The New Jersey Devils' 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night was win No. 650 for Martin Brodeur. He's one victory away from having 100 more wins than any other goalie in NHL history — Wednesday, in fact, is the three-year anniversary of Brodeur equaling Patrick Roy's record of 551 career wins.
So despite some early-season struggles, Brodeur is playing great hockey, winning games with frequency and looking like he'll return for another season with the Devils in 2012-13.
Yet if his brother had his way, Brodeur would be 16 regular-season victories away from retirement -- because he thinks it'd be wholly appropriate if a Devils goalie retired after hitting the Number of the Beast.
From Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record:
"I never really thought about numbers after I passed (the record)," Brodeur said. "My brother said you've got try to get to 666 because that's the number of the Devil."
Brodeur, who will turn 40 on May 6, can't get to that number this season because the Devils have only 14 regular season games remaining (after tonight). His contract is up after this season, but he's leaning toward coming back for at least another season. "It would be a short season, though, if I have to stop (at 666)," he joked
Please keep in mind that in the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic "End of Days", it was revealed that the number of the Devil was actually '666' turned upside-down: '999'. So if that's the target, Brodeur might be tending goal for the Devils through the final year of the Kovalchuk contract ...