Today is the day we find out whether or not Martin Brodeur will finish out his contract with the New Jersey Devils or get moved to another team to finish out that contract and if he ends up moving to a different team, then we watched Brodeur play his last game as a Devil against the team he got his first cup against. Marty played a decent game but he was lucky to get the win in regulation. After the Devils took a 3-2 lead on a gorgeous no-look backhand from Travis Zajac, Detroit found the equalizer a few minutes later off a deflection from Todd Bertuzzi. From that point on, it felt as if Detroit was playing keep away hockey because they knew how important getting 1 point out of the game was for them.
Enter Stephen Gionta…
Ok, I’ll be honest, when I saw Stephen Gionta on the ice with less than a minute to go, I was a little annoyed at DeBoer for his choice of players on the ice but he proved me wrong. Mark Fayne took a shot from the point that after watching replay after replay looked more like a shot taken with the purpose of getting a tip/redirection on it.
I can’t write this recap without saying the Red Wings certainly helped the Devils out last night. While spinning around to try and make the save, Howard kicked in the first goal of the night with his blocker before the whistle blew. Then, with the Wings leading 2-1, Zidlicky took a shot from the point that briefly ended up in Jimmy Howard’s glove but with Patrik Elias crashing the net, defenseman Johnathon Ericsson tried to use his stick to slow down Elias and managed to get the tip of his blade to know the puck out of Howard’s glove and into the net. The Devils needed the win and the fans are certainly grateful for the help that the Wings gave to NJ during the game.
So now we wait and see what happens with the Devils at the deadline. We’d all like to see them make a move that would improve this team but I don’t think the Devils have a lot to offer other teams in order to make that move. I also don’t think moving Brodeur would be a move that would improve the Devils. I understand he wants to play more and maybe feels that a change of scenery will get him that but at the end of the day, he’s a better option to have as a backup than currently exists in the NHL. It shouldn’t be about what Marty wants but rather about what the team needs to keep playing once the 82 regular season games have been completed.
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