RALEIGH — Utterly unable to handle prosperity, the schizo Devils must now rely on Game 7 home ice, the pattern of alternating victories, and rediscovering the midseason moxie that made them Atlantic Division champs. They’ve haven’t outplayed the Hurricanes lately.
Blowing a series lead for the third time, the Devils were pushed to Game 7 tomorrow in Newark by a death-defying Hurricanes squad that routed them 4-0 here, staying alive with speed and skating.
If the Devils can’t slow them down, New Jersey’s special season ends quickly.
“One team played like there was no tomorrow; the other team played like there was,” coachBrent Sutter said succinctly. “It wasn’t a good performance as to what our standards are, and what our expectations are.”
The Rangers’ collapse may seem more horrific, but the Devils are now in the same leaky boat as their nearest rivals, and the metropolitan area’s hockey season could end tomorrow.
“You have to shake it off. It’s the playoffs,” Sutter said of the comprehensive defeat.
Each team stands 2-1 at home in this series, but Carolina holds the cumulative scoring lead 13-12, and has outshot the Devils 127-99 in the past three games.
“They were the desperate team tonight, but it’s going to be that way for both teams [tomorrow] night,” Jay Pandolfo said.
Carolina’s speed game had the Devils’ heads spinning, and the rest of their bodies, too. Hurricane goalie Cam Ward answered Martin Brodeur’s record-tying 23rd career shutout in Game 5 shutout with his third of Stanley Cup playoffs. The teams have alternated victories, starting with the Devils’ Game 1 triumph.
“Every time they tied it up, we showed we didn’t want to go down in the series, and played with passion. We have to have that passion again,” Brodeur said after facing 37 shots last night.
The Devils’ last foray into Game 7 was their 2003 Stanley Cup finals victory over the Ducks. They are 6-6 all-time in Game 7s and 3-1 at home, losing only in 1999 to Pittsburgh, while beating the Ducks, ’01 Leafs and ’94 Sabres. They are 4-4 in Game 7s after losing Game 6, winning their last two such situations, in 2003 over Ottawa and Anaheim.
Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner returned to the lineup after missing three games with a knee injury, but he was unable to awaken linemates Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, who were blanked for the third straight game.
“Tonight, again their play wasn’t at the level it needs to be,” Sutter said. “At this time of year, they have to fight through things.”
Instead, the evening belonged the Hurricanes’ revamped line of Eric Staal, Chad Larose and Ray Whitney, which scored Carolina’s first three goals. Whitney had a four-point (1-3-4) night.
Spurred by their raucous crowd, the Hurricanes opened with a furious blitz and had outshot the Devils 11-1 before Whitney opened the scoring at 10:32 of the first. Colin White and Pandolfo had just combined to fail to clear up the left boards, giving Staal a tough shot from the right circle.
Larose collected the rebound at the end boards, hit Staal behind the net and Staal’s centering pass off White was swatted home waist-high by Whitney. It was the second time in this series the Hurricanes scored first, both in the last three.
The Devils had two power-play chances in the first, but failed to put a shot on Ward and were outshot overall 15-4 in the opening period. Carolina had six shots on its lone first-period power play.