Canes roll over Devils, force Game 7

April 26, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

As painful and annoying as tonight’s 4-0 Devil loss was, I guess it’s fitting this series will go the distance.  Both teams have one blowout win to their credit and each team split four games that were decided on the final shot or save.  Until Jussi Jokinen’s tack-on goal in the third period, each team had thirteen goals in six games.

In what has been a pattern in this series, the more desperate team has come out like gangbusters and been able to assert their dominance.  In Game 1 and 5 in particular, the Devils dominated early while in Games 4 and 6 the Hurricanes were skating downhill in the first two periods.  And all of those games were at home, though each team does have a road win to its credit.

I had hopes the Devils would come out better in Game 6 than in Game 4 down there, especially with the extra day off.  Usually this team does better with more rest.  Not to mention the return of Jamie Langenbrunner after missing the prior three games.  It wasn’t to be though…after the first few minutes where it did seem the Devils were coming out a little better came a stupid penalty call on Mike Rupp, where Jokinen held Rupp’s stick, then flopped and got the call.  Much like in Game 4 when a Danius Zubrus penalty opened the floodgates despite the lack of a PP goal, history repeated itself in this game.  Carolina stormed the Devils’ zone time and again, outshooting New Jersey 12-1 before finally breaking through, when Ray Whitney batted a puck out of midair.

Things wouldn’t get much better after that.  Oh, the Devils had two power play chances in the first period but you would never know it by the zero shots they managed on both power plays.  Typically Brian Rolston was horrible, passing up multiple opportunities to crank his slapshot (the reason he was supposed to improve our power play).  How this guy scored 30+ goals multiple times is beyond me, too bad we didn’t get that Rolston – the first or the second time we’ve had him.

Of course he had plenty of company though, for the third straight game the defense has looked overwhelmed.  After giving up 46 shots in Game 4 and 44 in Game 5, they gave up a mere 35 in Game 6.  A big part of the reason why is this Devils defensive core cannot seem to clear the puck at all.  Even Paul Martin – who’s supposed to be close to an elite defenseman – has had nightmares in that area this series (witness the end of Game 4).  Carolina gets multiple chances on the same shift after failed clearing attempts and eventually what happened today will happen.

Aside from the more desperate team coming to play more than we did today, Paul Maurice also made a tactical change that the Devils will have to account for in Game 7 – putting Whitney and Chad LaRose with Eric Staal.  That line accounted for all three goals in the first two periods, including Staal’s two in the second, one on a slapshot and another on a two-on-one with Whitney that broke the game open.  While their new top line ran roughshod, ours with Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and either Rolston or Langenbrunner has been shut down in the last three games. 

Both trends will have to change in Game 7 (or is it Game 8, since both teams did play the final game of the regular season?).  Maybe line-matching at home will help the first one although I haven’t seen John Madden, Jay Pandolfo and Brendan Shanahan go up against this new top line yet, and hopefully the captain getting a game under his belt will help the second.  Of course others have to step up too.  After a goal in Game 1, Patrik Elias has largely been invisible this series – no doubt some of that is due to his mysterious injuries toward the end of the season.  Still he, and some of the secondary performers may need to step up.  Not to mention the D has to reverse this disturbing trend of allowing a shooting gallery on Brodeur.  And in his second playoff series as head coach, Brent Sutter cannot allow his team to sit back - either in strategy or in approach.  As another coach in town would say, ’safe is death’.

Last, but not least – Brodeur himself has to crank his game into gear one more time.  While he’s clearly had an excellent series to this point with a GAA barely over 2 and a transcendent performance in Game 5, much like the Devils’ playoff losses of the late ’90’s – nobody’s going to care if he can’t bring the team home in the end.  I know the other guy (Cam Ward) is damn good himself, but if you’re the supposed greatest of all time, this is a series you must win.  Especially given Brodeur’s playoff performances have largely been subpar since 2003.

The only good news out of today is that the flu I’ve had for the last three days seems to be in remission so I should be able to make the game Tuesday.  Whether the Devils make it one to remember, or forget – is up to them.  All I can be sure of is that there will be a sellout crowd there and both teams should come with equal desperation this time.  Plus with Langenbrunner and Sergei Samsonov returning for today’s game, and Bryce Salvador probable to return on Tuesday it looks like it will be all hands on deck for both teams.

So, it’s likely Tuesday will come down to who gets the break and who maintains their discipline.  If the Devils want to prove they’re anywhere near the team they looked for much of this regular season they will win this game.  Otherwise it’ll just be another useless 100-point season gone to waste.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Eric Staal (two goals, assist, +3)
2. Ray Whitney (goal, three assists, +3)
3. Cam Ward (25 saves, SHO)