David Carty's Homepage

Devils On Brink With 3-2 Loss
by David Carty

For Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils, it’s the tale of two seasons. Throughout the regular season, the Devils proved resilient. Surviving and even flourishing despite injuries to its top line, New Jersey came into the playoffs with the same agenda it had throughout the Lou Lamoriello era, championship or bust. Unfortunately for Jersey fans, the Devils may be cashing in their chips.

The Devils lost Wednesday night 3-2, putting the under-seeded Ottawa Senators one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals. In the midst of a Devils collapse, the Senators stuck to what got them to the postseason: star power.

Daniel Alfredsson opened the scoring for the Sens, netting a perfectly placed pass from Dany Heatley four and a half minutes into the first period. Ottawa gave New Jersey three power-play opportunities in the first period alone, but strong blue line play shut down the EGG line. Anton Volchenkov played brilliantly on the penalty kill, disrupting the Devils scoring attack and breaking up several chances. Patrick Elias struggled on the man advantage, giving up the puck twice on one of the power-plays.

From early on, it was obvious that this was a different Devils team. They were getting pushed around; they looked lost. Ottawa pounded on Brian Gionta early and took no prisoners. One hit on Colin White resulted in a game delay while they fixed the glass.

The Devils did, however, crack the code early in the second period. They took advantage of a Volchenkov penalty to get on the board. Elias connected with Gionta to even the score 1-1. Then Martin Brodeur accomplished a rare feat in his storied NHL career - he proved he was human after all.

Off a face-off in the Devils zone, Heatley tossed the puck from near the blue line at the net. The shot, which Brodeur never reacted to, deflected off his right heel for the score. Brodeur allowed an unacceptable garbage goal; it should have been stopped easily. It was a postseason blunder and Brodeur’s poor performance wasn’t over.

Four minutes into the third period, Mike Fisher lit the lamp after weaving through a suddenly porous Devils defense and beat Brodeur to the glove-side from the top of the circle. Can you believe the Devils’ defense was so weak and Brodeur’s reactions were so slow?

A Jay Pandolfo tally brought it to one, but the Devils got no closer despite some of their best action with Brodeur on the bench late in the game. A Colin White high sticking penalty killed the New Jersey momentum and the Devils fell again.

New Jersey’s sudden shortcomings have been the difference in the series. While the Devils offensive attack looked strong at times, their defensive deficiencies have left them reeling; leave it to the Sens to steal a page from the Devils’ playbook. Strong defensive play and domination in the neutral zone led one team to victory and that team was not the Devils.

Heatley and company lead 3-1 in the series and will look for the deciding win at the Continental Airlines Arena on Saturday afternoon. No word yet on which Martin Brodeur will be in net for the Devils.