“Right now,’’ noted coach Claude Julien, following his squad’s second straight loss, “we’re only judging ourselves on wins.’’
In other words, there’s little value in saying, as the Bruins could, that they hung tough with the talented Devils and even finished with a 36-28 shot lead, not to mention a slight edge in hits (20-19) and a 29-25 advantage at the faceoff circle. With the playoffs to start in less than a month, it’s only about posting victories and catching the last ferry to Survivor: Stanley Cup Edition.
The Devils, all but guaranteed home ice for the first round, salted this one away with three goals in a span of less than nine minutes in the first period. Rob Niedermayer, David Clarkson, and Zach Parise potted three behind Tim Thomas (yanked after the first period) on only 10 shots, and that was enough for the former residents of Exit 16W to post their 41st W of 2009-10.
“They scored that first one, and that set us back on our heels for a couple of shifts,’’ said Patrice Bergeron, whose goal with 1:03 left cut it to 3-2, allowing a brief but false glimmer of hope of sending it to OT. “Then they scored two quick ones and it’s 3-0. We just can’t sit back like that and allow it to happen.’’
The Devils, even with star Russian Ilya Kovalchuk a near no-show (one shot, one hit, one giveaway in 19:52 of ice time), did a much better job, especially in the first period, of creating net presence and pressure. Of their three goals, Clarkson’s was the most artful, and that was thanks to iconic goalie Martin Brodeur, who sent him on a breakaway by threading a long pass through the defensive end. Brodeur first gloved a long Zdeno Chara wrister, then dropped the puck and sent a tape-to-tape laser up to the blue line for Clarkson. He finished off with a snap backhander to the top left corner, stick side on Thomas, for the 2-0 lead at 17:23.
