Kings take command of Stanley Cup.
Carter scores winner to keep record road victory streak alive
NEWARK, N.J. – In the New Jersey Devils locker-room there was a silence, and it was a different kind of silence.
They had lost at home before in these playoffs. They had fallen behind in series in these playoffs. They had always figured it out, one way or the other. That was why they were here.
But in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final, it was the second verse, much the same as the first, and the Devils are now somewhere three other teams have found themselves in the post-season.
With a second consecutive 2-1 win in overtime Saturday night, the Los Angeles Kings won their record-tying 10th playoff road game. It was the first time the first two games of a Stanley Cup final had gone to overtime since the Toronto-Montreal tilt of 1951, and the fourth time in a row Los Angeles has taken a 2-0 lead on the road.
This isn’t over yet, but it feels like it could be.
“It’ll be hard,” said Devils captain Zach Parise, one of several New Jersey players whose offence has gone missing.
“They’re a great team. But it’s not as if we’ve gotten blown out the last two games. We had opportunities to win both of ’em, and unfortunately we’re down 2-0. It’ll be hard. It’ll be really, really hard.”
Eleven teams have lost the first two games of the Stanley Cup final at home; two came back to win the series, and the most recent one was not quite 50 years ago.
“It’s kind of weird,” said Kings forward Jarret Stoll. “Great, but weird.”
The overtime began with New Jersey on a power play, and lurched back and forth, and it felt for a long time like New Jersey was destined to get rewarded. But a little more than 13 minutes in, Jeff Carter — the former 40-goal scorer the Kings plucked from his deep depression in the windy nowhere of Columbus at the trade deadline — swooped into the New Jersey zone, made a pass that was blocked and picked up the rebound, kept circling around in a great loop in front of the net, and let loose a wrist shot into traffic that beat Martin Brodeur stick side at the 13:42 mark.
It was the same place Drew Doughty had beaten Brodeur in the first period. Carter claimed he was just trying to put it on net, but like Anze Kopitar, the man who won Game 1 in overtime for L.A., he is a sniper.
“To be honest, I don’t even know if he saw around (Dustin Penner), or if he saw the shot,” said Carter.
“He kind of came across the top of the key there, and I had a hard time finding the puck where he was holding it,” said Brodeur, who kept the Devils in the game for more than 60 minutes, making 31 saves.
“Good to see him score, right?” said Kings coach Darryl Sutter. “Marty made some highlight saves tonight against good shooters … I thought it was a hell of a battle. Tonight was heavy lifting.”