Canes Finish Off Devils, Advance to Eastern Conference Final

Ultimately, they ran out of gas. The Devils saw their miraculous season come to an end- falling to the Hurricanes 4-1 in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Semis at a capacity RBC Center Sunday night. The Canes advanced to their second Eastern Conference Final in four years and will meet the Buffalo Sabres.

A night after fighting off elimination with a convincing 5-1 win in Game Four, the Devils couldn't maintain their level against a quicker Carolina team. The fight was there but the execution wasn't. That might explain how a game they led 57 seconds in thanks to a Brian Gionta tally turned around.

"You sit back a little bit on your heels and wait and see what's going on," Martin Brodeur told the AP. "The crowd's able to turn around their team and tweak them up by one little hit, one little save on net. It's just an opportunity missed. That's the bottom line."

Sharp from the outset, the Devils went ahead thanks to a fortunate bounce. Rookie Zach Parise's centering pass deflected off Canes' defenseman Mike Commodore right to Gionta, who wristed one upstairs for his first of the series.

The game swung due to special teams. An Achilles heel throughout this series, the Devils couldn't take advantage of four first period power plays. They had two golden opportunities on the PP to extend their lead but couldn't find a way to beat Cam Ward, which cameback to haunt them.

"When you get the opportunities that we had there, you can take the momentum right out of the game," GM/Coach Lou Lamoriello pointed out. "That's what happens in these types of games. We just didn't get it done."

Off a faceoff win in the Devils' zone, the Canes tied the score on a left point blast from Frantisek Kaberle. Matt Cullen won the draw and Mark Recchi fed Kaberle, whose slapshot deflected off Paul Martin past Brodeur at 8:39.

The Devils had two more chances on the man-advantage to reclaim the lead. But the continued failure to connect doomed them. Their best chance came on a Jay Pandolfo breakaway at even strength but he ran into tough luck when his shot rang off the crossbar.

With the Canes continuing to come on, Brodeur was forced to stop Eric Staal on a breakaway with under two minutes left. Staal broke in from a sharp angle and tried to deke but Brodeur's pokecheck denied him to keep it tied.

Remarkably, the Devils were given a fifth straight power play early in the second. But by then, the momentum had already swung. The best chance came off a Canes' stick shorthanded but Brodeur thwarted Bret Hedican's bid.

All it took was one for Carolina to magnify the difference between the teams in this series. With David Hale in the box for cross checking, the Canes needed 50 seconds to take the lead. Off a three-on-two rush, Cory Stillman converted a Justin Williams backhand feed at the goalmouth for his fourth to give Carolina its first lead at 14:20. It was the Canes' ninth PPG of the series. In the Devils' lone win, they scored two of their three PPGs and also registered a SHG. Overall, they were outscored 9-4 (9-1 in losses) on special teams.

"It was great that we finally got a power play," Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "You don't see it very often, where we score on the rush, but it was nice that we were able to tic-tac-toe it around."

Shortly after, the Canes assumed complete control territorially. Dominating play, they outshot the Devils 16-3 in the period. At one point, the Devils held an 11-2 edge. In a stunning turnaround, they were outshot 29-7 the rest of the way.

By the end of the second, Brodeur was the only reason they were still alive. He stopped Staal twice on a wraparound to give his team a chance in the third.

With their playoff lives on the line, they couldn't get through Carolina's defense to get back in it- managing only four shots. The Canes wouldn't allow them. Forechecking aggressively, they erased any hopes for a comeback when Ray Whitney notched his third goal of the series to increase the deficit to 3-1 with 12:38 remaining. Off a cycle, Whitney took a no-look Doug Weight backhand pass and one-timed it past a sprawling Brodeur.

With the desperation growing, the Devils activated their D but couldn't get that one goal to make things interesting. Still, the outcome was delayed a few minutes due to the arena lights going out thanks to a storm in the area. Once action resumed, Brodeur was pulled for an extra attacker. Staal's empty netter sealed it with 1:28 left.

Outplaying his idol, Ward turned aside 17 of 18 in a routine night while Brodeur finished with 27 saves. Afterwards, the goalie he looked up to gave him words of encouragment during the traditional handshake.

"He just wished me well and said, 'Go all the way,' and I just expressed to him that, in my eyes, he's the best," Ward said.

"I think we deserved it," Brind'Amour said. "We were the better team, we felt it right from Game 1, and now we're moving on."

Notes: It was the Devils' 200th postseason game. They are 112-88 with three Stanley Cups. ... The loss was the Devils' sixth straight postseason defeat at Raleigh dating back to 2002. ... Canes improved to 2-1 against the Devils in playoff series. ... In perhaps his final career game, defenseman Tommy Albelin grabbed the final puck. He'll turn 42 next week. ... Stillman left the game in the third due to a leg injury sustained when he collided with Brad Lukowich. His status is uncertain for Game One of the ECF, which will start next weekend.