Winning All That Matters To Brodeur

Devils' goalie Martin Brodeur has accomplished plenty throughout his 12-year NHL career. The three-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic gold medallist was nominated for the Vezina Tuesday. Though he's won it the past two seasons, that's not what's important.

"The way I approach the game, it's all about winning," Brodeur said at a league conference call in preparation for the Carolina Hurricanes with the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal set to begin Saturday afternoon.

"I don't have a problem with where I stand in hockey, that's for sure," he added. "I think I've been really fortunate to play with a great team. I get a lot of recognition throughout my career."

Earlier this season, the Devils struggled without Patrik Elias and weren't a playoff lock. Things were so bad that Larry Robinson stepped aside due to stress after a 4-1 loss on December 17. Ironically it came against the Devils' next opponent, the Hurricanes.

"Definitely it was tough times," said Brodeur. "Seeing a guy of the stature of Larry Robinson, of what he accomplished as a coach in New Jersey and in L.A. and all that, tough to go through that. ... You feel really responsible, especially when you're one of the oldest players and some of the leaders on our hockey club. We feel like we let the guy down. It was a big wake-up call to see him go like that."

In a tough spot, GM Lou Lamoriello put his reputation on the line and took over behind the bench. Soon after, things began to turn around.

"I think he [Lamoriello] played a major role," Brodeur pointed out. "He definitely put this team together. He believed in it. Definitely had to make a few tweaks during the middle of the season with sending guys in the minors and a couple guys retired, or I don't know what happened there. There was a lot of stuff going on."

"I think when he put the team that he wanted on the ice, it kind of happened. And at the same time, Patrik came back healthy."

With Elias finally returning from hepatitis in January, the Devils started playing the kind of hockey they were capable of.

"I think when we started getting results, we went on a nine-game winning streak at one point when Lou took over early in January. I think that made us believe that now we're able to do that," Brodeur noted.

Despite not having his best season, Brodeur still finished strong, matching his season best mark in wins with 43 and helping spark the club to an NHL record 11-game win streak to close the regular season- propelling them to a sixth Atlantic Division title.

That was good enough to be nominated for the Vezina along with Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and Rangers' rookie Henrik Lundqvist.

"No, pleasantly surprised," he acknowledged about the recognition. "I think a lot of goalies had great seasons and definitely with the rocky first half of the season for myself and for the team, I didn't expect to get in on the voting, especially in the top three. ... We've definitely peaked at the right time and late in the season to get ourselves in a great position. I guess that was enough for people to consider me as the top three."

Coming off a first round sweep of the Rangers, the Devils have won a remarkable 15 straight spanning the end of the regular season and beginning of the postseason. Showing no signs of slowing down, they'll look to take the next step to a fourth Cup in 12 years.

"I think we have confidence in what we're able to accomplish out there," mentioned Brodeur. "That's similar to the clockwork games that we played over and over throughout my career that we knew we were going to go in and we knew that we were going to play well defensively. We were just hoping for breaks, and most of the time, it happened. You could see a lot of the same happening to us right now."

Brodeur knows what the blueprint for success has been for his team's turnaround.

"We don't shoot ourselves in the foot. We don't kill tons of penalties and we're disciplined."

"It's definitely a lot of similarities of some of the good teams that I played. It's just that now we know exactly what to do."