SUNRISE, Fla. — David Clarkson and Brian Rolston scored goals and Martin Brodeur stopped 25 shots in his return from injury and the New Jersey Devils beat the Florida Panthers 2-1 on Sunday.
The Devils are 17-2-2 in their past 21 games. The Devils climbed within nine points of eighth-place Carolina in the Eastern Conference while the Panthers remained eight points back of the postseason cutoff.
Brodeur hadn’t played since injuring his right knee on Feb. 6 in Montreal.
Marty Reasoner scored for Florida and Tomas Vokoun made 24 saves.
The Devils took a 1-0 lead at 5:46 of the second period. Rod Pelley took a shot from the slot and Vokoun blocked it. The puck bounced out to the left corner of the crease and Clarkson swept in a backhand shot past Vokoun for his ninth goal of the season.
The Devils stretched their lead to 2-0 a few minutes later on Rolston’s power-play goal. The Devils won the faceoff and Dainius Zubrus pushed the puck out to Rolston above the left circle. His slap shot went through Vokoun’s pads at 9:11.
Reasoner’s goal came at 15:31 of the third. Michal Repik brought the puck out from behind the net to Reasoner at the left corner of the crease. His shot beat Brodeur.
Notes: Florida F Rostislav Olesz has been placed on injured reserve because of a knee injury from Friday’s game at Atlanta. … F Chris Higgins broke his thumb in that game and will be out indefinitely. … The Panthers recalled LW Kenndal McArdle and RW Hugh Jessiman from AHL Rochester. … Ilya Kovalchuk had a 12-game points streak snapped.