Brodeur's quest for 500th win ends

PHILADELPHIA -- Martin Brodeur gave Patrick Roy some company in the 500 victory club.

Now Brodeur's chase to become the winningest goalie in NHL history is truly on.

Brodeur reached one of hockey's rarest milestones, stopping all but two shots in a modest effort thanks to some of New Jersey's usual stout defense and earned his 500th win.

Brodeur made 26 saves in the Devils' 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night and joined Roy as the only goalies in NHL history with that many wins.

"I don't see myself as that big of a deal," he said.

Brodeur, who failed in his first three attempts at the coveted mark, improved to 500-273-105-15.

Fittingly, the win came against the Flyers.

Brodeur set the single-season record for victories in Philadelphia last season, and he improved to 12-1-1 in his last 14 starts against the Flyers.

"With the last two things I had to break, I guess Philly's home," Brodeur said, chuckling.

Brodeur has his 14 seasons with the Devils and led the franchise to three Stanley Cup titles. While he has an abnormally high number of losses this season (10), the 35-year-old Brodeur is still on pace to pass Roy on the career win list (551) at some point next season.

Brodeur was backed by two goals scored 2:43 apart in the first and two more in a 32-second span in the third that turned it into a rout.

Roy and Brodeur have positioned themselves on the win list like Cy Young and Walter Johnson did in baseball. No pitcher is close to reaching 400 wins in baseball and Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek is a whopping 133 wins away from No. 500.