2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog - NJD vs. CAR

The goaltending doesn't get much better than it was in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final series matching New Jersey's Martin Brodeur and Carolina's Cam Ward.

Brodeur stopped 44 shots for his 23rd career playoff shutout, tying Patrick Roy's all-time Stanley Cup record. And Ward turned away 41 shots, allowing only a power-play goal from David Clarkson.

A total of 86 shots with one goal scored. Brodeur was asked if he'd experienced that before.

"Actually, yes I did, against Dominik Hasek in Buffalo," the Devils' netminder said. "And I lost that one, so this feels better."

That was back on April 27, 1994, in the sixth game of the opening round against the Sabres. There were 120 total shots and one goal in that game at the Aud. Hasek stopped 70. Brodeur stopped 49 of 50.

This time Brodeur bounced back from his loss in Game 4 Tuesday night, which ended with him smashing his stick against the boards. He came back even stronger.

"That's why he's the best. He's able to do things like that," Clarkson said.

Brodeur's effort puts the Devils one victory away from advancing to the next round. Game 6 will be played Sunday in Raleigh, N.C.

"Both teams are looking for an edge. I'm not sure there is one," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "I think come Sunday we're going to see a very, very similar game, and it's going to come down to the two guys in the pipes – which makes for a great series, because there's two great goaltenders."

Eric Staal had words of praise for Brodeur.

"Any elite player, any elite goaltender is going to try and be at their best when it matters, and he was good tonight," Staal said. "They got enough – one tip-in goal that went in, and we had a couple tip-ins that just didn't fall for us, so that's the way it goes and we'll be there Sunday."

Clarkson had a hot stick – literally

David Clarkson's stick was so hot he couldn't hold on to it after scoring what turned out to be the only goal in a Game 5 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night.

It was a power play goal at 11:22 of the second period. Standing in the face of goalie Cam Ward, Clarkson deflected a shot from defenceman Andy Greene.

"It hit the blade of my stick," Clarkson said. "It didn't break it but after it hit it kind of vibrated. I was kind of excited so it slipped out of my hand when I put my hand up."

Ward spoke of the tip.

"It's a pretty good deflection," the Hurricanes goalie said. "It's tough to see those things happen. It's a wide shot and Clarkson made a great tip. You've got to be able to tip your hat sometimes and say, he made a good play. You've got to be able to still come up with the saves and hope that your team will find a way to score – it didn't happen tonight, but we've got to leave this game here in Jersey and get excited for Sunday in Raleigh. By no means is this game over – we've got a lot of life left."

Clarkson made sure he got the stick. It's a keeper.

"That's why I went back and picked it up," he said.

Highlight-reel play

The most exciting moment of Game 5 had to be when Martin Brodeur came out to the right hash marks to beat Chad LaRose to the puck with 4:50 left in the opening period at the Prudential Center.

Brodeur beat LaRose to the puck, but he was upended when the Carolina forward went in skates-first. The goalie also suffered a minor cut to his left ankle.

"His skate cut right through my sock and cut my ankle a little bit," Brodeur said. "It was more of a bruise."

Initially, he wasn't sure.

"At first I wasn't sure. I could see the blood but my ankle was working, so I thought, 'This is good,'" he said. "When you get cut by a skate you don't know what's going on. When I saw it was cut on the surface, more of a scrape, I was more like a playoff hockey player."

Did he need stitches?

"No. I'm not that tough. I probably wouldn't have continued if I had to take stitches," Brodeur said with a laugh.

More Hurricanes

Coach Paul Maurice: "It was just a great game at the end of it. Clearly, it's difficult to take a loss at this point in the series, but you had great goaltending and two teams that pride themselves on defence and 86 shots – we had 44 shots and 22 blocked shots, so we had over 70 shot attempts in that game, so it was exciting."

Eric Staal: "Well, we rebound. We've got lots of life left. We've got a game at home here, Sunday – we're not out of this series by any means. We're right in the mix. It's tight, but it's a big game for us at home and we'll go from there."