The biggest play in the Devils’ 2-0 loss the Penguins was obviously the disallowed goal by Sheldon Brookbank in the second period. If allowed to stand, it would have tied the game at 1-1 8:26 into the second period. Instead, it was waived off immediately by referee Eric Furlatt, who ruled that Arron Asham knocked goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury over in the crease, preventing him from stopping Brookbank’s shot from the right circle.
Asham made a strong move to the net with the puck from out of the left corner and did bump Fleury, but he and the rest of the Devils believed that he was pushed from behind by defenseman Kris Letang, who had lost his stick in the right corner. It was the second time in three games that the Devils had a goal disallowed.
Posted below are as many perspectives on tonight’s non-goal as I could obtain in the post-game, including one collected from Furlatt by a pool reporter. Before I get to that, it should be noted that it is difficult to blame the officials for a loss in which you don’t score and, to their credit, the Devils did not do that.
It was the 10th time they were shut out this season, adding to their team record, which was eight before 2007-08. Incidentally, the NHL record for the most times shut out in one season in 16, set by Columbus last season.
The Devils have scored just three goals during this four-game losing streak _ one in each of the previous three defeats _ and haven’t scored an even-strength goal in four games.
Now, they are tied for fourth-place in the Eastern Conference with Ottawa with 91 points. They are only two points ahead of the sixth-place Rangers, who they face on Thursday along with prospect of seeing their losing streak extended to a season-long five games. They are three points ahead of seventh-place Philadelphia, five ahead of eighth-place Boston and, most importantly, seven points ahead of ninth-place Washington.
They need four points to clinch a playoff spot.
With that taken care off, here’s what they were saying about the disallowed goal.
Referee Eric Furlatt: “The goalie has to be able to play the puck. Fleury was still in the crease and he got bumped out.”
On why the goal was disallowed, but no penalty was called: “You can have goalie interference if they run into the goalie on purpose. In this case, Asham tried to avoid him.”
(Note: Rule 69.1 states “If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved or fouled by a defending player so as to come in contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for the purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.”)
Arron Asham: “I was taking the puck to the net and the d-man (Letang) pushed me in. I thought it should have been a goal. It showed on the replay that I got pushed into him. I barely touched him, but that’s the way it goes, I guess.”
Devils coach Brent Sutter: “I didn’t see it until after the period was over. I didn’t look up at the video screen. I was told by the (assistant) coaches and players. The time they showed it on the video screen I was talking to the ref. I’m not crazy about it being disallowed. The fact that the guy who was behind Asham doesn’t have his stick and wraps his arms around him and then pushes him into the goalie. It wasn’t like he skated through intentionally trying to hit the goalie. It’s the ref’s decision, his call. Again, I’m not going to sit here and blame the officiating tonight.”
Marc-Andre Fleury: “I was kind of mad because I thought I was pushed. But then when he waived it off I was happy. I didn’t know the rule. I just know the guy hit me.”
Sheldon Brookbank: “The puck just kind of showed up on my stick and I just fired it there and it went in. I didn’t really know what happened until after I saw the replay. Like I said, it’s an easy call when you’re sitting up in the stands or whatever to see what happened, but down there things happen pretty quick. He made his call and he had to stick with it.”
Jamie Langenbrunner: “I’ve seen a lot worse be allowed. Their D kind of went over the top of their goalie more than Ash, but that’s part of the game. That wasn’t (the reason the Devils lost). We battled hard. We just didn’t score a goal.”
Martin Brodeur: “That call, that’s shaky at best. As a referee, and I’m not a referee and it’s hard to judge what they see, but the guy has no stick that’s following him to the net. You’ve got to pay attention to what the guy is going to do. He pushed Ash a little bit into the goalie and after that he fell into the goalie. That should have been a goal, but they’re making a decision on a split second. When it’s against you, it’s tough and when I get a call like that, it’s kind of nice. From what I saw -- but I saw it through the replay – it’s obvious that should have been a goal, but they have to do the decision with time restraints there.
Again, who cares? If you are relying on winning games 1-0, or 2-1, you are finished.
Posted by: Jason | March 25, 2008 at 11:24 PM
It's unfair to say they rely on it. I'm sure they were relying on scoring 4 goals and winning comfortably, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. I think this team needs a really good practice where they're doing nothing but scoring. Nothing but putting the puck in the net. Right now they aren't used to it, obviously, but they need to get used to scoring to get back in the groove.
Posted by: mikeK | March 25, 2008 at 11:28 PM
the fact that they have scored 3 goals the past 4 games and are on a 5 game losing streak and all they can talk about is the disallowed goal is disgraceful
Posted by: DP | March 25, 2008 at 11:34 PM
Disallowed goal my butt, the offense is horrific. The Devils turn two-on-ones into line changes like it's par for the course. I can't remember the last time the team had a breakaway. They give them up like candy - Malone had one early in the game, but they NEVER have them themselves. This season is toast, they have no firepower at all.
Posted by: Gentlemanofleisure | March 25, 2008 at 11:37 PM
btw...how the hell does Brodeur get a star in this game? Again, we are rewarding losing in NJ. 18 saves? Big Deal.
Posted by: Jason | March 25, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Jason, maybe they gave Marty a star because he gets hung out to dry every night. Rewarding losing? Tell me if Marty even noticed or cared? I'm sure the boys feel better about the loss tonight.
Posted by: Al | March 25, 2008 at 11:46 PM
Never going to fill the seats without scoring goals, forget about exciting goals. Defense contributes nothing to offense and we already know how pitiful the forwards are. Devils score less than a bad soccer team. Brodeur must be seething witnessing this debacle.
