NEWARK, N.J. — Paul Martin scored on a breakaway goal and added an assist to help the New Jersey Devils beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Wednesday night.
The Devils have won five straight to hit the All-Star break in first place in the Atlanta Division, a seemingly unreachable goal when star goalie Martin Brodeur tore his biceps on Nov. 1.
Scott Clemmensen, Brodeur’s replacement, made 26 saves, to improve to 19-9-1, and Travis Zajac, Johnny Oduya, Zach Parise and Patrik Elias added goals for the Devils, one point ahead of the New York Rangers in the Atlantic.
Josh Gorges and Matt D’Agostini scored for Montreal, 1-10-1-1 in its last 13 games in New Jersey.
Martin got the Devils rolling at 11:52 of the first, only moments after serving a cross-checking penalty. Elias spotted Martin skating behind the Montreal defense and hit him with a perfect lead pass. Martin broke in on Carey Price, making his first start in three weeks because of an ankle injury, and whipped the puck between the goalie’s pads.
In the second, Zajac put the Devils up 2-0 at 6:18 by knocking home the rebound of Parise’s shot that was loose in the Canadiens’ crease.
Gorges got Montreal on the board at 13:56 before Martin set up Oduya for a slapper from the top of the left circle at 18:20 for a 3-1 Devils lead.
Parise padded the New Jersey lead to 4-1 at 2:05 of the third on a shot from the left wing that a Montreal defender deflected past Price. Parise, the Devils’ leading goal scorer with 28, has six goals in the last seven games.
D’Agostini got a power-play goal at 7:46 that took several lucky bounces. The initial shot was deflected by Oduya and appeared to glance off Montreal’s Max Pacioretty, who was initially credited with the goal.
Elias closed out the scoring with a shorted-handed tally into an empty net.
Notes: The Devils went with the same lineup as in their 3-1 win
Nashville on Monday, meaning recently signed Brendan Shanahan played while Jay Pandolfo was a healthy scratch for a second straight game. Defensemen Sheldon Brookbank and Jay Leach were also scratched by New Jersey. … Captain Saku Koivu returned for Montreal after missing 17 games with a high-ankle sprain. The Canadiens scratches were Alex Tanguay, Georges Laraque, Christopher Higgins, Steve Begin, Mathieu Dandenault and Kyle Chipchura. …. The Devils saluted Brian Rolston before the contest for having recently played in his 1,000th game. He became the 234th player in NHL history to reach that total, and the seventh as a Devil, joining Dave Andreychuk, Neal Broten, Bobby Carpenter, Ken Daneyko, Claude Lemieux and Scott Stevens. … Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said Brodeur skated Wednesday for the first time since the injury, after getting medical clearance that morning. Lamoriello said Brodeur remained “on target” for a March 1 return.
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