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Chaos and contreversy in Carolina thumbnail

Chaos and contreversy in Carolina

April 21, 2009   ·     ·   Jump to comments

No matter how much coaches tell you that each game is as important as the next, human nature doesn’t always cooperate.  Up 2-1 in the series with a chance to put the clamps on Carolina, the Devils instead laid a big, fat egg early before coming back only to suffer a contreversial heartbreaking finish – and just like that this series is all tied up again.

Before I get to the nonsense at the end of the game, really the last three games of this series proves how even the matchup is.  Yes, the Devils finished nine points ahead of Carolina during the regular season but there isn’t even that much of a difference between the teams considering the absence of Jamie Langenbrunner for the last two games not to mention having an ineffective Patrik Elias, who looked particularly bad on a first-period power play where he had a partially open net and fluttered the puck yards wide.

Early on, the tone was set when Danius Zubrus took an idiotic elbowing penalty on Tuomo Ruutu.  Ruutu went down so hard I thought it was an exaggerated dive at first, but no – Zubrus did get him up high, probably doing a Son of the Geico Caveman impression.  Though the Canes failed to connect on that power play, they created consistent pressure and that tone remained throughout much of the first period as Carolina started the game outshooting the Devils 14-3 at one point.

Worse, they connected for the first two goals of the game in the opening twenty minutes.  A Dennis Seidenberg tip rebounded right to Eric Staal in front, who converted at 7:44 after two whacks at the puck from in close, giving Carolina its first lead in the series other than Tim Gleason‘s OT winner at the end of Game 2.  Just 63 seconds later, Ryan Bayda (he of the five regular-season goals in 70 games) would score his second of the playoffs in similar fashion to his first, on a one-timer goal in the high slot. 

Things went from bad to worse in the second when Chad LaRose also scored his second of the series off a rebound from his own shot at 6:30.  Although Martin Brodeur was good stopping the initial shot, he left too juicy of a rebound on an initial weak wrist shot by LaRose and probably could have done a better job controlling the puck on the first goal as well.  To add injury to insult, Bryce Salvador fell down and buckled his knee after committing a penalty late in the second period and had to be helped off the ice.  Looks like he’s out for the forseeable future and with him goes most of our physicality from the blueline.  A third pairing of erratic Andy Greene and a slow, ineffective Nicklas Havelid doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in me going forward.

Finally, with 28 seconds left in the second period the Devils showed a little life, when a Mike Mottau pass sprung Brian Gionta for a breakaway and he converted his second goal in as many games, beating Cam Ward and cutting Carolina’s lead to 3-1.  Despite being outshot 37-17 in the first two periods, the Devils at least had a shot going into the third.

Even more remarkably, the power play finally cashed in a goal early in the third (sort of) when Brendan Shanahan‘s rebound goal at 4:19 cut the Canes’ seemingly insurmountable lead to 3-2.  Technically Shanahan’s goal did come seconds after the power play expired but as I’ve always said a power play isn’t really killed off until the first clear after it ends.  While I was feeling a little better about our chances, I was still stunned by what happened next.  If Brodeur gave up a weak rebound on Carolina’s third goal Ward would return the favor off a Bobby Holik shot, which went right to David Clarkson, who calmly skated around and roofed one over the prone Canes goaltender stunning the crowd and tying the game at 8:46.

I admit I was writing a different recap at 3-0 and had to change as the Devils started to pile up the goals and tie it.  Honestly they didn’t really deserve to be tied after the first two periods but be that as it may, now that they somehow regained the momentum I thought they needed to win in regulation before the Canes had a chance to regain momentum.  While the Devils did outshoot Carolina 12-9 in the third, eventually the offensive pressure dried up and the Canes gradually got their bearings back.

Still it looked like the game was headed to overtime until it happened.  Strange things do tend to happen in this building against us but Jussi Jokinen‘s tip-goal with .2 seconds left might be the topper of them all.  First off, blame the Devils for not clearing the zone in the last fateful seconds and trying to run out the clock, particularly Paul Martin who should have known what the clock was and just trapped the puck in the corner instead of attempting a weak clear that had no chance of getting out of the zone.  Not to mention the Devils’ defensemen were nowhere to be found when Jokinen was all alone in front. 

And yes, Brodeur was out of his crease when Jokinen bumped him just before tipping a Seidenberg point shot past him with .2 seconds left but there is nothing in the rule book that says goalies are fair game outside the crease, though goaltender interference isn’t usually called as much in that instance.  In any event, the mild-mannered Brodeur was visibly frustrated by the non-call, arguing with the refs and slamming his stick twice off the boards, breaking it the second time.  Worse yet, he might have actually been bumped before one or two of the earlier goals but I didn’t see a replay on either.  Surely that would only add to his frustration if true though.    

