CBC-Sports

Brodeur ready for ninth Game 7

April 27, 2009 08:08 PM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

When it comes to Game 7s, Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur has plenty of experience.

Tuesday night’s date with the Carolina Hurricanes will be his ninth Game 7. He is 5-3 in the previous eight.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Brodeur said Monday. “It’s going to be a fun game. I remember almost every Game 7 that I played. But don’t ask me Game 2s. It’s a big deal winning and losing Game 7s. It stays with you.

“We know we’re going to match what they did. We know they’re going to do the same or do better. We know what we have to face now. It’s not like the unknown. Hopefully that was a wakeup call. If you don’t leave everything out there, it’s not going to be good enough.”

He said the Devils will have no trouble putting Game 6 out of their minds.

“Momentum is not a big thing in this series. That’s for sure, from one game to another,” he said. “It’s a Game 7. It’s an exciting time. I don’t think we’re taking anything for granted. They’ve given us everything we can handle. It’s going to be worse tomorrow.”

Which team has the edge?

“Everybody will draw positives about their situation,” Brodeur said. “Carolina has nothing to lose. For us, we’re in our own building. Everyone will have their own conclusion about the outcome until the puck is dropped. We feel confident that we can go out and perform the way we need to perform in a high pressure game. We have a team that has that experience; we have a system in place. Now it will be up to us to execute.”

Expectations are always high for Brodeur.

“The preparation is not that hard,” he said. “It’s the expectations. People expect because you’ve done it so much, you’ll know how to deal with it. It’s new. Every time is a different set of circumstances.”

Salvador could play for Devils in Game 7

Defenceman Bryce Salvador, who missed the last two games with a left knee injury, was one of the few Devils players to skate on Monday. He worked out with the team’s extras at the Prudential Center in Newark.

On the ice were Salvador, Rod Pelley, Jay Leach, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and goalie Scott Clemmensen.

So, will Salvador play?

"Decisions on our players will be made tomorrow," coach Brent Sutter said.

It was Salvador’s first hard workout since the injury

“I'm ready," Salvador said. "I feel good. It will be a game-time decision. This was my first really good skate today."

Sutter would not reveal what he told he players in a team meeting Monday.

"It was brief," he said. "There's not much to say at this time. It's one game."

Improving Cullen helping Hurricanes

Matt Cullen hasn’t spoken to reporters throughout the Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Devils. Speculation is he doesn’t want to discuss the foot injury he suffered when hit by a shot on March 20.

It has been a struggle to play through the injury, but Cullen has made an impact in the series.

“We’re getting closer to the six weeks,” coach Paul Maurice said yesterday of Cullen’s injury. “Now, it’s no longer the injury, it’s all the other parts of his body that rested as well. He’s still playing through some pain, but it’s manageable. He will be ready.”

The Hurricanes were happy to have forced a Game 7 and expected to be ready to complete the comeback.

"I think now the chances are 50-50," Frantisek Kaberle said. "It's going to be a tough game but I think right now we have a little better chance. I think we're going to play with a lot of confidence and we're going to show them right from the start we are ready to play."

Rod Brind'Amour was also optimistic.

“That's the only way to play it," he said, using the phrase full throttle. "I expect us to be at our best."

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