“They are getting away with [crashing the goalie]; we should be able to get away with it, too,” Devils forward Jay Pandolfo said. “That’s the only thing you can do. It’s out of your hands after that. Sure enough, they are going to hit Marty, and if we retaliate we’ll probably get a penalty. It’s tough, but it’s been going on all series.”

Hell yes!

Bravo Hank in the 3rd

oh and Lundqvist 11-1-1 against Brodeur this year.

Torch is passed, live with it bizzos.


Just live with it.

Henrik pretty much stole this game tonight.

Congrats Rangers. You were clearly the better team. Sutter needs to realize that Marty needs rest or it will be his head. Also Lou needs to get defense and learn how to manage in the salary cap era. How I miss Rafalski right now! We once again were burned out from the regular season.

Regarding Marty, I'm not surprised he avoided Avery on the handshake though I would have loved to get a picture of that happening. They really hate each other. I hope Sather overpays him for some more battles and chances to take him out. Oh and Avery does turtle. You can Youtube that!

Your avatar makes you an objective observer.

He already shot it as he was cutting through. There was plenty of room until he was pushed into Brodeur.
Fatboy couldn't get out of the way.

No they don't hate each other, Brodeur hates Avery and is a sore loser. Avery had his hand out. Classless act by Brodeur. He just lowered himself below Avery's level and that is hard to do.
If the Devils won the series Avery would have shook Brodeur's hand because Avery knows it is a game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWj3qcddVGU

O RLY?

Neither has the moral highground on really anything. Avery's in Marty's head that's for sure. Marty should just take Patrick Roy's advice and plug his ears with his Stanley Cup rings.

Yes really. I have already stated that Avery is lowly player but that is his game. It is a game to him. That photo proves it.

Devils are toast.

And it turns out Marty is a whiner. Say what you will but Brodeur ignoring Avery on the handshake was completely classless. It's one thing to be a pest and obnoxious during games it's a whole 'nother to show great disrespect to the game by refusing to take part in the long standing tradition and show of good sportsmanship. I wonder what anybody who defends him would say to their kid if after a game he/she refused to shake somebody's hand after a tough loss.

Also, re: Avery, sure looks like he did his job of distracting the Devils. Why exactly where they going after him so hard last night instead of worrying about Gomez and Drury and Jagr? Allowing themselves to be so obsessed with him was one of the big reasons the Devils got crushed in this series.

11 wins in 13 tries against the cross-river rivals this year. And, more importantly 4 series wins in the playoffs all time to 1 win for the Devils.

Looking forward to the second round.

(and Prospectus, when did I claim to be an objective observer? )

Brodeur probably should have just sucked it up and shaken the guy's hand, but it's pretty understandable to see why he couldn't bring himself to do it. Between what he's done on the ice and the comments he's made about French-Canadian players, the guy is just the lowest of the lows.

Anyway.

I've seen a lot of hockey games over the years, and I don't think I've ever seen one as bizarre as that game last night.

Not to use this as an excuse, but it's time Marty Brodeur doesn't start 40 consecutive games going into the playoffs. It backfired last season and it backfired again this season. The guy was just drained, and obviously that defense in front of him didn't help (aside from Paul Martin). Obviously we all get caught up in how the guy plays every game...can we cut his workload back down to 72 games? 78 and 77 games the past two seasons (and no games off in the second half)...you'd think as one ages they'd start to play less, not more.

As crazy as this sounds, I was actually hoping that they didn't call a penalty shot in that situation. I knew Madden wasn't going to score (although his attempt was much better than I anticipated.) I would have much rather had a 2-min PP.

And in retrospect, the Devils probably were toast way back when they went on that five-game losing streak.

Well, good luck against Pittsburgh (or Montreal). Go Sid!

Marty needs a break the Devils need to go shopping or promote a good second goalie and invest in some defense.

We have all been there shaking hands after HS games you don't want to do it don't look at the guy and do the slap shake.