Martin Brodeur's Standout Season

Martin Brodeur the winner of the Jennings Trophy for the 5th time in his career has officially finished in top spot for games played, wins, shutouts, and minutes played.

Brodeur started in 77 out of the 82 games played by the New Jersey Devils. In those 77 game he captured 45 wins, only 3 wins behind his all-time high. This was the most wins out of any goalie this season. He also extended his all-time record of shutouts with an extra 9 this season to finish in first place in that area too.

Brodeur finished his season off with a 0.916 SV% and an amazing 2.24 GAA which was 3rd in the league. To add to a great season like that he helped Team Canada take home the gold medal in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

A Battle Of The Goaltenders

In the first round of the playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres will be taking on the Boston Bruins. The Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask and the Sabres goalie Ryan Miller have been the hottest in the league this year battling all year for the top spot in GAA and SV%.

Tuukka Rask ended up leading the league with a GAA of 1.97 and a league leading 0.931 SV%. Ryan Miller was not far behind him in second place with a GAA of 2.22 and second with a 0.929 SV%. Both of these goalies had a standout season while each posted 5 shutouts.

The biggest concern is experience. For Ryan Miller, he has all the experience he needs starting 69 games this year for the Sabres, 2010 Winter Olympics, 34 NHL Playoff games, and playing in the NHL for 5 consecutive years. Rask on the other hand is a NHL rookie this year. He only got to play 45 games (24 less than Miller) and has no NHL Playoff experience.

Overall this should be a good match up for both teams and will be a great series. The first game of the series will be played on Thursday April 15th in Buffalo.

Philadelphia Flyers Up To 6 Goalie This Season

The way things are going for Philadelphia Flyers' goaltenders this season, chances are the next time your phone rings it might be GM Paul Holmgren asking if you're available.

But the injury problems are no laughing matter for Holmgren and the Flyers, who enjoyed a rare laugher Sunday night, routing New Jersey 5-1.

In that game, Carter Hutton dressed as the backup to Brian Boucher and became the sixth goalie for the Flyers this season. The previous rookie backup, Johan Backlund, injured his groin in Saturday's loss to the Penguins and was replaced by Boucher. Another rookie, Jeremy Duchesne, dressed as a backup for a couple games after Michael Leighton was lost to an ankle sprain. And Leighton, who was 16-5-2 this season, was picked up on waivers after Ray Emery was injured. Emery was subsequently lost for the season after hip surgery.

Holmgren told the Delaware Country Times that the club has explored other options in adding a more experienced goalie, but nothing has worked out yet.

One name being reported in the Philadelphia media was former Flyer Robert Esche. He's played for SKA Saint Petersburg in Russia the past two seasons. This past year he was 29-7-5 with a 2.07 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

"We went through a lot of different options," Holmgren said. "We won't be naming names, but I will tell you we explored every option.

"Some of the players we looked into and talked to just for whatever reason can't do it. It might be because they're playing (in Europe), which is the obvious one, but we have some guys we talked to that just, the team they're playing with just won't let them out (of their contract) right now. We explored a lot of different options."

content retrieved from: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=523147

Cam Ward Stellar Since Return

Cam Ward has been out since February 3rd missing 18 games with a back injury. Since his return on March 29th he has been playing unbelievable.

He has played two games, one against Atlanta Thrashers and Montreal Canadiens. In those two games he has put up two wins with a 0.968 SV% and a 1.00 GAA. He was 3rd star of the first game and first star of the second.

"I felt more and more confident as the game went on," said Ward. "I was excited and also a bit nervous, because i had been away from the game for so long."