On Frozen Pond

Panthers Game 6 Notebook: Dale Tallon Finalist for GM of the Year ... Garrison Still Out ... Yormark Tweets in Jersey

BY GEORGE RICHARDS grichards@MiamiHerald.com

TWITTER: @OnFrozenPond

NEWARK, N.J. – Of all the members of the Florida Panthers up for postseason awards, only one was considered an absolute lock to be a finalist in his category.

On Tuesday, Dale Tallon was officially named one of three finalist for the NHL's General Manager of the Year Award. Tallon joins Nashville's David Poile and Doug Armstrong of St. Louis for the honors; the winner will be announced at the league's award show in Las Vegas on June 20. 

“I feel honored to be selected by my peers,'' Tallon said before Florida took on the host Devils in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference's opening round series.

“For me, it's an honor that is represented by our staff. .-.-. It takes an army. I'm proud of our efforts from our whole team. It's been a fun couple of years.''

Tallon took over a mess in Florida when he was hired in May 2010 and was given more financial allowance than his predecessors. One of Tallon's demands before taking over for Randy Sexton was more money for scouting and hockey operations. 

By all accounts, Tallon and his staff – led by assistant GM Mike Santos and head of amateur scouting Scott Luce – have done a great job stockpiling young talent.

Tallon set the tone for his era in South Florida early on, trading Nathan Horton to Boston for a first round pick and defenseman Dennis Wideman. Tallon went to his first draft and ended up with 13 picks – including three in the opening round. 

Erik Gudbranson, the third overall pick of the 2010 draft, is a mainstay on Florida's blueline. The Panthers prospect system was ranked tops in the league by The Hockey News. 

Aside from bringing in strong young players, Tallon also absolutely remade the Panthers roster in his short time in Sunrise.

When the Panthers played in Game 5 on Saturday, there were 15 players in uniform who weren't with Florida last season. Five of those players weren't even here on Opening Night as Tallon swung deals for the likes of Mikael Samuelsson, Marco Sturm, John Madden and Jerred Smithson during the season. 

“Every day you try to get better,'' Tallon said. “I'm proud of our team, the character and professionalism. There's a love for the game and a respect for the organization. This has been a fun year because I have fun players who care.''

Tallon had a tough decision to make last season when it came to his head coach. Pete DeBoer was Tallon's first coach in Florida but the two didn't get along at the end as DeBoer got frustrated as it was obvious Tallon was looking toward the future.

Around last year's trade deadline, Tallon dumped most of his veteran players – and the contracts that went with them – as the Panthers faded from postseason contention. 

By the end of last season, the Panthers looked like an AHL team with a few major leaguers on rehab assignment. DeBoer was fired the day after the season and Kevin Dineen was brought in. DeBoer was hired to coach the Devils in July. 

“I think that's a good reflection on his staff,'' Dineen said. “Good players make a good organization and he's been able to identify guys who can come in and help us do what we want to accomplish.''

--Although Tallon will be headed to Vegas for the awards show, Panthers winger Tomas Fleischmann will not.

Fleischmann was not one of the three finalists for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.''

That award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. 

--Jason Garrison (lower body) missed his third straight game as he hasn't been on the ice since Thursday's morning skate. Florida also scratched Jose Theodore (lower body), Keaton Ellerby, Wotjek Wolski, Krys Barch and Mike Santorelli. 

--Panthers president Michael Yormark was involved in a Twitter controversy Tuesday after getting into a few arguments with Devils fans.

On Monday, Yormark blamed Devils fans throwing a few rubber rats onto the ice late in Saturday's win as the reason the NHL asked the team to stop selling them at the team store inside the arena.

After being engaged by a number of New Jersey loyalists, Yormark told one to “get a life,'' and another to “get off Twitter.'' 

“It's all in fun,'' Yormark tweeted before the game.

