552

Sometimes you just luck out.

This summer, when it was time to pick the games to go to this season, a March 17th meeting with the Chicago Blackhawks was on the top of my list. With the Blackhawks blossoming into a great young team, and having recently added Brian Campbell, I was excited to see one of the NHL’s great success stories in person. Little did I know on that day in August that seven months later, I would be a witness to history.

It almost wasn’t meant to be. Heading into a November 1st meeting in Atlanta, one had to figure that Martin Brodeur would knock off the all-time wins mark by Thanksgiving, and by mid-March would be far closer to 600 than to 552. But the blessing in disguise that brought the Devils team together also saw Brodeur return to action at the end of February, picking up right where he left off. By the time my most anticipated game of the year had arrived, Brodeur was 7-1, and had just come off a big win in Montreal which saw him tie Patrick Roy’s all-time wins mark in front of Patrick himself.

It’s always easy to say after the fact that you had a feeling they would win, but I honestly, truly did have that feeling all day long. And with the eyes of the hockey world settled in on New Jersey’s largest city, the Devils grabbed the lead with the sellout crowd barely in their seats. Just 38 seconds in, Jamie Langenbrunner continued the Devils’ recent trend of scoring within the first 90 seconds of a game. Parise, who set up the Captain’s goal, would also set up Travis Zajac to send the Devils into the locker room after one with a 2-0 lead.

But one of the night’s most memorable highlights came in the 2nd period. On a 2-on-1, Patrik Elias sends a beautiful pass in the direction of Brian Gionta, who placed it perfectly behind Khabibulin, not only giving the Devils a 3-0 lead, but also giving Patrik Elias his 702nd career point, officially making him the Devils’ all-time leading scorer.

Unfortunately, Chicago had to make it a contest. The Blackhawks did not even wait for Kevin Clark to finish announcing the Devils’ third goal, before getting on the board themselves.

With about 12 minutes left in the third period, the Devils, for some reason, began to play four men back, with one forward up challenging for the puck. Surely they didn’t believe they could put the Blackhawks in a stranglehold, did they? Alas, Dustin Byfuglien cut the lead to 3-2 with just over two minutes to go, and suddenly the festive atmosphere become one more of hesitation. Please…just let them hold on.

Chicago threw everything they had at the Devils for the remainder of the game, but one more great save with three seconds to go officially solidified Brodeur’s place as the winningest goaltender in NHL history.

It was teriffic that the fans saluted Patrik Elias, but nothing topped the ceremony for Mr. Franchise. Cutting the net off took a little longer than I think he would have liked, but the victory lap was priceless, and the sellout crowd screaming at the top of their lungs—myself included—really made it a special moment.

I am extremely proud to have been a witness to history, and tonight’s game has now officially become the greatest Devils game I’ve ever attended in person.

Sometimes you just luck out.