Brodeur Reaches Milestone

Martin Brodeur stood in the crease, his arms raised above his head in triumph. It wasn’t another Stanley Cup victory, but winning 400 games so soon is almost as special.

Brodeur became the youngest goaltender to win 400 when Scott Niedermayer scored 3:55 into overtime Tuesday night, lifting the New Jersey Devils to a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers at Sunrise, Fla.

“I take a lot of pride in winning hockey games,” Brodeur said. “Stats are good, but wins really show the success you have. When I look at my years, I always look at wins.”

Brodeur, 31, made 21 saves to reach the milestone after failing in two previous attempts. He accomplished the feat in fewer games than any other goalie and is 400-215-105 in 12 seasons. Patrick Roy is the all-time leader with 551 wins.

“The scary thing about Martin is that there is a lot more left,” Devil Coach Pat Burns said. “He loves the game and he works hard at it and he’s only 31 years old. The big thing is there is a lot more to come for Marty Brodeur.”

Brodeur also became the first to win 400 playing every game for the same team.

Turner Stevenson, Brian Gionta and former Panther Viktor Kozlov also scored for the Devils, who clinched their eighth consecutive playoff appearance with the victory.

The Devils moved past Montreal into sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Niedermayer scored the winner when he skated in and beat Roberto Luongo with a quick wrist shot to the short side. It was Niedermayer’s eighth career overtime goal, the most for a defenseman.

Lyle Odelein scored twice for the Panthers and Vaclav Nedorost also scored. The loss combined with the New York Islanders’ victory over Washington eliminated Florida from playoff contention.

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Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 2 -- Former Maple Leafs Fredrik Modin and Dave Andreychuk scored power-play goals at Toronto to help the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning stay one point ahead of Philadelphia in the standings.

Martin St. Louis picked up three assists to give him 89 points, tops in the NHL, and a new franchise high for the Lightning.

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N.Y. Islanders 3, Washington 0 -- Rick DiPietro made 17 saves for his second consecutive shutout and Alexei Yashin had a goal and assist at Uniondale, N.Y.

DiPietro stretched his shutout streak to 136 minutes 58 seconds, dating to Friday’s victory over Minnesota. He blanked Tampa Bay on Sunday and then stymied the Capitals to complete a three-game homestand sweep.

The Islanders extended their lead over Buffalo to eight points in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

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Chicago 2, Colorado 2 -- Tyler Arnason scored Chicago’s second goal of the third period with 1:40 left and Michael Leighton stopped 41 shots, helping the Blackhawks pull out a tie at Denver.

Jim Vandermeer scored Chicago’s other goal. Matthew Barnaby and Steve Konowalchuk scored goals for Colorado.

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San Jose 5, Detroit 2 -- Jonathan Cheechoo scored a pair of goals and Evgeni Nabokov made 37 saves to lead the Sharks at San Jose.

The Sharks improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven and extended their lead in the Pacific Division to three points over idle Dallas and moved into a tie for second with Colorado in the Western Conference standings.

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Pittsburgh 5, N.Y. Rangers 2 -- Lasse Pirjeta had two goals and an assist and Jean-Sebastien Aubin made 35 saves for the Penguins at New York.

Milan Kraft, Rico Fata and Kostantin Koltsov also scored for the Penguins, 8-1-1 in their last 10 contests. Three of those victories were over the Rangers.

Jaromir Jagr and Thomas Pock, playing in his first NHL game, scored for New York, which lost its seventh game in a row.

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Philadelphia 4, Carolina 2 -- Branko Radivojevic had a goal and an assist and Simon Gagne also scored to end the Hurricanes’ playoff hopes at Raleigh, N.C.

Carolina was eliminated when the Islanders beat the Capitals.

Philadelphia’s Sean Burke stopped 23 shots to pick up his 303rd win, moving him past Turk Broda and into 18th place on the NHL’s career list. Patrick Sharp and Marcus Ragnarsson had the other goals for Philadelphia.

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Boston 4, Ottawa 2 -- Glenn Murray scored his 30th goal and added an assist, and Andrew Raycroft stopped 28 shots to lead the Bruins at Boston.