April 24, 2009, Carolina Hurricanes-New Jersey Devils Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game Five game story for Metro (NY) Newspaper
Marty the Magnificent
Brodeur shuts out Canes in Game 5
NHL.
As the final seconds ticked down, the Devils dropped to the ice.
There was Jay Pandolfo, throwing his body into a puck. Brendan Shanahan, he of 656 goals and future enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame, diving to knock the puck out of the offensive zone. And of course, goaltender Martin Brodeur, defending the net like his first-born.
When it was finally, mercifully over, the Devils mobbed each other.
The Devils’ 1-0 win in Game 5 of Eastern Conference quarterfinals Thusday night at the Prudential Center was one for the ages. It also put the Devils up 3-2 in the series.
In the new era where flow has replaced grit as the National Hockey League’s attribute du jour, the Hurricanes and Devils combined both attributes to author a hockey masterpiece.
The difference was two men -- Brodeur and David Clarkson. Brodeur is a living legend, while Clarkson is just starting his NHL journey.
Brodeur is synonymous with goaltending excellence; the ubiquitous masked face of professional sports’ most intentionally anonymous franchise. In 15 NHL seasons, Brodeur has won the William Jennings Trophy for fewest team goals allowed four times (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004); the Vezina Trophy four times as the league’s best goaltender (2003, 2004, 2007, 2008); and the three-time Stanley Cup champion became the all-time wins leader earlier this season.
So, it was disconcerting to see the normally calm Brodeur screaming at referees Eric Furlatt and Wes McCauley, then smashing his stick against the boards while stalking off the ice Tuesday night in Raleigh, moments after Jussi Jokinen’s game-winning tip with less than a second remaining.
For 48 hours, Brodeur and his teammates were inundated with questions about how they would react as a team and individually.
Spectacularly well, as Game 5 would play out.
The Devils came out flying, hitting anything clad in a white sweater, throwing 42 shots at Carolina goaltender Cam Ward when not bumping into him. On the other end, Brodeur was, well, Brodeur.
In earning his 98th playoff win—second most all time, trailing Roy by 53 triumphs—he also tied his fellow Quebecois goaltending legend for the most playoff shutouts with 23. The Hurricanes made Brodeur work for this win, throwing 44 shots at the Devils’ net. Brodeur made every manner of save possible—glove, pad saves and most spectacularly of all, reaching behind his body to stop a Jokinen roller that was headed into the net at 8:09 into the second period with the game scoreless.
“It’s nice but it’s all about winning,” said Brodeur about the record. “A 1-0 game and there’s 80-something shots, there’s a lot of chances. I like the 2-0 or 3-0 better."
No matter how great a goaltender is, a team cannot with without scoring. In the last two games, Clarkson stepped to the forefront. The third-year winger from Mimico, Ontario, Clarkson set career highs in goals (17), assists (15) and points (32) in the regular season, but he is in the lineup primarily for his muscle.
In Game 4, Clarkson tallied a power-play goal to tie the game at 3. Following the early skate, he laughed, then grew serious, when asked him if he expected Devils coach Brent Sutter to insert him on the power play on a regular basis.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said Clarkson. “I just went to the net and the puck ended up on my stick for a minute. It’s a good feeling but at the end of the day, we didn’t get the win. So it kind of takes away from the feeling of scoring. I’m just going to keep working hard and whatever chances I get, I’m going to do my best.”
With 8:38 remaining in the second, Clarkson’s opportunity arose. The Devils were on a power play due to a Patrick Eaves trip of Dainius Zubrus. Andy Greene uncoiled a vicious slapshot that was going wide.
Then it deflected off of Clarkson’s stick and past Ward -- the only goal he’d allow. 1-0, Devils.
“I was in the front of the net, just screening the goalie on the power play and Greener had a great shot from the point,” Clarkson said. “Lucky I got a stick on it and (it) got by him.
“I didn’t know it was in right away until everyone started jumping around.”
The remaining 28:12 spanning the second and third witnessed both teams push for offense, only to be stonewalled by Brodeur and Ward. With Game 6 at the RBC Sunday in Raleigh and his team on the brink of elimination, one might expect Canes coach Paul Maurice to be either despondent or hell-raising.
Instead, he marveled at what he had just witnessed.
“It was just a great game at the end of the day. You had great goaltending. You had two teams that pride themselves on defense, but tonight you had 86 shots,” Maurice said. “We had 44 shots and 22 blocked shots, so we had over 70 attempts in (the) game. Sometimes you think of these teams and it’s going to be a little bit of a grind, but there was great goaltending and great offense on that ice tonight.”
Three things we saw Thursday night:
1 Marty the Magnificent. After flipping out at the refs and slamming his stick on the ice at the end of Game 4 in Raleigh, Martin Brodeur turned in one of his best performances Thursday night. Brodeur stopped all 44 shots, including 19 in the second period, for his 98th playoff win.
2 Back again. David Clarkson laughed off the notion he’d see more time on the power play after netting a special team’s goal in Game 4. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Clarkson said. Guess what? At the 10:11 mark of the second period, the Devils’ winger tipped in a PP goal.
3 Madden-ing. Carolina’s Erik Cole-Eric Staal-Tuomo Ruutu line finished the regular season as one of the NHL’s highest scoring trios. They have been a nonfactor in this series (two goals, an assist and minus-1). John Madden and the Devils’ veterans have been uber-physical in this matchup.
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 12:37 PM
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