Martin Brodeur broke his own NHL goaltending record with his seventh 40-win season after the New Jersey Devils scored a 4-2 road win over the Colorado Avalanche.

Playing his 31st straight game, Brodeur led the Devils to a win that kept them top of both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

He set the NHL record for wins in a season with 48 last year when he registered his sixth 40-win campaign.

"I don't set my goals that high," Brodeur, who has also set a record of three consecutive 40-win seasons, said.

"I don't set it at 40 ever. My first goal is to get 30. Then, 35 and 40. Now the next jump is 45."

The Devils have 10 games remaining.

New Jersey finished the road trip with a 3-1 record and won seven of their 10 games against Western Conference opponents.

The remainder of their games are against the East. Dainius Zubrus, Jay Pandolfo, Jamie Langenbrunner and John Madden scored for the Devils, who became the first Eastern Conference team to reach the 90-point mark on the season.

Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist and John-Michael Liles also scored for the Avalanche, who had 26 shots against Brodeur. The goalie is now 40-22-5 on the season.

*The Anaheim Ducks, playing the first of eight games without suspended defenseman Chris Pronger, got two third-period goals from Rob Niedermayer and beat the floundering St Louis Blues 5-2 in Anaheim

Pronger was suspended for stomping on the leg of Vancouver's Ryan Kesler on Wednesday.

The Blues are 0-5-1 on a nine-game road trip, the longest in franchise history.

*The Boston Bruins got a tying goal from defenseman Andrew Ference with 27 seconds remaining in regulation and then beat the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 when Aaron Ward scored in overtime.

It was the defenseman's first goal since January 12th, when he also beat Philadelphia with an overtime score.

This winner helped the seventh-place Bruins stay ahead of eighth-place Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference race.

With the teams skating 3-on-3 because of penalties, Tim Thomas stopped Jeff Carter on a breakaway before Ward beat Martin Biron at the other end of the ice.

*The Nashville Predators, pushing for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, posted a 3-1 road win over the Detroit Red Wings that snapped the home team's five-game winning streak.

*The Montreal Canadiens grabbed the Northeast Division lead from the Ottawa Senators and remained one point behind New Jersey for the conference lead with a 3-0 home win over the New York Islanders.

Goalie Jaroslav Halak had his first shutout of the season in his first home start.

*Mike Smith made 20 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning handed the previously hot New York Rangers their second loss in as many nights in the state of Florida in a 3-0 Tampa Bay win.

The Rangers were on a 10-0-3 streak before losing to the Panthers and Lightning.

Reuters