So now at 2-2 heading into a pivotal Game 5, what needs to change for the Devils?  For one thing, their secondary guys have to start scoring.  As great as Zach Parise is, he can’t beat Carolina all by himself.  A Langenbrunner return would be nice, but his status probably won’t be known till just before Friday’s game.  While Elias needs to get going, so too do others like Zubrus and Brian Rolston.  When the other team’s getting goals from third and fourth-liners like LaRose (19 goals in 81 regular season games) and Bayda while you’re not – other than the third period tonight – that’s usually a bad sign.  In an extension of that it would be nice if the power play was able to convert at least one more time before the end of this series, or the end of this decade. 

Thus far Brodeur has done the job for the most part, other than the bad rebounds today, but he’ll have to match Ward save for save even more now.  And lastly, be agressive.  I’ve seen too many favored Devil teams go down because they were too worried about defending and abandoned any sense of attack.  At times this team has to fight its own instincts not to do that. 

Yet, by the same token they can’t be consumed with looking for blood in Game 5 – after all in a similar situation in 2001, the Devils lost Game 4 in Toronto and at the end of the game Scott Niedermayer was taken out of the series by a dirty play courtesy of Tie Domi.  Instead of coming out focused in Games 5 and 6 the Devils ran around in a rage, losing Game 5 and nearly Game 6 as well when they took a million penalties.

In the postgame, Brent Sutter seemed to strike the right chord, emphasizing the positive of the comeback while not forgetting about the shoddy play that came home to roost early and late.  Even Brodeur admitted that the team played not to lose again late.  Hopefully the team comes out with a controlled agression and a purpose in front of the home crowd on Thursday.

BoNY Three Stars:

  1. Eric Staal (goal, +1)
  2. Brian Gionta (goal, assist, +1)
  3. Joni Pitkanen (two assists, +3)
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readers comments
  1. Derek Felix on April 21st, 2009 10:07 pm

    I didn’t see the play as I figured the Devils would comeback and win after Gionta’s goal. Go figure.

    My brother told me about it. It’s an awful way to lose. Especially when your team showed such character coming back.

    I saw the replay now and it’s a tough one. That is such a bad rule. Brodeur said before the playoffs that the crease needs to be bigger. So of course it would come into play creating such controversy. I’ve said that many times. The old crease never saw these kinda incidents. It’s a slippery slope. I blame the NHL bc they have done nothing about it while making 99991 other changes.

    I think we both knew this series would be tight. It’s best of 3 with 2 at The Rock. That should be motivation enough for the Devs.

    It’ll be interesting to see what transpires.

    Reply – Quote
  2. Derek Felix on April 21st, 2009 10:08 pm

    Oh. And yeah. Brodeur was slightly bumped on the LaRose rebound tally. They showed a shot of Sutter and he didn’t look pleased.

    Reply – Quote
  3. Topics about Last-words | Chaos and contreversy in Carolina on April 21st, 2009 10:41 pm

    [...] The Battle of New York :: A Tri-State Area Hockey Blog placed an observative post today on Chaos and contreversy in CarolinaHere’s a quick excerptNo matter how much coaches tell you that each game is as important as the next, human nature doesn’t always cooperate.  Up 2-1 in the series with a chance to put the clamps on Carolina, the Devils instead laid a big, fat egg early before coming back only to suffer a contreversial heartbreaking finish – and just like that this series is all tied up again. Before I get to the nonsense at the end of the game, really the last three games of this series proves how even the matchup is.  Yes, the Dev [...]

    Reply – Quote
  4. Topics about Toronto » Blog Archive » Chaos and contreversy in Carolina on April 22nd, 2009 12:05 am

    [...] The Battle of New York :: A Tri-State Area Hockey Blog added an interesting post today on Chaos and contreversy in CarolinaHere’s a small readingNo matter how much coaches tell you that each game is as important as the next, human nature doesn’t always cooperate.  Up 2-1 in the series with a chance to put the clamps on Carolina, the Devils instead laid a big, fat egg early before coming back only to suffer a contreversial heartbreaking finish – and just like that this series is all tied up again. Before I get to the nonsense at the end of the game, really the last three games of this series proves how even the matchup is.  Yes, the Dev [...]

    Reply – Quote
  5. Brian Sanborn on April 22nd, 2009 10:06 am

    Sad. Vintage Bettman. Catering to teams in huge markets and teams south of the Mason Dixon line. Pathetic.

    Reply – Quote

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