ShareThisIn this Carolina-New Jersey first-round NHL playoff series, there has been one goaltender at the center of just about everything.
From his complaints before the first game was ever played to his histrionics after Game 4 to his preposterously good performance in Game 5, the Devils' Martin Brodeur has gotten all the attention.
After Cam Ward stopped 28 shots for the Hurricanes on Sunday in a 4-0 win over the New Jersey to stave off elimination and force Game 7 on Tuesday in Newark, the winningest goalie in NHL history may have to share the spotlight.
"Quite honestly, it doesn't matter to me, as long as we win hockey games," Ward said.
In his own way, calmly and quietly, Ward has been every bit as good as Brodeur. After Sunday, maybe everyone will be talking about both.
"I think that's because he's Marty Brodeur," Hurricanes forward Eric Staal said. "He's had such a successful, long career and won a few Cups, and Cam's still making his mark. He's a younger guy, but I think there's no question he is up there with the elite goaltenders in the league, and he's showing that in this series."
There was a lot that went right for the Canes on Sunday, from Staal's dominant two-goal performance to the successful exchange of centers Staal and Matt Cullen on the top two lines to the return of Sergei Samsonov to balance out the roster to the defensive job on Zach Parise.
Yet it almost goes without saying that Ward was a rock in the net, as he has been in every game of this series. Now he'll play in his third career Game 7. So far, he's 2-0.
Ward has been impeccable. Even in the desultory Game 1 loss, Ward was really only kicking himself about one goal. Otherwise, he given the Canes a chance to win every game, which is all you can ask.
His performance down the stretch and in the playoffs should put to rest any questions whether Ward is the goalie for this team now and far into the future, no matter what happens Tuesday, no matter what growing pains he has had since 2006.
"In December, maybe you're thinking, 'Is he going to catch his game?'" Hurricanes forward Ray Whitney said. "I think (Ward) realizes if he makes that first save and handles that rebound or directs it the right way, for the most part -- in most games, and there are going to be exceptions -- we do a pretty good job have to make sure he doesn't have to make another."
After all the talk about Brodeur being Ward's "idol" in 2006 -- Ward's healthy respect for Brodeur morphed into something else under the bright lights of the playoffs -- Ward has faced one of his real influences in this series.
When Ward was 17, he left home to play junior hockey for Brent Sutter, who now coaches the Devils. Ward played three seasons for Sutter in Red Deer, Alberta, becoming a first-round pick of the Hurricanes after the first of those, paying close attention to Sutter's lessons.
Sutter talked Sunday morning about the relationship between a junior coach and his players.
"His 19-year-old year in Red Deer, we were in a situation there where he was stopping 40, 50 shots a night in the playoffs," Sutter said. "Again, that's what goaltending does for you. To have success, you have to have strong goaltending. That's what has made this such an interesting series."
Sutter said that before Ward answered Brodeur's Game 5 shutout with one of his own in Game 6. Now, heading into Game 7, the two goalies will share the spotlight, even if only one will be left when it's over.
(Contact Luke DeCock at luke.decock@newsobserver.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
