INSIDE HOCKEY

The secret to beating Cam Ward is to score a goal or two and he’ll completely break down. But getting to that point and breaking through Carolina’s defense is the biggest and toughest obstacle for the Devils.

The secret to beating the Devils is to not play their style of hockey. Make them play yours…and don’t let them adapt. Because in the end, it’s all about who can play the system better.

“It’s good,” Martin Brodeur said after getting that first win. “You feel that you’ve done something good in your preparation, and that all of the work that you put into this series worked out for Game 1 anyway. I think that’s the feeling that you have...even for the coaching staff. It wasn’t much of a surprise out there. We knew exactly what they were going to do. That’s why playoffs are hard. They’re going to come back with something else probably or maybe even the same thing. It’s about execution when you play your own system to do the right things. Today, all over the ice, every single guy did what they needed to do to be successful.”

“We feel like we can do a lot of things out there,” Jamie Langenbrunner said. “We trust in the other guy to do his job, then the guy is doing his job, so the next guy can do his job as well. I think we’re really a strong forechecking team. I don’t know how many shots we ended up having, but we did a very good job of getting after them and playing strong defense. We did a whole lot.”

“I thought that we had strong contributions from everyone,” coach Brent Sutter said. “We’re pretty precise with how we wanted to play. Our opponent is a very tough opponent.”

Momentum is the major ingredient lacking in the ‘Canes game. Perhaps it helped the Devils to earn more of an edge over the first game when they entered the series with a win over Carolina in their last regular season game last Saturday.

That win helped to inspire the Devils mentality in believing that the Hurricanes are not as scary as they were a couple of weeks prior when the ‘Canes came from behind and displayed such wickedness out on the ice during the last seven minutes of the game that had everyone shaking in their skates.

It was that game that had everyone favoring the Hurricanes in this series. Perhaps that last loss of the season was just a fluke for the ‘Canes, but that win for the Devils was what set the tone for the first playoff game of the post-season. That win was what helped them begin to build the momentum...the kind of momentum it takes to win.

“These guys played the same game we played,” Brodeur said after the game. “We know each other a lot. That’s the bottom line. In the playoffs it’s important to know your opponents...what they do, what they like to do. So we got two cracks at it before the series started.”

That team that scared everyone in the final seven minutes during the 3/28 game hasn’t shown up to the playoffs yet. Whatever the ‘Canes had in them during that final stretch where they won nine games in a row…that drive has waivered off. Entering the post-season with two losses in a row at the end of the season set the tone for Carolina. The team out on the ice looks like they hardly have any spark left in them. They look like they’ve given up right in the middle of everything instead of fighting until the end. They’re going to have to pick up their game or risk being swept by the Devils.

As for the Devils, after defenseman Mike Mottau was able to break through the Hurricanes defense and tally the first goal of the playoff series, the game belonged to the Devils.

“I don’t score too many,” Mottau said of his first goal in the post-season. “The other guys took over after that. It was good to get the first one in case it won’t happen [again]. It’s a good sign if I’m putting the puck to the net.”

Mottau scored only one goal in the regular season, so it is a bit ironic that he would score the first goal in the post-season.

The Devils played the game the way they wanted to play the game, and they were having fun doing it. You could see how much fun they were having when Brian Gionta and Dainius Zubrus ended up falling on top of each other on the ice after a failed attempt to score on Cam Ward. Both were laughing as Zubrus hit Gio in the back of the head as they started to get back up. Gio responded by hitting Zubs in the shins.

Having a good time out on the ice just made the win even more natural for them. Even when Ryan Whitney was able to beat Brodeur halfway through the third period, Jamie Langenbrunner solidified the balance of the game ownership 29 seconds later to give the Devils a 4-1 win over the Hurricanes.

“I think we have a good veteran group in here,” Mottau said. “We know what’s at stake come playoff time. To build on the energy from the crowd right off the opening face-off was really big.”

This is the first time that the Devils and their fans have felt at home since Prudential Center first opened it’s doors last season. The Devils have always played in someone else’s arena. Prudential Center is their first true home arena.

“It felt like we were playing in our own building and it should,” Sutter said of the atmosphere in the building.

Going forward into Game 2, the Devils are doing their best to remain focused on the task at hand.

“It’s one game” Sutter said. “We’re not jumping up and down and doing handstands here. We’re staying focused at the task at hand here.”

“We’ve got to do it on a consistent basis,” Langenbrunner said. “We’ve made strides in that direction. This is a big stride in that direction. You’ve got to do that on a consistent basis, night in and night out again. That’s got to be our thought process.”