ATLANTA – Philips Arena may have had a sea of empty blue seats for the Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils game, 
but the few fans who did come to the rink were treated to a game featuring some solid goaltending on both ends of the ice.
Martin Brodeur was a brick wall, robbing the Thrashers at point blank range on several occasions, stopping all 25 shots he faced, for the 97th shutout of his career and a 1-0 win.
The 36-year-old Brodeur is only 10 victories from Patrick Roy’s NHL record 551 and 6 shutouts away from Terry Sawchuk’s NHL record 103.
Thrashers goalie, Keri Lehtonen, was busier on the other end and just as sharp; stopping 25 of the first 26 shots he faced. The Devil’s Brian Rolston broke a scoreless tie with a power play goal with only 1:03 left in the second period and Garnet Exelby in the penalty box.
The Thrashers who were 0-5 on the power play need to create some offense. “We hit a crossbar, and we hit a post,” said Ron Hainsey. “Kovalchuk had a great chance. We came storming back. We hit a post or a crossbar. There were some other chances down there. We just couldn’t beat their all-world goalie tonight on it. We had five great chances at him, and he made some unbelievable saves. That’s why he’s coming up on the best of all time.”
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