Devils, Brodeur Are Solid

The sight of Scott Stevens being knocked to the ice was so stunning, everything seemed to stop.

Everything except Jamie Langenbrunner.

Langenbrunner had a goal and an assist 3:47 apart in the third period, and Martin Brodeur made 15 saves in his third shutout of the postseason as the New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-0, Thursday night.

After Stevens, the Devils’ hard-hitting defenseman, was leveled by a shoulder check from Vincent Lecavalier in the neutral zone, Langenbrunner got the puck and skated over the blue line on his way to making it 1-0.

“I saw those guys collide at center ice and I just took off with the puck,” Langenbrunner said.

Langenbrunner was guarded by defenseman Pavel Kubina when he let a shot go that dipped on its way from above the left circle and got through Nikolai Khabibulin’s legs as the goalie shifted 7:41 into the third.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday. The Lightning will be looking for a better effort in its first appearance in the conference semifinals in its 11-year history.

Brodeur and the Devils eliminated Boston in the first round with a 3-0 victory in Game 5. Thursday marked the fifth time Brodeur has had consecutive playoff shutouts.

“It’s important that we establish ourselves,” Brodeur said. “It’s not going to be an easy series for them. They’ll have to work hard to try and beat us.”