Devils: Brodeur's Spot on Team Canada Up to Him
Veteran goalie has some young competition
by: Steve Cangialosi
At Wednesday night's Lester Patrick Award reception in midtown, I spoke with former Penguins' General Manager Craig Patrick, who still lives in Pittsburgh long after his dismissal from the team. He said he's never seen goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury play this well.
When I noted that Fleury's 8-0-0 start, which has taken his confidence to new heights, might be attributed to his Game Seven victory over the Red Wings in last season's Stanley Cup Final, Patrick nodded, "Absolutely."
What this means for the NHL's all-time winningest goaltender, Martin Brodeur, is that there is bona fide competition to earn the job as Canada's first string goaltender for the upcoming Olympic Games in Vancouver.
A year ago, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Brodeur and Vancouver's Roberto Luongo would make up Canada's tandem for what could be the last Winter Olympic ice hockey competition using NHL players. That's no longer a given.
Brodeur comes off his first shutout of 2009-2010 Saturday versus Carolina, and carries some personal momentum into Thursday's game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It's hard to fathom that Hockey Canada will ignore Brodeur – especially with Jacques Lemaire an assistant to Mike Babcock – when the roster is announced in December. It's equally hard to imagine Vancouver's most popular athlete, Luongo, being excluded.
Still, there is perhaps more pressure on Brodeur to perform well in the opening months of the season than there ever has been in his 16-year career – his 2.68 goals against average after seven games ranks 17th in the NHL.
Statistically, you can't read much into the opening weeks of a season. Heck, Mathieu Garon, the Columbus Blue Jackets' backup, was listed as the league leader in goals against average Thursday morning. But if the best Canadian goaltenders at the conclusion of last season were Pittsburgh's Fleury and Carolina's Cam Ward – and if those two compare favorably to Brodeur and Luongo in wins, save percentage, and GAA by Christmas time – how much will Marty's international experience factor into the decision to include him on a fourth Olympic roster?
It's up to Brodeur to make this a slam-dunk decision by playing at the level he's spoiled us with for a decade-and-a-half. There will be 18,200 sets of eyes on him at MSG tonight. There are many more watching north of the border on a nightly basis.
GAME NOTES:
Jacques Lemaire juggled his lines again at practice Wednesday, but don't dwell on combinations. Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner will likely be flanking centers Travis Zajac, Dainius Zubrus and Rob Niedermayer at some point tonight.
Until Patrik Elias returns, mixing and matching of Devils forwards will be witnessed on a shift to shift basis. Until they score four goals in a game prior to the start of a shootout, there's little chance of Lemaire being content with any combination. He's a bottom line coach.
If Cory Murphy had four assists, and still struggled defensively the way he did in his three games played, he wouldn't be practicing today at Lowell (AHL).
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