Canes fall in Hard-Fought Game Five

From Brian Compton, NHL.com Staff Writer –
Martin Brodeur followed an incredibly tough loss with an incredibly tough performance on Thursday night.

Forty-eight hours after losing Game 4 with 00.2 seconds left in regulation, Brodeur stopped all 44 shots he faced as the New Jersey Devils took a 3-2 series lead with a 1-0 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal at the Prudential Center.

New Jersey put Carolina on the brink of elimination and can move on to the second round with a win at the RBC Center on Sunday. The Devils have their future Hall of Fame goalie to thank for it.

Nineteen of Brodeur’s stops came in the second period, most of them coming after David Clarkson scored the game’s only goal on a power-play deflection at 11:22. The Hurricanes outshot New Jersey 9-2 following the goal.

But Brodeur was up to the task — despite the fact that he cut his ankle on a collision with Carolina forward Chad LaRose late in the first period. The blade of LaRose’s skate connected with Brodeur, but that couldn’t prevent No. 30 from recording the 23rd career postseason shutout — tying him with Patrick Roy for the most shutouts in Stanley Cup play. The 44 shots were the most he’s ever had in a regulation shutout — he’s faced as many as 40 only once in his 101 regular-season shutouts.

The Devils broke a scoreless tie after Patrick Eaves was whistled for tripping, Defenseman Andy Greene — who replaced the injured Bryce Salvador in the lineup — fired a shot from the point that Clarkson was able to redirect past a screened Cam Ward for his second goal of the playoffs.

Ward was sensational in his own right, as the hard-luck loser made 41 saves.

Carolina dominated the remainder of the second, but failed to get a shot past Brodeur. He made several tremendous stops, including a glove save on a wrister by Eaves with 6:49 left in the period. Brodeur also made two saves in the final 25 seconds of the period after Colin White went off for holding at 19:06, securing the Devils’ one-goal lead after 40 minutes.

Both goaltenders were dazzling in the third period. Brodeur managed to get his pad on a wrister by Staal from between the circles, and Ward followed about four minutes later with a gorgeous glove save on a slap shot from Zach Parise. Ward later denied Jay Pandolfo on a breakaway, only to be matched by a tremendous pad stop by Brodeur on a one-timer from point-blank range by LaRose with 4:21 remaining.

Brodeur kept the shutout intact when he gobbled up Ray Whitney’s one-timer from the outside of the left circle with 18.9 seconds left.

One thought on “Canes fall in Hard-Fought Game Five

  1. 44 shots on goal. if Brodeur keeps that up, the Canes are in big trouble.

    But, I think this is gonna go 7 games.

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