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Brodeur: ‘Easy decision’ to keep starting Schneider

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After Cory Schneider posted his first shutout and New Jersey’s first win of the season on Saturday against the Rangers, Peter DeBoer named him the starter for Tuesday’s game against Columbus.

According to Martin Brodeur, that decision was a no-brainer.

“At the end of the day, we need some wins and we’ve played well with him so far,” Brodeur told NorthJersey.com. “You might as well try to get a little roll going. That’s one of the things that I think it’s going to be over the next few months because we got ourselves behind the eight ball. We need to win.”

Brodeur, 0-2-2 on the year with a .865 save percentage and 3.40 GAA, has essentially rotated games with Schneider thus far, though Brodeur did get back-to-back starts on Oct. 4 and 7, something Schneider’s yet to experience.

As such, the decision to give Schneider the Tuesday start in Columbus isn’t an issue -- but who gets the next start, well, that’ll be interesting.

Brodeur accurately pointed out that, because of New Jersey’s awful start (1-4-3) to the year, wins are at a premium. That could result in the Devils’ timeshare going the way of Philly’s -- what was originally thought to be a Steve Mason-Ray Emery platoon has quickly morphed into Mason’s show, as he’s emerged as the No. 1 while the Flyers desperately try to climb out of their 1-7-0 start to the campaign.

For now, the 41-year-old Brodeur isn’t looking too far into the future, and is saying all the right things about the present.

“It’s just the way it is,” he explained. "[Schneider’s] played really, really well, so it’s a pretty easy decision for the coach to make.”