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 Brodeur earned the 690th win of his career, and second as a
member of the Blues, as he stopped 32 of 34 shots in a 4-2 victory
over the Florida Panthers.
"It felt great," said Brodeur, who signed with the Blues as a free
agent last week after 21 years with the New Jersey Devils when the
Blues' Brian Elliott was injured. "I didn't know what to expect
coming in and it's all about winning. When you win I think the fans
are able to be a little more cheerful."
Brodeur said it wasn't the prettiest win he has ever had. The Blues
lost a 2-0 lead before left winger Chris Porter scored his first
goal of the season with 1:54 to play and center Paul Stastny added
an empty-net goal to secure the victory.
"We survived," Brodeur said. "It wasn't pretty but we got it done.
There are games that are going to be a lot easier to win, but this
one was a tough one. Florida's a team that I've been watching a
little bit. They are really good on the road and they showed why.
They are just resilient. They didn't quit after getting down 2-0. "
The 42-year-old Brodeur was playing his third game in five days,
after not playing since last April, and said he actually was looking
forward to being able to practice the next couple of days.
"I think we gave him a (heck) of a lot of practice in the second
period, quite frankly," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. "The only
thing missing was the tee that they could have put the puck on. If
he wants more practice time great. He's a calm guy, boy. He's having
fun playing hockey again and he's played awful well really from the
first time he showed up. It's really amazing to me. I don't care
what age you are to just not play for such an extended period of
time and then come in and play this well is really impressive."
Brodeur stopped 17 of 18 shots in the second period, allowing only a
goal by center Nick Bjugstad, his 12th of the season. The 2-1 lead
held up until defenseman Aaron Ekblad was able to tie the game with
5:06 to play, setting the stage for Porter to win the game when he
deflected a shot by defenseman Barret Jackman past goalie Roberto
Luongo.
"I saw he was going to shoot and I was just trying to get a stick on
it and hopefully it will go in," Porter said.
Porter, like the rest of the Blues, has been impressed by what he
has seen from Brodeur, on and off the ice, in his first week with
the team.
"Obviously he's a Hall of Fame goaltender and it's great to have him
on our side," Porter said. "It's nice to pick his brain about
certain things, different situations. Great response by the fans for
him and nice for us to get two points in his first game."
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The fact the Panthers did not come away with at least one point on a
night when they battled back to tie the game after the first-period
goals from Blues' center Maxim Lapierre and defenseman Ian Cole was
disappointing to both Luongo and coach Gerard Gallant.
"It's a tough way to lose," Luongo said. "We battled back and
carried most of the play. It's a heartbreaker to lose like that. We
showed some character the way we came back against a tough team in a
tough building. He (Brodeur) gave his team a chance to win and they
rewarded him with a big goal there at the end."
Said Gallant, "The last 40 minutes we played hard and played well
and took it to a really good team. Disappointed to lose the way we
did at the end. The effort was there. We had more chances, we didn't
deserve to lose like that at the end but they are a good team and
find ways to win. We can take a lot of positives out of the game."
The Blues played most of the game without their captain, center
David Backes, who took a puck to the face midway through the first
period. He tried to come back briefly in the second period but had
to leave again. Hitchcock said he was hopeful Backes would be able
to play on Thursday.
NOTES: The Blues were without three of their regulars: LW Alexander
Steen and D Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson. Steen missed his
second consecutive game with a lower-body injury, Bouwmeester was
out for an eighth consecutive game, also with a lower-body injury,
and Gunnarsson is recovering from a concussion suffered in
Saturday's win over the Islanders. ... The Panthers welcomed C Dave
Bolland back to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 17. He
played in only four games before he suffered a groin injury, forcing
him to miss the last 21 games. ... The game began a three-game trip
for the Panthers. They will play at Detroit on Friday night and
Buffalo on Saturday. ... The Blues host the New York Islanders on
Thursday night.
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