MONTREAL – The coach thinks Jason Arnott makes the “A” Line go, while Petr Sykora may be the most talented of the threesome. All that’s left for Patrik Elias is the biggest season any Devil ever had.
He may be the prototype Devil: drafted in the second round, developed slowly in the system, miles underpaid, with something of a feisty streak.
What is distinctly un-Devil is his scoring knack.
After leading the team in goals and points last season and their Stanley Cup run, Elias returned this season to do it again for $725,000 salary, about half the NHL average.
As the Devils finished their season here last night, trying to match the NHL record of 10 straight road victories and capture their fourth Eastern Conference title in five years, Elias had some finishing of his own to do.
“We’re going to need a new record book. Something like a phone book,” Scott Stevens said.
He needed four points to become the first 100-point Devil. He broke Kirk Muller’s 13-year team record of 94 points with two goals and two assists in a 5-2 victory over the Bruins Friday at the Meadowlands.
For Elias, reaching 100 was not out of the question, particularly since he piled up four points against a Bruin team that still had something at stake.
“It’d be nice,” Elias said. “We’ll see. Obviously, I’ll play as hard as I did [Friday].”
What would have been nice was if the PA had informed the fans at the game of Elias’ team record, but as happens too often with this operation, an individual accomplishment was treated with silence, except by the fans in the know.
“They probably should have [announced it], I guess,” Larry Robinson said.
Robinson sees Elias’ success as a function of his line, the one first put together by Robbie Ftorek, and the one Robinson threatened to break up during the Devils’ dark days against the Flyers last spring.
Elias turns 25 on Thursday, the likely opening night of the playoff, and has developed remarkably since spending his first years in Albany, then seeing limited ice time with Sykora under Jacques Lemaire.
Now he’s the leading candidate for the first team All-Star left wing, and was voted co-MVP of the team with Martin Brodeur by his teammates.
“He’s earned it,” Robinson said of Elias’ record. “He’s worked tremendously hard for it.
“As with any kid in any league, the more confidence he gets, the better. And putting him with that line, it’s a line that feeds off each other.”
Elias and Sykora each brought a 13-game point streak into last night’s season finale, and Elias racked up 25 points, more than a quarter of his total, during this spree. Both 40 goals and his 96-point record are remarkable numbers, but Elias knows which he prefers.
“The team record. Oh, yeah,” Elias said. “Both things are great accomplishments, but to break the record for most points in a season means more to me.”
Friday’s rout left the Devils needing only one point gained by themselves or lost by Ottawa last night against Toronto to gain the top seed in the East, and face either Toronto or Carolina in the first round, likely starting Thursday. The Bruins were eliminated from the playoff race Friday night.
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Elias and John Madden broke a 17-year team record for fastest two goals by scoring eight seconds apart in the first period Friday. Mel Bridgman and Bob MacMillan scored 10 seconds apart on March 10, 1984, in a 6-5 OT loss in St. Louis. The NHL record for fastest two goals by the same team is four seconds, while Bruin Ken Linseman and Blue Doug Gilmour scored two seconds apart on Dec. 19, 1987 . . . Elias holds the team point streak record of 15 games set last season . . . Only last year’s Blues and the 1983-84 Sabres won 10 straight regular-season road games . . . Devils entered finale with 109 points topping their old franchise record of 107, although that 1997-98 mark did not include points for three OT losses. The Devils have points for three OT losses this season . . . Devils were attempting to match their franchise record of 48 season victories.
