CBC-Sports

Brodeur loses his cool on non-interference call

April 22, 2009 12:42 AM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

The game-winning goal off Jussi Jokinen's left skate with two-tenths of a seconds remaining in Game 4 angered Devils goalie Martin Brodeur enough. But it was a failure to call goalie interference on the Hurricanes forward before defenceman Dennis Seidenberg even took his shot from the point that infuriated Brodeur.

“Not on the shot itself, but before that for him to get position on me,” Brodeur said. “There is always that debate on what the rules are.”

Devils coach Brent Sutter felt there should have been a call.

“On that last goal he definitely got bumped. He was coming across the crease and Jokinen bumped him. It’s a call you think you might get. It comes at the discretion of the ref. Probably because he was outside the crease."

As he left the ice, Brodeur shattered his goalie stick against the boards.

"That call and losing the game," he explained. "It’s an emotion that builds up.”

Jokinen said the shot hit his left skate.

“I jumped on the ice and there’s maybe 30 seconds left,” Jokinen said. “I had the puck behind the net with about 10 seconds left, and I tried to wrap around. I think the puck went to Joni Pitkanen and then back to the point. Then he made a great play to Dennis and Dennis got the shot through. I felt it right away on my skate, and I saw it was in the net."

On the Carolina bench, everyone waited.

"I saw the shot go and it was in and I hadn't heard a horn or seen a light," said Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "We just waited like everyone else."

Brodeur said he had nothing against the Hurricanes.

"These guys, that's what they do," he said "They go to the net and play hard."

But he felt two goals should have been disallowed — the winner and an earlier goal by Chad LaRose.

Devils await Salvador's fate

Devils defenceman Bryce Salvador suffered a left knee injury that could knock him out of the Eastern Conference quarter-final series against Carolina.

During a goal-mouth scramble with 2:52 left in the second period, LaRose landed on the back of Salvador's left leg in the crease. Salvador immediately grabbed his left knee and skated off in pain. He did not return.

“I’m not jumping the gun with anything,” Salvador said after the game. “I’ll see how it feels in 24 hours. I felt some discomfort. It’s a long series. Sometimes you get banged up. I’m one of these guys who are optimistic. Sometimes you wake up and feel better.”

Close call for Hurricanes

A loss to the Devils in Game 4 would not have eliminated the Hurricanes, but it would have put them in a position from which no other team has escaped.

The Devils are 12-0 in playoff series in which they held a 3-1 lead.

“When you can’t drop a puck at the end of the game, that’s as close as it gets,” Maurice said.

Devils coach Brent Sutter chose to look on the positive side.

“You’ve got to look at the positives here,” Sutter said. “You’re looking at two-tenths of a second of a hockey game. I look at we came in here and regained home ice.”

“For 39 minutes, we played almost as good as you could play,” Maurice said. “At 3-0, you’d hope that one of those you missed didn’t come back to hurt you.”

Sutter chose to look on the positive side.

“You’ve got to look at the positives here,” the coach said. “You’re looking at two-tenths of a second of a hockey game. I look at we came in here and regained home ice.”

The series shifts to the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., for Game 5 on Thursday night.

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