Thursday, March 21, 2013
Brodeur nearing a return?
By Luke Lapinski
UPDATE: As reported by The Star-Ledger, Martin Brodeur confirmed he will start Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. It will be the netminder's first game since Feb. 21.
"For whatever reason it doesn't seem like that long. I know it's been a lot of games. I'm just excited to be back," Brodeur said. "It's a week-and-a-half or two weeks since I've been on the ice. All the symptoms have gone away. I'm ready to go (Thursday)."
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It appears Martin Brodeur could be getting closer to making his way back into the New Jersey lineup. According to Tom Gulitti of The Record, the 40-year old netminder is expected to participate in at least part of the team's practice today.
That could be a good sign for the Devils, who began the year 10-3-4, but have been spinning their wheels since their No. 1 goalie went down with back pain on Feb. 21. In his absence, they're just 3-7-2 -- dropping from one of the top spots in the East all the way to seventh. While that tailspin can't be attributed completely to losing Brodeur, it certainly hasn't helped. In a year where many of the elite goalies seems to be putting up fairly pedestrian numbers, the future Hall of Famer is 8-2-3 with a very respectable 2.27 goals against average so far in 2013.
