INSIDE HOCKEY

The Devils couldn't explain what went wrong out on the ice following their 4-1 defeat by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. Their only explanation was that Toronto's netminder Martin Gerber was having a very good night.

It would appear that the Devils were having a good night with 48 shots on goal and five power plays. But through all of the great defensive work happening in Toronto's zone, the Devils were only able to muster one goal from Jamie Langenbrunner, while the Leafs embarrassed Martin Brodeur with three goals in the first sixteen minutes of regulation.

"We just came out decently sharp at the start of this game," Langenbrunner said. "And for whatever reason we got really stupid and made a lot of mistakes and they put it in our net three times. Then we threw a lot of pucks at the net and did some good things to create some traffic, but we didn't get enough to finish."

Does this mean that coach Sutter will start mixing up his goalies again now that Scott Clemmensen is backing up Broduer? Sutter casually mentioned that it was on his mind, but will he do it? That remains to be seen.

Of those three goals registered against Brodeur in the first period, the most talked about goal came from rookie Christian Hanson, son of Dave Hanson of the Hanson brothers fame (from the legendary hockey movie Slapshots). Hanson scored his first career NHL goal against Broduer in his third game of the season after signing a two-year entry level deal with Toronto a little over a week ago. Not bad for a kid fresh out of college, but pretty bad for Brodeur, the most winningest goaltender ever in the history of the NHL.

As for the Devils, it seems as if everyone acts like it's such a huge deal when they lose one game. If the team is constantly focused on that one loss, then it's a guarantee that they'll enter the next game with that loss on their mind (which, by the law of attraction, would mean that the following game would be a loss).

The Devils mentality for the majority of the season has been to let that last loss be what it is and move on from there. They don't even think about the loss. They move on to the next game only thinking about the game at hand, and not what happened last time.

Even though that has been their mentality this season, it seems like they've lost sight of that thought process.

"You're always as good as your last game," Langenbrunner said. "We haven't been real good in a lot of our last games. We definitely need to get to playing better, have that mindset, and be happy with what we've accomplished. We want to be playing well, and that's what we're definitely not doing right now."

The Devils need to get back into that positive winning mindset they had while Brodeur was out. It was a winning formula. Why toss to the side what worked so well? It's not a strategy that the other team can break down. Only what happens in the Devils locker room can tear it down...which means that every player in the Devils' locker room must be held accountable individually and as a team on how they choose to view this game.

Just a few games ago, someone had asked Patrik Elias if he thought the Devils' game would taper off now that both he and Brodeur had hit all of those milestones for the season, because it would seem like they wouldn't have anything worth fighting for anymore. I can almost pinpoint that as the exact moment someone from the press started to let the air seep out of the balloon...along with all of the magic in the room. That locker room hasn't been the same since that moment.

Throw in someone asking Brendan Shanahan if a watch he received for achieving a milestone was more of an indicator that his team was hinting that he should retire (Shanny's response was that he thought it meant that his team was suggesting that he shouldn't be late anymore), and it would seem like there were too many individuals wishing bad luck upon the team...and it seems to be taking it's toll on the team.

Even I can see the effects on Zach Parise after discovering he's going head-to-head with Jeff Carter for second place in the league goal scoring race. Parise is trying too hard to score goals now, instead of just relaxing and letting it happen like he's used to doing. The end of the season is two games away, so the pressure is definitely on...as well as the anxiety of what is happening around them.

Fans should never assume that since the Devils are seated in third place and have a guaranteed playoff spot that these guys are slacking. They are not slacking. They are trying harder than normal to regain some confidence like they had earlier on in the season. That six-game losing streak really did a number on them.

"We did a lot of good things that just didn't find the net," Langenbrunner said. "I don't think we expected ourselves to go out and play like this. We responded late."

"It's an obvious thing with the little things in our game that creeped up through the last two to three weeks and being capitalized on every little mistake," Brodeur said. "At this time of the year, details are important."

Sometimes controlling the play isn't always beneficial. Sometimes all it takes is luck, and a lot of it.

"Their goalie is a difference," Parise said after the game. "There's no other way around it. We didn't play 60 minutes of the best hockey, but for a lot of time we did control the play. I don't know if I'm watching a different game then everyone else. I'm not sure. I thought we did a lot of good things out there. Yeah, we lost 4-1. It sucks. But we have to force some goals in."

"I think we did some good things coming out of our little slump here," Brodeur said. "It was a little setback today, but we're going to get back to work and see what we did. We did a lot of good stuff today. It just seems we couldn't break through defensively. We gotta stay up. Nobody else is going to give us that comfort, so we're going to have to find it some way."

Correcting What's Wrong

Simply put, the answer to the Devils' dilemma entering the playoffs is much easier then they think it is. The Devils were winning games without Broduer in net. But sometimes, old habits are hard to break and some of the players (defensemen, in particular) are starting to use Marty as a security blanket to bail them out again. That would be the Devils first major mistake and will guarantee absolute failure in the playoffs.

They learned to survive without Broduer as a security blanket, so they need to remember how to play hockey as if Marty wasn't saving them from every little mistake they're making. This is a time for them to step-up in their game, not daydream out on the ice and let the puck go right past them and then realize two seconds too late that the puck is already back in their own zone.

Others need to relax a little and let the game come naturally to them...as in...rely on instincts. This has been Langenbrunner's best season in his career. The difference for him has been lightening up on the ice and relaxing. He has scored more goals that way then he did when he was holding the stick too tightly earlier on in the season.

Shanahan also talked about the calm measures he takes during high pressure situations. He'll go in with speed, skill, smarts and instinct before making his move.

These were all winning formulas for the team over the course of this season. They were solutions they found that worked for them. Stepping back and taking a look at all 82 games next week, they'll find the secrets to their success and should use them going into the playoffs. If it worked then, what's to say it won't work again?

As for all of that luck that the Devils will need to win the Stanley Cup, there's still a little bit left in there, but they're going to have to start generating a little bit more. I refuse to believe that the Devils don't have anything worth fighting for anymore this season. They can help Brodeur win his fourth Stanley Cup to tie with Patrick Roy once again...that's worth fighting for.