Posted by: Gig | March 25, 2008 at 11:47 PM
He stopped 18 shots. I could see if he stopped 40, and they lost 1-0. But 18 shots? Thats like 2 periods worth of work. When you lose a game, anyone getting a "star" (which btw, is so stupid in itself, but anyway), you better have scored 4 goals, or stopped 40 shots.
Posted by: Jason | March 25, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Brodeur gave his team a chance to win, hence why he was a star.
Posted by: Anthony | March 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Gentlemanofleisure is right. This season is toast. I'm hoping they do the unthinkable and keep losing their way out of the playoffs. The draft this year is deep, and the higher the first round pick we have, the better.
You can't be shutout 10 times in one season and go on to win the cup. Wasn't this like the 28th or 29th time this season that they've been held to 1 goal or less? Teams that do that don't make the playoffs, they watch them at home like us.
The big thing to see is what will Lou do. Will he continue the same tired practice of adding low rent, half as good as what we lost talent, that can't score (Zubust, Ra-can't score-eck, Miss-nevski) or will he actually get bold and try to add some high caliber players who will have an impact next year?
When they continue to call up and play Rod Pelley instead of a guy like Vrana or Bergfors, you start to worry if he has lost it....
Posted by: John | March 26, 2008 at 12:03 AM
That's ridiculous. If they won 2-1, he wouldn't have been a star at all. It would have been Fleury, the devil's goal scorer, and the other devil's goal scorer. I'm sorry, Brodeur is often great, but he is given "Free" credit way too much just because of who he is.
Posted by: Jason | March 26, 2008 at 12:03 AM
free credit? thats the dumbest thing ive heard. marty is the SOLE reason this team is even close to first in the division, let alone the conference. for all the games where we manage to score a few, he's allowed fewer.. with the lack of offensive and defensive talent in this team, he deserves all the credit out there.
put an average goalie on this club in a few years and we'll all have a party in the basement..
Posted by: Ben M. | March 26, 2008 at 12:11 AM
DP, you're misinterpreting. The disallowed goal wasn't the only thing they talked about. As I wrote earlier, they didn't blame the loss on the disallowed goal, so you're reading something into this that's not there. I just thought the disallowed goal was something important in the game and sometimes I try to give more perspectives on the pivotal moments on this site. Apparently, that's not what the fans wanted tonight. If you wanted quotes about how they just have to stick with it and the goals will come, I could have you given you those, but that's pretty boring.
Posted by: TG | March 26, 2008 at 12:33 AM
Just an idea for next post-game. If there's something in particular that you'd want me to focus on or an answer to some particular question you want, ask for it it on the most-recent pre-game post and, if I have the answer, I'll post it. I probably won't be able to answer everything, but I'll give you what I have (within reason).
Posted by: TG | March 26, 2008 at 12:36 AM
Pre-emptive strike for Thursday: What's up with the powerplay?
Posted by: Steve Lepore | March 26, 2008 at 12:39 AM
Well said TG... devils didnt score.... as for the asham drive to net play.........what a joke. let them play!!
ash drove the net on fleury's right......might have gotten pushed (who cares)..... tried to stuff it and dove past him while trying to avoid contact. why havent i hear/read anything about fleury embelishing anything from fans? replay has him flopping hard with little from ash. sad.
Posted by: DanT | March 26, 2008 at 12:44 AM
TG, great job as usual. Most of us appreciate the insight that you give. We could go on a million other sights and read the same boring stuff but I think we all wait up at night to read the inside scoop that you always provide.
Thanks again
Posted by: bf | March 26, 2008 at 01:19 AM
Jason: Brodeur got a star because there was only 1 goal scored (not including the empty netter). Obviously 1 star goes to the goal scorer, the other 2 stars go to the goalies. Who would you give the 3rd star to? To the media, I suppose no one else really stood out.
Posted by: frankiedue | March 26, 2008 at 01:23 AM
I would give it to Hossa. He had a very good game. Sorry, but 18 saves in a losing effort is average. Which is what Brodeur has been in the last few games. 15 saves against Pittsburgh last time around, and only 12 against the NYI.
Posted by: Jason | March 26, 2008 at 01:29 AM
TG can you please tell what are the chances for Lou to go after Hossa and try to sighn him in the summer. Most likely Pitsburg wont sighn him. I know that Hossa will ask no less the 6.5M, but do you think Lou should try harder this time? Thank you.
Posted by: ALEXNJD | March 26, 2008 at 02:11 AM
TG, just a clarification on the "magic number", if the Devils win a game and the Caps lose a point, they clinch a playoff spot, so if those things happen, the magic number is 3. The most wins the Caps can have is 43, so if we win one, and they lose one, we have the tiebreaker.
Posted by: aarrghhh | March 26, 2008 at 02:55 AM
maybe if we fall enough we can land in 6th and get the gift of playing carolina in the first round.
Posted by: mikeford | March 26, 2008 at 03:21 AM
Gift pf playing Carolina?! Are you serious? Have you been following the action the past month or so? They might be the hottest team in the league and are playing extremely well. Right now they'd blow us away we wouldn't even have time to react. This team is a mess!
Posted by: Devilswede | March 26, 2008 at 06:09 AM
I'm starting to think this team should try some scoring drills...
Posted by: Elias26 | March 26, 2008 at 06:33 AM
SO WHAT IF IT WAS A GOAL WE STILL LOST BY TWO GOALS!
FIRST MY METS LAST SEPTEMBER AND NOW MY DEVILS! WTF!
Posted by: Mike | March 26, 2008 at 08:11 AM