Merely 25 seconds into overtime, Patrik Elias took advantage of a Flame s turnover, and one-timed a Brian Gionta assist by Miikka Kiprusoff to give the Devils the 1-0 overtime win.

Gionta and Elias broke out on a two-on-one odd-man rush after Flames Craig Conroy turned the puck over in the Devils zone.  Elias passed to Gionta, who carried the puck down the right side into the Calgary Flames zone and found Elias cutting to the net.  Kiprusoff had no chance of stopping Elias’ perfect shot, his eighth goal of the season.

Until that point, both teams were scoreless through 60 hard-fought minutes of regulation.  New Jersey went 0-for-4 on its power play and held Calgary to 0-for-6 on its man advantage.

The Devils had a bunch of opportunities in score through the first three periods of play.  In the third, David Clarkson whiffed on his own rebound, which might have beaten Kiprusoff.

Again, goaltender Martin Brodeur inspired the Devils with his stonewalling efforts.  He finished with 30 saves and his 95th career shutout, his third this season.

With the shutout, Marty passed George Hainesworth for second all-time on the NHL's career shutout list.  Terry Sawchuk, who topped the list with 103, is the last culprit for Brodeur en route to the Hall of Fame.

Finish-native and 2005-06 Vezina Trophy Kirpusoff kept Calgary in the contest making 21 saves for the Flames, who bombarded Brodeur with a lot of fire power to no avail.  I predicted a low-scoring affair.

Elias and Gionta also teamed up last contest at Edmonton.  They scored two goals and added two assists in the decisive third period in a 3-1 win in Alberta.  Maybe Elias read my article before the contest saying how he is overpaid and over the hill. 

The Devils were not as fortunate on the first game of the Canadian road trip, losing 5-0, the seventh time a team has shutout the Devils this season.

For head coach Brent Sutter, this was a huge victory over his older brother and general manger Daryl’s Flames.  It helped the Devils conclude a western Canadian road stand at 2-1, let Sutter enjoy the holidays with his family in their Red Deer hometown, and the Devils players to return to New Jersey with a five-point cushion over Pittsburgh and New York (Rangers) in the Atlantic Division.

Midway through the Devils contest, Ottawa defeated the Rangers 3-1 and Pittsburgh took care of Boston 4-2 earlier today, which situated the Penguins and Rangers for a second-place tie.

With the win, the Devils now have 43 points and a nice vacation until they host Buffalo on Friday.  On Thursday, the Flames travel to Vancouver for a rivalry battle over western Canada.

Notes:

Zach Parise did not play due to the flu and the Devils replaced his roster spot with a seventh defenseman, a common tactic by Sutter thus far.

Sheldon Brookbank and Eric Nystrom dropped the gloves at the 6:43 mark of the first.  Brookbank got a couple of punches in before he knocked Nystrom the ice and the referees broke up the fight.

The Devils committed six more infractions last night but have killed off their last 13 straight penalty kills. 

New Jersey is now 1-for-25 on the power play over the past five games.

Concerns:

Hopefully, Jay Pandolfo returns to the lineup by Friday's matchup with Buffalo. 

Sophomore Travis Zajac continued to struggle offensively and has not scored in two weeks (Dec. 7).

Special Teams -- NJD committed six penalties, could not convert on any of the four power plays... After the holidays, I expect those numbers to improve respectively.

Comments:

Brodeur's shutout was his first in December.  Last one was on Nov. 30 over Montreal at the Prudential Center.  Maybe, he will soon be earning shutouts in Green Bay.

If you missed my live appearance on blogtalkradio, I should have a copy of the taping sometime this week.

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