Brodeur boasts plenty of Game 7 experience
Devils goalie plays No. 10 tonight against Panthers
Martin Brodeur is closing in on his 40th birthday May 6, so maybe it’s understandable that his memory is a bit fuzzy on some of the details of his first nine Game 7s.
“I remember the ones I want to remember,” Brodeur said Wednesday on the eve of making his 10th career Game 7 start tonight against the Florida Panthers at Bankatlantic Center.
Brodeur and the Devils will be looking to follow up on their 3-2 overtime win in Game 6 and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time since 2007. The Panthers are seeking their first playoff series victory since beating Pittsburgh in their only previous Game 7 in the 1996 conference final.
“They’re games that you want to perform well; you want to do well,” Brodeur said. “I’m fortunate I’ve played in nine of them already. They’re fun to be part of and it’s your team and you take a lot of momentum off Game 7. Just ask Boston.”
The Bruins won three Game 7s on their way to capturing the Stanley Cup last season.
In his first nine Game 7 starts, Brodeur is 5-4 with a 1.93 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and one shutout. That shutout was in one
I remember the ones (Game 7s) that I want to remember.
DEVILS GOALIE MARTIN BRODEUR
of the Game 7s he fondly remembers — a 3-0 victory at the Meadowlands in the 2003 Stanley Cup final against Anaheim.
“Winning the Stanley Cup in Game 7 is always something pretty good,” he said.
Brodeur also recalls his first Game 7 — a 2-1 win over Buffalo in the 1994 conference quarter-finals.
“After a tough loss in four overtimes (in Game 6), we beat them 2-1,” he said. “So that was another good one.”
Some of the bad ones he’d prefer to forget, though, such as the last Game 7 he played three years ago against Carolina. The Devils led 3-2, until the Hurricanes scored twice in the final 80 seconds to pull out a 4-3 victory at Prudential Center.
“I knew somebody was going to bring up that one,” Brodeur said.
It’s not a game that any of the current Devils who played in it like to think or talk about.
“Losing, that’s the thing that stands out,” Devils captain Zach Parise said when asked what he remembers about it.
“But we’re not going to talk about that.”
The Devils are 6-7 in their history of Game 7s, including 3-5 on the road. One of their most disappointing Game 7 losses was a 3-1 defeat in Colorado in the 2001 Stanley Cup final.
But they have had some significant road wins in Games 7s, too. One was in the 2000 Eastern Conference finals in Philadelphia, and another was in the 2003 conference finals in Ottawa — a game the Devils won 3-2 on Jeff Friesen’s goal with just 2:14 remaining.
“That was a good one,” Brodeur said.
The Devils believe having Brodeur on their side is an advantage because of his vast experience. Patrick Roy is the only goaltender in league history to make more Game 7 starts with 13.
“Experience is important,” rightwing Ilya Kovalchuk said. “I’m pretty sure he knows what to do and how to respond in all different situations. He’s been in that position before and that’s good for us.”
Kovalchuk is at the other end of the spectrum as he’ll be playing in the first Game 7 of his career. He has his first chance to advance to a second round. He has played in one-and-done games in the Olympics and world championship and believes that experience will help him tonight.
“Those games are important and those games you’re going to remember always, so we want to make (this) a good one,” Kovalchuk said.