GOALIE SWITCH: Panthers Scott Clemmensen Stands Tall Against Marty and the Devils

By Zach Schonbrun Special to The Herald

NEWARK, N.J. — For seven years, Scott Clemmensen was the understudy here to one of hockey’s greatest stars, watching from the bench as the Devils goalie Martin Brodeur kept inking more lines onto his Hall of Fame resume.

Clemmensen waited a long time for his solo in the spotlight.

He didn’t disappoint when, on the afternoon of game 6, Coach Kevin Dineen tapped his shoulder to start Tuesday.

In the overtime loss, Clemmensen made 39 saves and withstood a desperate offensive onslaught by the Devils, who outshot Florida 42-16 in the game.
Before New Jersey’s Travis Zajak scored the winning goal at 5:39 in overtime, the backup goalie Clemmensen was looking like the surprise star of the night.

“I just wanted to give us a chance to win, that’s all,” Clemmensen said. “We expected it to be a tight game and we were in a position to win. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

He showed he could perform in game 3 when he replaced Theodore down by three goals in the first and promptly shut down the Devils for a 4-3 win. That earned him a start in game 4, but he allowed four goals on 27 shots in that loss.

After sitting as Theodore beat the Devils in game 5, Clemmensen got the late nod Tuesday when Theodore was scratched due to injury.

Clemmensen began the game looking sharp, turning away the Devils’ first 12 shots before a turnaround by Steve Bernier scooted past him at 16:37 in the first. Clemmensen was visibly irritated at himself for allowing that relatively soft goal.

“I got caught in kind of an awkward spot with my feet,” Clemmensen said. “The puck hit my stick pretty good, I thought I had it actually. It just kind of broke through.”

The Devils then took a 2-0 lead in the second on a power-play goal by Ilya Kovalchuck, a beautifully orchestrated backdoor play that Clemmensen could do little to prevent. But he clamped down after that. After nearly allowing a goal to slip out of his glove — he recovered just before the puck crossed the goal line — Clemmensen regained his focus.

He reserved possibly his best save for midway through the third period, stymieing Alexei Ponikarovsky chance in front of the net with his right leg with 11 minutes to go.

All night the Devils peppered the net, outshooting Florida by an almost incomprehensible margin. They also had six power-play opportunities (including a momentary 5-on-3) while the Panthers never once had a man advantage. 

“Offensive zone possession was the difference,” Dineen said. “Their time with the puck was greater than ours. They put a lot of pucks at Clem.”

The 34-year-old Clemmensen spent seven years with the Devils (during two different stints) but never started a playoff game, waiting behind the indefatigable Brodeur. New Jersey made the playoffs every year Clemmensen was there, but he filled in for Brodeur in them just once, in 2006, for the final seven minutes of a 6-0 loss to Carolina. 

On Tuesday, until overtime, Clemmensen outperformed the player he could never seem to replace.

“I’m very happy with the way he played,” Dineen said. “I can nitpick a couple goals there but I also saw some pretty solid saves there as well.”

 

RATS TO YOU: Devils Keep on Truckin, Beat Panthers 3-2 in OT to Force Game 7 ... Cats Host on Thursday, Time/TV TBA

BY GEORGE RICHARDS grichards@MiamiHerald.com

TWITTER: @OnFrozenPond

NEWARK, N.J. – The Devils were a desperate team, no doubt.

And if there was any thought they weren't, one just had to watch the way they blocked every puck they could get to, hit every member of the Panthers nearby.

The Panthers danced with fire for much of Tuesday's Game 6 and didn't survive the night as Travis Zajac took a pretty feed from Ilya Kovalchuk to beat Scott Clemmensen and the Panthers 3-2 in overtime.

New Jersey's win forced a Game 7 in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal with the Panthers playing host to the Devils in the loser-goes-on-vacation game Thursday at BankAtlantic Center. Time and broadcast information will be determined Wednesday.

“It's already forgotten,'' said Sean Bergenheim, whose goal gave the Panthers life in the second period. “I'm looking forward to a Game 7 in our home barn. In the end, they won a lot of 1-on-1 battles and that was the key. They had a lot of shots and that was from winning those battles.''

