OVERTIME Predators3 Devils2
Among the Devils’ curses of frustration and Nash-ing of teeth was a subtle but certain scream for the scorer they lack – the one sources say they are now trying to acquire in a trade.
Surely, the Devils lost embarrassingly to the Predators yesterday at the Meadowlands because they were outworked, because they took the expansion team lightly, and because they rely too much on Martin Brodeur.
But ultimately, the Devils fell because they simply don’t have a go-to gunner. In blowing a two-goal lead, they failed to put the game away and allowed Nashville life, which the Predators parlayed into overtime, where they pulled out a shocking 3-2 triumph.
Sources say the Devils have been talking to Detroit for more than a week about bringing back Brendan Shanahan, and they’re also believed to be the front-runners to acquire Calgary’s Theo Fleury. Yesterday was evidence that such help is needed, if they have real hopes of chasing the Stanley Cup.
“We need to score over three goals to be successful against a team like that,” said Brodeur, who allowed Sebastien Bordeleau’s winner for New Jersey’s first OT loss this season. “After getting a two-goal lead, maybe we thought we’d have an offensive feast. But if you don’t bury your chances when you’re up, they’re going to come back and haunt you.”
Ex-Devil Mike Dunham haunted them yesterday, after giving up a gift goal for Denis Pederson. He blanked the Devils over the final 40 minutes while the tide was turning.
“You wouldn’t believe it, it feels so good,” said Dunham, who was Brodeur’s backup the last two seasons. But the Devils knew that Dunham wasn’t the entire reason their four-game winning streak came to an end.
“We definitely lost the game for ourselves,” Bobby Holik said. “We let Nashville outwork us, and basically, that’s the main reason.”
One-half of the Devils’ offense yesterday came from Lyle Odelein’s first goal in 51 games, the other half came when Dunham’s clearing try was picked off. That was not enough.
“When you have a 2-0 lead against a team like that, you should be burying them,” Odelein said. “I’d give that goal back for two points.”
The Devils were ready to take this one for granted, and did so once they grabbed the lead. The Predators entered the game as the league’s second-worst penalty-killersa and the Devils exploited them on their first chance. On the power play, Odelein was set up in the right circle by Holik for a one-timer that deflected up off the stick of Nashville’s Bob Boughner at 17:25 of the first.
Pederson gave the Devils the 2-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the first, thanks to Dunham’s ill-advised clearing attempt. Dunham went behind his net to stop a dump-in, then fired the puck up his left boards. Jason Arnott intercepted cleanly and found Pederson alone at the left post while Dunham was still trying to regain his position.
Nashville ended Brodeur’s shutout streak at 108:42 when Greg Johnson scored his 11th at 4:13 of the second. Brodeur was coming off a blanking in Boston Thursday, and had not allowed a goal in five periods, when Scott Walker centered from the left side of the net to Johnson in the left circle for a shot that went in off Brodeur’s left shoulder.
The Predators tied the score with 8:25 left, catching Brodeur playing the puck behind his net. Mark Mowers blocked Brodeur’s clear along the boards and centered to the right corner of the crease. Patrick Cote, who had one point in 39 previous games this season, picked up his second by knocking that feed through Ken Daneyko and Kevin Dean for Walker at the left edge of the crease. Walker shoved the puck in for his sixth, just before Brodeur covered that back door.
In overtime, Bordeleau fooled Scott Stevens on a 2-on-2 rush, getting the captain to turn outside while he went in, for a quick shot from the right circle that went under Brodeur at 2:43.
“It was the kind of shot where I have to make the save,” said Brodeur.
He shouldn’t have had to make that save, not if the Devils hadn’t stopped at two goals for the second straight game.
