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After nearly a month, it's time to finally finish up the review of all of the goals Martin Brodeur allowed in the 2013 season. In the prior post, Brodeur returned to action in March and, well, it didn't go so well. For those who recall, the Devils ended the month with two post-regulation losses to the Florida teams, both a result of last-minute equalizers. New Jersey then extended a winless streak to three games with those defeats. In April, it would get worse for the New Jersey Devils before it would get better. They would proceed to lose their next seven games. Yes, it was a ten-game winless streak. Martin Brodeur was in net for all of those hard-to-witness games. Clearly, the coaches didn't think much of Johan Hedberg's performance when Brodeur was injured. And those who would recall that winless streak would recall several games of the team playing well and still getting out-scored. The streak would be snapped on April 18, but they were officially knocked out of the playoffs on April 21. Brodeur's last appearance of the season came against Montreal at the Rock on April 23; ending a streak of 16 straight starts.
Since Brodeur played in every game in April except for the last two so he bore the brunt of the damage. His split for the month of April is pretty ugly. That said, it's worth noting that the Devils really tightened up in terms of allowing shots. Brodeur faced an average of only 19.18 shots per game. Such a low amount of shots means every goal allowed is a larger hit to the save percentage. Let me illustrate that with a finding from this month. There were two games where the opposition didn't pile it on but did pile it into the net. The 5-4 loss to Boston on April 10 and the 4-1 loss to Our Hated Rivals on April 21. The two teams combined for nine goals on 40 shots, which is just brutal to a monthly save percentage total. Take those two out and Brodeur's save percentage jumps to 91.2%. But we won't be ignoring those games or those goals in this review. All 24 will be covered and commented on in some manner.
About the Review
For those of you are unaware, here's an explanation of what it is that I'm doing. The main thing I'm looking for in this review are "soft goals," those goals against that should have been stopped by the goaltender. Here's how I am defining a soft goal: The goalie must have seen the shot coming; the shot was not deflected or change otherwise in motion; the goalie was in position to actually make the stop; and/or the goaltender made an uncharacteristic mistake that led to the goal. If the goal allowed qualifies, then I deemed the goal as "soft." In fact, the very last bit alone can make the difference in what is and is not a soft goal. Breakaways are done on a case-by-case basis; there I usually look to see whether the goalie has at least made an effort. I do expect the most disagreement with them.
In addition, there are other traits I've recorded I have denoted skater errors by player and scoring chance. I assign a skater error by name under "Errors" if the player did something significantly wrong that led to the goal such as a turnover or not covering their man. It's arguable that all goals allowed have an error or some kind; these are for the egregious mistakes made. If it's something like a bad line change, I'll use "Bench." As for scoring chances, that's dependent on where the shot was fired. Anything between the two faceoff dots towards the top of the crease would count. Anything outside of that has not. I've erred against counting a chance if it's borderline, for what it's worth. I also denote the general position of where the shot beats the goaltender relative to the goaltender's position.
Lastly, I have provided links to the video I looked at for each goal from NHL.com. These links will auto-play the video, so be forewarned when you click on them.
The 24 Goals Allowed by Martin Brodeur in March 2013: A Chart
| Date | GA# | Where Beaten? | GA Description | Soft? | Video | S.E. | SC? | Sit. |
| 4/1 | 42 | Low, past the glove | Hickey springs Neilsen and Bailey for 2-on-1. Neilsen gets it to Bailey, who goes forehand, backhand, and in. | No | Link | Salvador | Yes | ES |
| 4/1 | 43 | Under the glove | Hamonic takes a shot from the blueline and it beats Brodeur. | Yes | Link | -- | No | ES |
| 4/1 | 44 | On the left flank | Visnovsky heads to left corner with puck. Sees Tavares on backside of coverage, gets a pass through traffic (off Brodeur) to Tavares, and Tavares one-times it in. | No | Link | Salvador | Yes | PP |
| 4/4 | 45 | Through the legs | Marchand comes down to the left side, tries to feed Jagr heading in the slot. The pass hits off Jagr's skates and beats Brodeur low. | No | Link | -- | No | ES |
| 4/6 | 46 | Past the glove | Fraser shoots from the right point, Komarov re-directs it in the slot past Brodeur | No | Link | -- | No | ES |
| 4/6 | 47 | Off the stick, up, and over the sweeping glove. | Kessel catches puck on sideboards and makes a lead pass for Bozak. Bozak breaks ahead; Brodeur stops his shot, but it pops up and into the net. | Yes | Link |
Salvador
Harrold
|
Yes | ES |
| 4/7 | 48 | Past the right side | Greene gives it away to Hecht in the slot. Hecht fires a pass to Ott at the left post, who re-directs it past Brodeur. | No | Link | Greene | Yes | ES |
