(My Sportsbook) - Martin Brodeur has earned a pair of Stanley Cups, an Olympic gold medal and a Calder Trophy during his stellar career. Add those achievements to the fact that he has won 30+ games for seven straight years and played in the All-Star Game on six occasions.

That impressive resume obviously places Brodeur among the elite goaltenders of the past decade, but there is one thing that has eluded him in that time. The 30-year-old native of Montreal has yet to take home the Vezina Trophy that is awarded to the National Hockey League's top netminder after every season.

Granted, Brodeur was competing for the award with six-time winner Dominik Hasek on most occasions, and he has perhaps been penalized for playing on a team that has set the standard for defensive play the past eight campaigns.

Well, Brodeur's quest for that elusive Vezina is off and running in 2002-03, as he is 4-1 through five games and has helped the Devils to four one-goal victories. He's registered a 1.80 goals-against average and .927 save- percentage thus far, allowing more than two goals just once -- in last Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes.

Brodeur's latest effort was a 24-save effort against the hapless Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday. He denied everything the winless club had to offer until the waning seconds, when sophomore phenom Ilya Kovalchuk beat him off a scramble in front of the net with 1.7 seconds remaining.

"At least they didn't have time to score a goal to tie it up," said Brodeur, who was denied his 56th career shutout. "Too bad it wasn't a shutout. But a win's a win at this time of year."

Scott Gomez contributed a goal and an assist for New Jersey, and Jeff Friesen scored his first goal in a Devils uniform. Both players were relieved to get their first tallies of the young season in the books and out of the way.

"Talk to a baseball player who's a home run hitter that gets the first one out of the way," Gomez told the Newark Star-Ledger. "I'm not saying I'm a goal- scorer, but it feels good not to have to look at that eggshell any longer."

Friesen, meanwhile, celebrated his marker by slamming his stick against the end boards.

"I do that every time I'm in a slump," Friesen said of his display. "When you're a goal-scorer, you've got to score goals. 'Getting chances' is an overrated term. I need to get back and have my best year. I've scored 31 when goal-scoring was really down in the league."

Wednesday's low goal total as a team continued a trend that is somewhat concerning, although the Devils do continue to win. Pat Burns' crew has tallied a mere 11 times in five contests, and its power-play is an NHL-worst 2-for-33 (6.1 percent).

"We had a lot of scoring chances," Burns said. "We will get some finishes on these chances and have some more goals."

UP NEXT

The Devs visit Buffalo on Friday night, and will begin a four-game set at the Meadowlands on Saturday versus Tampa Bay. Carolina, Chicago and Calgary also visit East Rutherford during the stand.