(Sports Network) - Devils center Patrik Elias has watched teammate Martin Brodeur reach a plethora of milestones over the last few years. He got to celebrate one of his own last time out.
Fresh off of scoring the 300th goal of his career, Elias and New Jersey seek a fifth win in a row over the Montreal Canadiens tonight in the continuation of a five-game homestand at Prudential Center.
Elias scored twice in Saturday's 4-1 victory over the Flyers, giving him six on the season and 301 in his career. Elias has skated in just 17 games after missing the first 13 contests of the season due to offseason groin surgery.
The 33-year-old became the second Devil skater in the team's history to reach the 300-goal mark. He trails only John MacLean's 347 tallies with New Jersey.
"It was pretty nice for him. Sometimes we take him for granted, that he was able to stay around and reach the accomplishment," said Brodeur of Elias. "He's had a lot to deal with the last few seasons with injuries, but he's just getting better every game. He's been a benefit to our hockey club."
Brodeur made 22 saves versus Philadelphia to become the first goaltender this year with 20 wins and remained tied with Terry Sawchuk for the all-time NHL lead in shutouts with 103. Brodeur has eight shutouts in his career versus Montreal.
Niclas Bergfors also lit the lamp twice on the power play for the Devils, who bounced back from a 4-2 loss to the Panthers on Friday to win for the fifth time in six games.
New Jersey, 2-1-0 on its homestand and 11-6-0 overall as the host this year, swept its four-game series with Montreal a season ago. The Devils are 13-3-0 in their last 16 versus the Canadiens and are 11-1-0 with a tie in their last 13 at home versus Montreal.
New Jersey outscored the Habs 9-3 in the two contests at the Prudential Center last year.
Montreal brings another losing streak to Newark tonight, as it has lost three straight one-goal games. The Canadiens are 0-2-1 over that stretch following Monday's 4-3 setback to the Sabres.
Mike Cammalleri netted his team-leading 18th goal and had an assist, but also saw his one-time shot attempt while on the power play late in the third halted by Buffalo's Ryan Miller.
"We were just trying to get it on net," Cammalleri said. "Usually when you get those on net, they usually go in. We're pretty upset right now that we were able to give away points again tonight."
Andrei Kostitsyn had his second straight two-goal game, giving him six tallies in his last five games, and also added an assist for the Canadiens. Jaroslav Halak stopped 23 shots in the loss.
Montreal has lost three of its last four on the road and is 6-8-1 as the guest this year. It will return home to host Minnesota on Saturday before kicking off a seven-game road trip versus the New York Islanders on Saturday.
