OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The New Jersey Devils have a new coach, new players and new up-tempo style. But they have the same old Martin Brodeur.
Brodeur came within 1:46 of his 56th career shutout and John Madden scored both goals as the Devils held on for a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Pat Burns' coaching debut.
After losing in the first round of the playoffs last spring, New Jersey replaced coach Kevin Constantine with Burns and added speed in Jeff Friesen and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky in a blockbuster trade with Anaheim.
But it was two holdovers who helped the Devils improve to 9-2-2 in season openers since 1988.
"With new guys coming in, we're all just starting to know each other," Brodeur said. "There's a new excitement on the team, which began right from training camp."
Brodeur stopped 33 shots and nearly recorded his seventh career shutout against Ottawa. Despite allowing a late goal to Daniel Alfredsson, he improved to 20-9-4 lifetime vs. the Senators.
A year ago, Brodeur was yanked in a season-opening 6-1 loss at Washington.
"Last season's bad start was in my mind a little bit, so I'm happy to get tonight off on the right foot," he said.
Coming off a disappointing 15-goal season, Madden put New Jersey in front for good with a weird goal 2:04 into the second period, then beat Patrick Lalime on a shorthanded breakaway with 81 seconds to go in the period to make it 2-0.
The 2001 Selke Trophy winner, Madden broke down the left side on a 3-on-1 early in the second period, wristed a shot and raised his arms to signal a goal. Play was allowed to continue for 24 seconds before replays showed the puck actually tore through the net inside the right goalpost.
"I knew it was in," Madden said. "I had a good view of it. I was a bit nervous that no one saw it until the ref went upstairs. Some of the guys were trying to determine if the puck went through because of my shot or bad netting. They still can't prove it's bad netting."
"I don't know what happened," said Lalime, who made 18 saves. "It went by my shoulder. I turned around and didn't see it in the net. I heard it hit the boards, so I thought it had gone wide. It was a really good shot."
Moments earlier, Mike Fisher had a chance to put Ottawa ahead but put a shot from the left circle high off the right goalpost.
New Jersey was killing a hooking penalty on Turner Stevenson when Madden intercepted a careless pass by defenseman Wade Redden at the Senators' blue line. He motored in alone on Lalime and put a wrist shot between the goalie's pads, completing his first two-goal game since October 30, 2001.
"I got lucky, I guessed right," Madden said. "I got my speed up because I thought Redden was going to catch me. I pulled the puck in close before I shot, so it was weak. But it fooled Lalime."
Brodeur lost his shutout with just under two minutes left, when Alfredsson got his stick on rookie Petr Schastlivy's wrister from the top of the right circle, deflecting it over the goalie's right arm.
"We put pressure on them all night and managed to get one at the end," Alfredsson said. "Overall, we worked hard, but Brodeur was up to the task."
Ottawa had two scoring chances after pulling Lalime for an extra attacker, but Brodeur denied Schastlivy from point-blank range and stopped a wrister by Marian Hossa with 58 seconds to play.
New Jersey @ Ottawa Boxscore
SCORING SUMMARY THROUGH PERIODS:
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: T Stevenson, Njd (holding), 5:42; Z Chara,
Ott (roughing), 11:21; S Van Allen, Ott (interference), 17:35; D
Alfredsson, Ott (slashing), 20:00; C White, Njd (roughing), 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, New Jersey, John Madden 1 (Brian Gionta,
Scott Stevens), 2:04. 2, New Jersey, John Madden 2 (shorthanded)
(Unassisted), 18:39. Penalties: S Van Allen, Ott (cross checking),
9:00; S Niedermayer, Njd (high sticking), 9:05; K Daneyko, Njd
(interference), 15:04; T Stevenson, Njd (hooking), 18:23; W Redden,
Ott (tripping), 19:15.
THIRD PERIOD --Scoring: 3, Ottawa, Daniel Alfredsson 1 (Petr
Schastlivy, Todd White), 18:14. Penalties: K Daneyko, Njd (hooking),
9:04; D Alfredsson, Ott (elbowing), 19:26.
SHOTS ON GOAL:
More Game Stats
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
FINAL
1ST
2ND
3RD
TOTAL
New Jersey
0
2
0
2
Ottawa
0
0
1
1
1ST
2ND
3RD
TOTAL
New Jersey
10
6
4
20
Ottawa
9
13
12
34
Power-play Conversions: NJD - 0 of 5, OTT - 0 of 5.
Goalies : New
Jersey, Martin Brodeur (34 shots, 33 saves; record: 1-0-0).
Ottawa,
Patrick Lalime (20 shots, 18 saves; record: 0-1-0).
Attendance: 16,865.
Referees: Dave Jackson, Kevin Pollock.
Linesmen: Gerard Gauthier,
Pierre Champoux.
New Jersey
Scratches:
Player
G
A
+/-
Sh
O Tverdovsky
0
0
even
0
J Madden
2
0
+2
2
J Friesen
0
0
even
4
B Gionta
0
1
+1
2
J Langenbrunner
0
0
even
1
S Brylin
0
0
-1
0
J McKenzie
0
0
even
2
J Pandolfo
0
0
+1
1
S Gomez
0
0
-1
0
T Stevenson
0
0
-1
0
J Nieuwendyk
0
0
even
2
P Elias
0
0
even
2
S Niedermayer
0
0
even
1
B Rafalski
0
0
even
2
K Daneyko
0
0
+1
0
M Danton
0
0
even
1
S Stevens
0
1
+1
0
C White
0
0
+1
0
A Zyuzin - Healthy; S Guolla - Healthy; A Salomonsson - Healthy
Ottawa
Scratches:
Player
G
A
+/-
Sh
T Dahlman
0
0
even
1
D Alfredsson
1
0
-1
5
M Fisher
0
0
-1
3
R Bonk
0
0
-1
1
P Schaefer
0
0
even
1
J Hull
0
0
even
1
M Hossa
0
0
-1
5
P Schastlivy
0
1
+1
2
M Arvedson
0
0
even
1
S Van Allen
0
0
even
0
T White
0
1
+1
2
Z Chara
0
0
-1
2
S Hnidy
0
0
even
3
C Phillips
0
0
even
2
A Volchenkov
0
0
even
1
W Redden
0
0
-1
2
C Leschyshyn
0
0
even
1
M Havlat
0
0
-1
1
D Bonvie - Healthy; J Kwiatkowski - Healthy
Recap & Boxscore from Slam! Hockey @ Canoe.ca