| 4/7 | 49 | Over a Brodeur dive | Gerbe hits Hodgson with a point-to-corner pass; Hodgson sees Ott skating to slot open; Ott one-times Hodgson's pass high over a fallen Brodeur. | No | Link | Zajac | Yes | ES |
| 4/10 | 50 | Past the right pad | Jagr maintains possession in the slot, turns, and shoots low. Brodeur stops the shot, Campbell puts home the rebound. | No | Link |
Volchenkov
Salvador
Zajac
|
Yes | ES |
| 4/10 | 51 | Past the left side, on the flank | Sullivan's rink-wide back-hand pass at the blueline is picked off by Peverley. Peverley hits Paille with a pass in the 2-on-1. Brodeur stops Paille's first shot, but Paille puts home rebound. | No | Link | Sullivan | No | SH |
| 4/10 | 52 | Past the right pad | Boston sets up in NJ's end during a NJ power play. Ference keeps the puck in at the blueline and fires a wrister on net. A screening Campbell tips it to beat Brodeur. | No | Link | -- | No | SH |
| 4/10 | 53 | Under (through?) the glove | Krejci gets the puck in close and Brodeur tries to cover it up in close. Chara gets in and puts it in the net just before the whistle. | Yes | Link | -- | Yes | PP |
| 4/10 | 54 | Through the legs | Paille beats Fayne to a dumped-in puck, Paille throws a no-look pass to the front for a point-blank one-timer from Seguin. | No | Link | Fayne | Yes | ES |
| 4/12 | 55 | Over the glove | The puck gets bounced off Loktionov's skate from the boards and to Greening in the left circle. Pageau "deflects" it up past Brodeur. | No | Link | -- | No | ES |
| 4/12 | 56 | Over the blocker | Zidlicky hits Tallinder, causing the puck to go free for Michalek to breakaway with Alfredsson. The two Sens do a give-and-go before Michalek rips it up high for goal. | No | Link | Zidlicky | Yes | ES |
| 4/15 | 57 | Past the blocker | Kessel gets the puck above the left dot, fires a hard shot through Fayne's legs and beats Brodeur shortside. | No | Link | -- | Yes | PP |
| 4/20 | 58 | Over the left shoulder | Fleischmann hits Goc with a cross-ice pass. Goc gets to the dot and fires a high one that beats Brodeur cleanly. | Yes | Link | Kovalchuk | Yes | PP |
| 4/20 | 59 | Just past the glove | Weaver throws puck to the right point, Campbell gets it and fires a shot from behind the dot. It goes off the left post and in. | No | Link | -- | No | ES |
| 4/21 | 60 | Off the right skate and in | Stepan wins puck behind the net, gets it out before getting crunched. Callahan puts it in off an unaware Brodeur's skate. | Yes | Link | Zidlicky | No | ES |
| 4/21 | 61 | Just over the glove | McDonagh takes a shot from the right point, Stepan deflects it up and to the right amid traffic to have it get in the net. | No | Link | -- | No | ES |
| 4/21 | 62 | Over the left shoulder | Volchenkov attempts to clear it out, only to have Richards pick it off. Richards drops a pass for Pyatt in the high slot, who scores high through a Volchenkov screen. | No | Link | Volchenkov | Yes | ES |
| 4/21 | 63 | Over Brodeur after a lunge | Richards fed Callahan at the goal line. Brodeur lunged at it but only got a piece of it. Instead, the puck went up, over, and in. | Yes | Link | Gionta | No | PP |
| 4/23 | 64 | Through the legs | After a faceoff win, Pacioretty has it in front. He attempts a pass to Bourque, but it goes off Larsson's skates and through Brodeur. | No | Link | -- | No | PP |
| 4/23 | 65 | Off the left skate | After a long shift, Galchenyuk gets puck away from Zubrus enough to move it off the net to Eller in the slot. Open Eller one-times it off the left post, off Brodeur's skate and in. | No | Link | Larsson | Yes | ES |
Relative Location of the 24 Goals Allowed
All locations listed are relative to Brodeur himself, not necessarily where the puck goes into the net. In April, Brodeur was often beaten glove side, with just over half of all goals allowed passing by his left. Low shots were also common, as half of those were at ice level. This month did feature the rare goal that passed over the middle. That was GA #63, where Brodeur got a piece of Ryan Callahan's shot by lunging at it, but the puck sailed up and over his body to drop into the net.
| Location | Count | % Total |
| Low Left | 6 | 25.00% |
| Low Middle | 3 | 12.50% |
| Low Right | 3 | 12.50% |
| Medium Left | 4 | 16.67% |
| Medium Middle | 1 | 4.17% |
| Middle Right | 2 | 8.33% |
| High Left | 3 | 12.50% |
| High Middle | 1 | 4.17% |
| High Right | 1 | 4.17% |
Commentary
I will admit it was absolutely frustrating seeing some of the goals allowed knowing how the game went. There were plenty of nights where the Devils would do a lot right except score, yet the opposition found a way to get one. Nevertheless, a quarter of all of the goals allowed should have really been stopped by Brodeur. On GA #43 and GA #58, Brodeur had a clear view of the shot and the shooter just beat him cleanly. Goc's shot that became GA #58 was quite good, but Brodeur didn't cover enough net for it. Hamonic's shot on GA #43 was a long one that really shouldn't go in. I also tagged GA #60 as soft because Brodeur assumed the play was going to come around to the left side of the net. Instead, Derek Stepan got the puck away to Callahan, who was at the right post and had an easy one to put in the net. Brodeur looked stupid on the play namely because no one on the Devils' communicated to him what was going on. Still, he shouldn't have assumed the play was coming around. That put him in a position where he couldn't stop it. It was that error that made me decide it was a soft goal.
