Trevor Moeller | Fighting for Stanley- (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
Jose Theodore made his return to the net after sitting out the last two games and most of game two, and he stole the show tonight as he shutout the Devils. You can’t blame Martin Brodeur for the Devils loss, as he did everything he could to try to keep them in the game short of scoring. The shots were fairly even with the Panthers having a slight edge at 33-30. The Devils penalty kill was pretty good again this game only allowing the one power play goal, which was the first goal of the game, early in the second period from Kris Versteeg. Two goals, one an empty netter, in the third period would seal the deal and get the win for the Panthers. It was the second period that pretty much killed it for the Devils in terms of their own play though, as they managed to get only 6 shots on Theodore. Both teams will have a few days off as Game Six is not until Tuesday night in New Jersey.
Finally Commentary Worse than CBC
For four of five games now we have been subjugated to what is quite possibly the worst commentary I’ve had to listen to. This includes back when the CBC used to do CFL games as well as the commentators we’ve had to be put through on Hockey Night in Canada. This Florida commentary that we’ve had to sit through really is that brutal, they seem to think every puck that comes off of the Panthers sticks is pure gold. Not only that but they seem to think that the Panthers can do no wrong, especially when it comes to penalty calls. Like tonight for instance, in the second period Martin Brodeur made an attempted poke check and didn’t actually connect with the puck instead connecting with the skate, and they were all over it for the next five minutes.
What the Devils have to do to Survive
The Devils face elimination on Tuesday in Game six, and they have to fix some things especially from just tonight’s game. They’ve gotten better in face-offs and their penalty kill has finally arrived in the series, however they have to do things like get traffic in front of the net. They have to be better at winning battles along the board as Florida has been dominating that area for most of the series. If the Devils can replicate what they did in Game four than they should be able to force the series to go to Game seven. Guys like Parise and Kovalchuk have to get involved on the scoreboard as they both only have two goals in the series.
Three Stars:
1st: Jose Theodore – FLA
2nd: Kris Versteeg – FLA
3rd: Shawn Matthias – FLA
