Panthers Blank Devils

    The Florida Panthers and the New Jersey Devils played game five of their best-of-seven series at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise on Saturday. The Panthers picked up a 3-0 shutout victory and now lead the series 3-2. Jose Theodore had 30 saves in the game and garnered his second career playoff shutout. Game six will be played on Tuesday night in New Jersey as Florida will try and clinch their first playoff series since the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
     Florida now has a record of 3-2 in game five of a playoff series. The last time the Cats played in a game five situation was in the 1997 Eastern Conference first round when they were eliminated by the New York Rangers. The Devils still have not won consecutive playoff games since the 2007 conference quarterfinals against the Tampa Bay Lightning which is the last postseason series that they won. It is a string of 27 straight games.
    Neither team were able to score in the first period nor get a shot on net in the five minutes of the game. The Cats had to go until the 6:30 mark for their first shot in the game when Sean Bergenheim placed a wrist shot from the slot area on net which Martin Brodeur made a sliding save. Patrik Elias had a good scoring chance at 13:20 from the right edge of the crease on a rebound, but it was stopped by Jose Theodore. Things would change in the second period.
     Marek Zidlicky was called for interference at 3:30. The Panthers were able to take the lead at 4:00 on a power play goal by Kris Versteeg. Brian Campbell had the puck at the top of the zone and sent a pass to Stephen Weiss in the high slot. He then connected a pass to Versteeg who took a one-time slap shot from the left circle. It was the second goal for Vesteeg in the series.
    The Panthers would get an insurance goal at 13:17 of the third period in an unusual way. Scottie Upshall fought off several Devils in the neutral zone and sent the puck down the ice. Brodeur came out of his net to stop it on the end boards. He poked the puck into an onrushing Versteeg and it popped out into the crease area. Upshall put it into the open age for a 2-0 lead. 
    Erik Gudbranson took a roughing penalty with 2:08 left and it give the Devils a power play for almost the remainder of the game. Devils coach Peter Deboer pulled Brodeur from the net at the start of the man advantage and had a six-on-four situation. New Jersey could not put the puck by Theodore during that time and Florida rallied with an open-net shorthanded goal. Iyla Kovalchuk attempted to keep the puck in the offensive but it was blocked by Tomas Kopecky and rolled out to center ice. Kopecky skated into the Devils zone and was hooked from behind by Kovalchuk. He was given an automatic goal by referee Chris Lee and extended the Panthers lead to 3-0 at 19:26.