As an aside, I wasn't sure about GA #59, the shot from Brian Campbell from the right circle going off the left post and in. I don't think Brodeur was that screened but on the slow-motion replay part of the goal's video, it appeared to touch off Quintin Howden. Howden didn't get credited for the goal, but he definitely tried to jump in (or from?) the shot. Since I wasn't sure, I erred against it being soft. For what it's worth, that and GA #58 were made up for by the Devils' skaters. Something that really didn't happen often in April.
The other three soft goals were ones where Brodeur got a piece of the puck but not all of it. On GA #47, Bryce Salvador got caught along the boards and Peter Harrold failed to do much to Tyler Bozak breaking off. Brodeur got enough of Bozak's attempt but it managed to pop up and get behind him for a score. At the time, GA #53 didn't bother me since the goal made it 4-0 Boston. Still, it's one where Brodeur deserves a pointed finger. He corralled the puck coming from a point-blank shot by David Krejci. However, he couldn't fully hold it and Zdeno Chara jammed it in just as the whistle went off. Had Brodeur grabbed it harder, then there's no goal. GA #60 was an odd one as Stephen Gionta got caught up high on a penalty kill, leaving much of the right side open. Brad Richards fed Ryan Callahan down low and Brodeur lunged to pokecheck the puck away. It wasn't a bad idea and Brodeur did get to the puck. The problem is that the stick was angled such that the puck just deflected up, sailed over his outstretched body, and into the net. Another case of having part of a save but it wasn't enough. Just as I would ding Brodeur for if it went off the glove, I dinged him for these three in April.
Regarding the rest of the goals allowed, there were sure some doozies by the skaters. Andy Greene basically gift wrapped one to Jochen Hecht that became GA #48. Those who don't like Marek Zidlicky on the team probably have GA #56 committed to memory. For those who don't know and/or didn't see the video, that's the one where Zidlicky skates into Henrik Tallinder after a faceoff win, creating a 2-on-0 for Ottawa. I actually cringed a bit when I saw it again. Anton Volchenkov managed both a giveaway and standing in front of Brodeur for the shot that became GA #62. Volchenkov's other big goof-up was not being able to handle a puck, which led to Bryce Salvador getting posted up by Jaromir Jagr, which became a goal in part of Travis Zajac getting beat by Greg Campbell inside. That was GA While I didn't name a specific player, a special shout-out to the second power play unit for getting pinned back by Boston's penalty kill and doing some puck watching prior to GA #58. That all said, there were a number of deflections that really couldn't be pinned on anyone.
I found that thirteen of the twenty-four goals allowed came in that scoring chance area. There were a number on the border or just outside of range, which may explain this total. The deflections and re-directions weren't counted either since they were just touches as opposed to intentional shots on net. Still, it's in line with the other months in this review where it's a bit above half. With respect to the situations, eight of the twenty-four goals allowed came in special situations: six power play goals and two shorthanded goals. Neither of the shorthanded goals were scoring chances, though Daniel Paille was close on GA #51. Four of the six power play goals allowed would also be scoring chances (I'm including Chara's jamming play at GA #53). The exceptions were GAs #60 and #63, the latter being a unfortunate re-direction of Adam Larsson's skate blade.
Overall, two really awful games really sent Brodeur's numbers down. Brodeur only did have three games where he gave up three or more goals in it. It's telling that Brodeur had one soft goal in the first two (4/1 and 4/10) and two in his penultimate appearance on 4/21. With respect to the team performance, only giving up one or two goals isn't really that bad but it just emphasizes the problem the team just kept running into in April and for most of the season: scoring goals. That requires the goaltender to be fantastic and Brodeur really wasn't. A quarter of the goals allowed in April were soft, a little more than half came from that dangerous area on the ice, and opponents found him vulnerable low and/or his glove side. Most teams could live with that but the Devils needed excellence and didn't always get it - sometimes due to the play of the skaters in front of him.
Your Take
Given that you've taken this all in, watched the videos, and read my commentary, it's now your turn to give your take. What do you make of Martin Brodeur's performance in April? Would you agree that the six soft goals should have been stopped by Brodeur? Did you think there were any others? Which one of these goals against disgusted you the most? Please leave your answers and other comments about Brodeur's April 2013 performance in the comments. I assure you, it won't take a month for the summary of Brodeur's 2013 month-by-month reviews, which will have comparisons to prior seasons. Thank you for reading