime 4-3. Roloson had to bail out his teammates as they squandered a 3-0 lead. So far this season Roloson is sporting a 7-2-5 record with a 2.86 GAA and a .916 save %.

In case you were wondering, I did some research and got you some numbers on saves by a goalie in the NHL. Sam LoPresti holds the regular season record for saves made. Lopresti stopped 80 of 83 shots in a 3-2 loss at Boston on March 4,1941.

The playoff record is held by coincidentally an Islander’s goalie, Kelly Hrudey who stopped 73 shots in a 3-2 as teammate  Pat LaFontaine scored int the 69th minute of overtime to lift the Islanders over the Washington Capitals on April 18,1987.

Dominic Hasek holds the record for most saves in a shut out victory with 70. The Sabres netminder accomplished this record in a 1-0 victory against the New Jersey Devils on April 27,1984. It took 4 overtimes to break the 0-0 tie before Dave Hannan backhanded the game winner past Martin Brodeur in his rookie year.

Being a Bruins fan, the one that sticks out for us would be on March 21,1991 when Ron Tugnutt of the Quebec Nordiques stopped 70 of the 73 shots that the Bruins threw at him in the Boston Garden. Ray Bourque had 19 shots himself in that game and managed to get one by Tugnutt.

The Penguins Ruslan Fedotenko started the scoring nearly half way through the first period to give the Penguins an early lead. Sydney ended his longest scoring drought his career by getting an assist on the goal. Unfortunately for the Penguins that was only time they would light the lamp as Martin Brodeur shut the door on the home team giving the Pens their 5th straight loss. Good news for the Penguins came after the game as Evgeni Malkin announced his return on Saturday night against the Bruins. Malkin’s last game was October 28th against the Canadiens.

The Devils scored four un-answered goals to extend their road record to 9-0. The Devils are home on Saturday night and will have to wait until Monday night to try to tie Buffalo’s 10-0 record as they go into The City of Brotherly Love to face the Flyers.

Warm weather not good for the Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins went into the week with a 7-0 record on the road and the LA Kings took care of that Thursday night by scoring 4 unanswered goals in the third period as they went on to a 5-2 Victory. The Stanley Cup champs then went into San Jose Saturday night to a place they haven’t won at since October 22,1997.  Evgeni Nabokov made sure that San Jose kept that choke hold on the Pens by stopping all 27 shots and shutting them out 5-0. Sidney Crosby has been held point-less in the last 4 games.

To add insult to injury well in this case vise versa, the Pens lost Defensman Kris Letang in the first period as he was favoring his right arm area. that add to the list of key players the Pens are already missing…Evgini Malkin, Sergi Gonchar, Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot.

Washington is feeling the Pens pain as Ovechkin is listed week to week instead of the day to day that was originally expected.

Devils are heating up

Saturday night the New Jersey Devils beat Ottawa 3-2 to boost their road record to 8-0. Martin Brodeur celebrated his 1000th victory as the Devils are now chasing the NHL record 10-0  on the road that Buffalo set in the 2006-2007 season.

New Cellar Dwellars

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been mopping up the cellar most of the season and with the help of Phil Kessel, they have climbed out of the cellar by winning the last 2 games including knocking off the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes continue to have the worst start since their move some years ago with a 2-11-3 record including a current 6 game losing streak. Goaltender Cam Ward who has been mentioned in trade rumors, suffered a leg laceration Saturday night when Columbus Blue Jacket forward Rick Nash caught him with a skate. Ward spent Saturday night in the hospital as he needed stitches. He is expected to be released Monday and will miss 3-4 weeks.

Looking for a new home

Capitals, Michael Nylander was placed on waivers late last week and will clear waivers Monday at noon meaning if he is not picked up by another team, the Caps can send him, lend him or move him. Nylander has agreed to waive his no movement clause and is currently making 4.875 million.

Key match-ups in the up coming week

The New Jersey Devils are hosting the Ducks Wednesday night to try to extend the 5 game winning streak they are on and then visit Pittsburgh on Thursday night and try to extend their road record to 9-0. The Devils will  also host the Caps on Saturday night.

Toronto will go for their 3rd straight win on Tuesday night against the last place Minnesota Wild

Once again the pattern continues lose one, win one. The Devils remain undefeated on the road improving their record to 6-0-0 away from New Jersey. Back up net minder, Yann Danis made his first appearance of the season, giving Martin Brodeur a night off after last nights loss to Buffalo. Danis stopped 31 of the 32 shots the Bruins threw at them.