Paul Chiasson / AP

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, right, shakes hands with Hall of Famer Patrick Roy after tying his NHL record for victories at 551 on Saturday night in Montreal.

Elias recorded his 700th career point with his 28th goal on a two-man advantage 5:27 in. Rolston made it 2-0 at 11:08.

“We’ve just got to applaud the crowd here tonight,” said Langenbrunner, who scored his 23rd 12:57 into the third. “Amazing, and what a show of respect.”

Jaroslav Halak stopped 45 shots for the Canadiens, 1-1-1 in three games since general manager Bob Gainey took over behind the bench after firing head coach Guy Carbonneau on Monday.

“To stay with our competition, we’ll need to pick up more than three points next week,” Gainey said.

Patrice Brisebois appeared in his 1,000th regular season game after he was a healthy scratch for Montreal’s four previous games. He shook hands with Brodeur on the ice at the end of the game.

“You know Marty’s a really good friend, and I wanted to go personally and congratulate him,” said Brisebois, a teammate of Roy’s on Montreal’s last Stanley Cup team in 1993. “He deserves that record, he’s a great athlete and a great guy. It’s awesome for him.”

The 36-year-old Brodeur improved to 13-3-2 this season. He has been virtually unstoppable since returning from the first serious injury of his 15-year career, a torn biceps in his left arm that was surgically repaired in November.

He missed 50 games because of the injury, after sitting out only 12 games during his previous 14 seasons, and hasn’t skipped a start since his return.

Brodeur is a four-time winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie and he has captured the Stanley Cup three times with the Devils. One time the title got away was in 2001 when the Devils lost Game 7 of the finals to Roy and the Colorado Avalanche.

He won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1994 and backstopped New Jersey’s championship teams in 1995, 2000 and 2003.

Notes: Drafted 20th overall by New Jersey in 1990, Brodeur won his first NHL game on March 26, 1992, a 24-save effort in a 4-2 win over Boston. He has 293 losses, 105 ties and 22 overtime-shootout losses. ... Roy was 551-315-131 in an NHL-record 1,029 regular-season games with Montreal and Colorado. ... Brisebois has appeared in 887 games in two stints with Montreal. He played 113 games with Colorado from 2005-07. ... The Canadiens wore white retro jerseys honoring the 1945-46 Stanley Cup champions.

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