2003 Stanley Cup Finals - Game 5



Don't adjust your TV set, because those weren't rubber noses on the hockey players tonight, those weren't rocketmen being shot from a cannon into the protective nets behind the goalies, and the refs weren't acting like clowns. Er, ok maybe strike the last part of that comment. The circus was in town tonight and it was all setup by what seemed to be a stupid little TV bit by commentator Barry Melrose prior to the opening face-off as he visited a tarot card reader to get predictions on individual performances before the game. Now I typically write-off fortuneteller predictions because I think its all bullshit. But after listening to this chick, I might just visit her one day! By merely holding his game stick, she predicted that Patrik Elias would score a goal - and he did, she predicted the Devils fans would not be disappointed with Brodeur's game tonight - and we weren't, and my favorite...she said the DUCK FANS WOULD BE UPSET with Giguere's game tonight. HOME RUN BABY! As I said in my preseries analysis, I was DYING for the Devils to prove that Gigeure was nothing more than a goalie that road a nice hot streak. After allowing 6 goals, with half of them being stoppable, on only 36 shots, they fulfilled my request admirably. As much as I thought he locked up the MVP trophy, tonight's atrocious outcome has now put the Conn Smythe back up for grabs.

As I feared right from the opening face off, the Ducks came out very hard wanting to get this road win over with early. They quickly surprised the unprepared Devils with a lightning flurry of 6 shots in the opening 2 minutes, which beforehand took nearly half a GAME to accomplish. The Devils were lethargic, rusty and unprepared as it eventually led to the Ducks drawing first blood in the opening minute. I'm sure Devils fans were extremely frustrated at the early goal and the fact that the Ducks were undefeated in this year's playoffs (10-0 coming in) when scoring the first goal. However, the old addage of a "first time for everything" reared its head tonight and woke up the sleeping giant. The Devils morphed into a furious whirlwind of offense, outshot the Ducks 37-16 for the rest of the game and buried 6 goals behind the Giguere the Juggler. This game was symbolically like those old amusement park shooting galleries. I don't have to tell you what the target was.

Martin Brodeur, while not his best game, was solid enough to outplay Giguere and was fortunate to have the offense give him rare playoff support by scoring more than 3 goals. Typically when Marty allows more than 2 goals in the playoffs, its practically a given it would lead to a loss. In retrospect, Marty did help a bit with the offense tonight because on the 3rd goal Marty made a half-save, half-pass with his blocker and he aimed it right to the tape of Niedermayer who skated up the ice which eventually setup the 3rd goal. Very nice play setup by Brodeur. And in a more critical point in the third period when a goal by the Ducks would have completely changed the complexion of the game, Marty stopped a breakaway and even the quick rebound shot and then it turned around the other way with Langenbrunner scoring the final insurance goal.

Thank heavens someone in the replay booth knows the 'new' hockey rules. When Pandolfo scored the fourth Devils goal by redirecting the puck in with his skate, I had a fear that some old school bums in the replay booth would void the goal. However, the new rules, designed as one of many to increase scoring in the NHL, clearly specify that a goal deflected off a skate shall be allowed unless there is a distinct kicking motion. With this rule, they only wanted to disallow scenarios when a puck is loose in front of the net and if a player's is being held up and can't get his stick on it, he would kick or even sweep the puck in. This was clearly not the case with Pandolfo's goal. He was turning to stop in front of the net and the puck just deflected off his right foot. He did not kick it, and it was the right call to allow the goal.

The loss of Joe Nieuwendyk has clearly hurt the Devils in this series. The Ducks have scored 3 quick goals from 'clean' face-off wins and that is unacceptable. It cost us game 4 in overtime and the Ducks scored another carbon copy of that OT goal in the first period tonight. If Joe were taking the face-offs, at a minimum, they would not be clean wins by the Ducks. I'm afraid we may not see him the rest of the series, but if it comes down to a game 7, maybe we'll get a pleasant surprise and have him back on the ice.

In the homestretch of the MVP race, it is now getting as tight as ever, and I think another candidate to add to the finalists along with Giguere, Brodeur and Langenbrunner is John Madden. He's been the Devils key leader in all aspects of the game in this series and overall in this years playoff run. His playoff rage and incredible strength of heart is really pulling this team like a strong horse pulling a carriage through mud. He's scoring, he's agitating, he's a force on the penalty kill, he's hitting and he is LEADING. Tonight, his face was sliced open from a Duck stick, but he went in the locker room for no more then 3 minutes, got sewn up with about 20-30 stitches and went right back to playing tough, gritty hockey. That's what going for the Stanley Cup is all about...sacrifice. He was the epitome of that tonight. The mad dog is back people.

I predicted the winner of tonight's game would win the Stanley Cup and I'm staying true to it. This was the game the Ducks wanted to steal and they failed. From this rout, I really think the Devils have 'cracked' the Ducks' confidence and it is also clear that Anaheim's double-shifted players are starting to tire. Note the regression of the Ducks shots by period tonight: 12 - 7 - 4. Pretty predictable trend right there. I feel that they expended what was left in the tank in that first period, which for a moment had the Devils on their heels. But the Devils experience and conditioning from fully utilizing 4 balanced lines overwhelmed the Ducks like a tidal wave. The Devils kept the pressure evenly throughout as they rifled more than 10 shots each period (11-13-13 respectively) which was the FIRST time in this year's playoffs that the Ducks allowed more then 10 shots in each period. That lends more creedence to the fact that they are slowly withering and showing more cracks in the defense.

So now with this victory, it is now NJ that has the confidence as they head back out west to try and clinch the championship. In the back of their minds I'm sure the Devils are thinking of the 3-2 series lead they blew against Colorado in the finals 2 years ago. One strongpoint of this Devils team is that they learn from mistakes. Let's hope that holds true and they will give it their best come Saturday night. The Devils are now once again on the threshold of kissing silver polish and having champane showers. Let's end this right now boys! GO DEVILS!!