Brodeur's Whining Misses the Mark

As we continue to digest the incredible events of Tuesday night's Carolina-New Jersey game in Raleigh, it's obvious that at least one Devil is still quite bitter about what went down.

Goalie Martin Brodeur impressed nobody when he slammed his stick around as he skated off the ice after the last-second Hurricanes goal was reviewed and allowed to stand. After the game, his anger hadn't settled down very much, and he made sure everyone knew why he was upset.

Brodeur spoke to the media after the game, and while you applaud him for being a stand-up guy, it probably wasn't a great idea.

"It's hard," Brodeur said. "You want to play your game. You want to do what's right and be in the best position you can and these guys, that's what they do. They go to the net. They play hard. I'm not complaining about how Carolina is playing. They're not taking liberties. They're pretty fair about it. They go to the net. It's the referees. That's what their job is. Today it was pretty awful, both of them."

Devils coach Brent Sutter was more diplomatic.

"On that last goal he definitely got bumped. He was coming across the crease and Jokinen bumped him. It's a call you think you might get. It come at the discretion of the ref. Probably because he was outside the crease."

Brodeur was not only upset about the game-winning goal, but also the Hurricanes' third goal. Chad LaRose pumped in a rebound in the second period for a 3-0 Carolina lead.



While the case Brodeur has is more legitimate, it's still a good goal. The referee was right on top of the play, and he ruled that Brodeur's position was not hampered by there being a player in the crease. On the video, it's kind of hard to tell if Brodeur was legitimately hit by Ryan Bayda or not. Yes, Bayda drove the net hard, but that's his job, and I don't have a problem with it. It just doesn't appear that he actually made any significant contact with the goalie, nor did he impair the goalie's ability to stop the puck.

I'm all for venting frustration, and I'm all for allowing players and coaches to speak frankly about missed calls. I don't think anything is accomplished when a coach is asked about a call and gives a generic answer about liking some calls and not liking others. Of course, allowing these frank comments only opens up the door for constant working of the officials in the media (if you think it's bad now, imagine it being worse).

In the end, the last guy who should be whining about calls like this is a goaltender. Brodeur will draw more than his fair share of penalties over the course of a season. At some point, he's going to have one that doesn't go his way. While his passion and intensity are absolutely worthy of compliments, his reaction after the game-winner was embarrassing. For the Devils' sake, let's hope he got it out of his system.

After all, Game 5 in a tied series is Thursday night.