As Martin Brodeur charged out of his net and tried to bat a flying puck out of the air like he were Barry Bonds, it appeared as though he were swinging for the fences. Or, at the very least, the stands. But American defenceman Brian Rafalski, who spent seven seasons as Brodeur's teammate with the New Jersey Devils, knew better.
VANCOUVER -- As Martin Brodeur charged out of his net and tried to bat a flying puck out of the air like he were Barry Bonds, it appeared as though he were swinging for the fences. Or, at the very least, the stands.
But American defenceman Brian Rafalski, who spent seven seasons as Brodeur's teammate with the New Jersey Devils, knew better.
"I've seen him do that before," said Rafalski. "As soon as I saw him wind up, I knew he wasn't looking for a wall so I jumped up in the middle."
Intercepting the pass -- or, rather, the line drive-- Rafalski skated into the slot and slid a wrist shot through Brodeur's legs. It was just one of several times last night that the U.S. made the NHL's best puckhandling goaltender appear as though his hands were made of stone.
This was somewhat surprising. Heading into the Olympics, the general feeling was that Brodeur's ability to come out of his net would be an asset, considering that goaltenders are not limited on where they can play the puck.
Instead, it turned into a liability.
Part of the reason, said Rafalski, was that the ice at Canada Hockey Place was so soft that the puck bounced around like a tennis ball. The other reason was that the Americans had three players -- Rafalski and Brodeur's current teammates' Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise -- who had played with the 37-year-old so long that they knew his habits better than he probably did.
"I think everyone knew that was going to happen, especially with the trapezoid gone," said Parise, referring to the restrictive area in the NHL. "He's going to want to come out and play the puck. And he should. He's really good at it.
"But when a goalie's like that and likes to play, you have to make sure you're going right at him and not letting him set it up. I think we just did a good job of putting pressure on him whenever he had the puck."
All night, Brodeur seemed to be fighting the puck.
A bobble in the opening minute of the game resulted in a defensive zone face-off that led to the Americans scoring first on a point shot from Rafalski. Then there was the baseball-swing that caused the second goal. And things got progressively worse after that.
"What happens is if you misplay one or two," said Rafalski, "you start thinking about it and it can get you."
Indeed, having misplayed the puck twice for goals in the first period, Brodeur seemed skittish. And after being bumped by David Backes in the second period, the usually calm goaltender dove to poke-check a rebound and found himself out of the net as Chris Drury then scored the game-winner.
"[Backes] got right into the crease there and he bumped me," said Brodeur, "and after that the puck went up in the air and I tried to pokecheck, it just got chaotic there."