New Jersey spent much of the game in the Florida zone, dominating the offensive flow for much of the night. Florida had hoped to close out New Jersey and win its first postseason series since beating the Penguins in the 1996 Eastern Conference final.

Instead, the Panthers head home and try to end the Devils season there.

The Panthers were outshot 42-16 in the game – including 6-3 in overtime – as Clemmensen had to stand tall to give Florida a shot. He did, making 39 saves in relief of an injured Jose Theodore.

“I wanted to give us a chance, that's all,'' Clemmensen said. “We scored the second goal and that gave us life, gave us some urgency. But [the deficit] was never more than two. We played a tight game and we were in a position to win. We were tied in the third, went into overtime on the road. It could have gone either way.''

The Devils were extremely physical early on and outhit the Panthers 15-10 in an opening period in which New Jersey took a 1-0 goal on a hard angle shot from Steve Bernier. A member of the Panthers last season after coming over from Vancouver in the Keith Ballard trade, Bernier has two goals in the series against (some of) his former teammates.

Bernier's goal came when he corralled a loose puck and whipped it at Clemmensen and the puck hit his stick and through his skates with 3:23 left in the period.

The sold-out crowd at Prudential Center went crazy early in the second as the Devils took a 2-0 lead on a power play goal from Kovalchuk. With Tomas Kopecky in the box for a high stick, Kovalchuk snuck in behind Clemmensen and knocked in a nice feed from Travis Zajac with just four seconds remaining in the penalty.

Only the Panthers weren't done. Not by a long shot. Despite some fans already chatting about a for-sure Game 7 on Thursday, the Panthers rallied with another big second period.

Florida, which had outscored New Jersey 7-1 in the second period coming into the night, picked up two big goals to tie things up.

First, Kris Versteeg slid in through the slot and flung a sweet pass from linemate Stephen Weiss past Martin Brodeur less than three minutes after Kovalchuk scored. It was the third goal of the series for Versteeg after he only had one goal in Florida's final 18 games of the season.

Later in the period, Bergenheim scored his third of this postseason and 12th in the past two by knocking a loose puck past Brodeur with 7:11 left. Tyson Strachan, filling in for the injured Jason Garrison, took a shot that Brodeur stopped yet couldn't find. Bergenheim was more than happy to charge in and take brief possession of it, tapping it into the net as Brodeur failed to move.

Both teams had a few chances in the third period although neither scored as the game went to overtime for the first time during the series.

Florida was outshot 7-3 in the third period but had a great chance late when Mikael Samuelsson picked up a loose puck when Mark Fayne whiffed on a pass.

Samuelsson worked the puck deep and dipped and dodged his way into the slot, pulling Brodeur out of the crease. Samuelsson's backhand shot found Brodeur, however, as Bergenheim crashed the net hoping for a piece of the puck.

“Offensive zone position definitely leaned toward the Devils and that was the difference,'' coach Kevin Dineen said.

“When you play as much defense as we had to, it tends to wear you down. Our quality chances came in spurts. They put a lot of pressure in our zone. That was probably their best game in this series. The had a heck of a lot of desperation and pushed.''

#FlaPanthers #njDevils Quick Hit: Jose Out, Clemmensen in for Game 6

NEWARK, N.J. - Quick notes after today's morning skate while grabbing a bite.

- Jose Theodore apparently tweaked something at yesterday's practice and Jacob Markstrom has been recalled.

He'll backup Scott Clemmensen tonight - although Kevin Dineen said Theodore is still a possibility to play.

Video from Markstrom on the post below.

- Jason Garrison will not play; expect Tyson Strachan to fill in once more. Same scratched guys as before.

- Dale Tallon is a finalist for GM of the Year. Not surprisingly either.

- Tomas Fleischmann was left out of the Masterton race. 

OnFrozenPhone Postseason Edition: Jacob Markstrom