I'm still shocked and devastated as to what I had to witness last night. It hasn't sunk in yet.
But all the Marty bashing has to stop. Granted, 2 of those 4 shots last night he should have saved, those being the 1st and 4th goals. BUT, the team in front of him has got to play better. The tying goal doesn't happen if the team in front of him does a better job of getting the puck out of the zone. Too many times in the series the Devils let Carolina dictate play in their own zone. They get too passive and chase around way too much. On the GWG, they just happen to allow their best player (Staal) to skate in at will in the Devils' zone and fire off a great shot. Game 2 sticks out as an oppurtune time to take control of the series and managed only 1 goal in that game. They controlled much of game 2 and they did everything but finish their chances. Game 4 the whole team played bad for 39:30 minutes. And when the Devils tied it up, the defense (Martin) decides to leave Jokinen all by himself near the crease to do whatever he pleased. The PP managed all but I believe 3 goals in the series. Yesterday's game when they had a 3-2 lead and we get a 4 minute power play. Resulted in NO goals and rarely sustained any pressure. I'm not saying it's a turning point, but to take advantage of that PP probably seals the series for the Devils. Too many times in the series we didn't make them pay for their penalties.
I'm sure Marty would like to have a few of those goals back in the series, but to finger point, put the blame soley on his shoulders and say he should retire is beyond insanity. If I decided to have a sense of humor today, I'd laugh at all of the Marty bashing posts. People across the league take him for granted, now his own team's fans are taking him for granted? The season following his retirement, all the doubters will be begging him to pull a Brett Favre. I don't know why people make the claim that he isn't a team player anymore b/c of MB30. Goalies can do whatever they want w/ their mask and numerous guys have branded themselves on it. It's not like he sold his soul to the devil b/c he has 'MB30' on his mask. If it was really all about him..he wouldn't be making only 5.2 million. It's a damn good living, but he could have squeezed out every penny he could have to stay. BUT, he knew he had a chance to win here and he took less to stay.