Series takes on whole new sheen

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When this guy is one of the defining characters in a hockey playoff, you know you�re in trouble. (CP)

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- After lurching around like a wobbly Taylor Stevens on her Louboutin heels this series has finally channeled its inner Charlie Sheen and got angry.

Adult-film star Stevens and her scene-stealing turn behind the New Jersey Devils bench in Game 4, together with Sheen's upbraiding of a security guard at Staples Center were pretty much the defining moments of this series prior to Game 5.

Now the emotional ante has been upped. To quote Devils captain Zach Parise, "we have a series now."

The Devils have hauled themselves off the ledge with two straight wins and trail the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final best-of-seven series, with Game 6 set for tonight in L.A. (7 p.m., CBC).

The first four games, spread out over a continent and the better part of two weeks, did little to get the blood moving. The fact there was no spilled blood may have had some flipping channels, but more disconcerting was the absence of flow and skill.

That all changed right from the start in Game 5 as both teams threw a couple logs on the fire and turned New Jersey's Prudential Center into a hockey hot box.

Devils goalie Martin Brodeur was the best player on the ice for the second game in a row to keep the Stanley Cup in its box.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick was at one point the hands down choice for the Conn Smythe but that's no longer the case. He's made some unforced errors, including a costly misadventure with the puck in Game 5 that ended up on Parise's stick and in the net. This series has been about two halves, with Quick winning the first and now Brodeur staking his claim for the second.

It seems like ages ago, when the Devils were in the process of losing three straight games that coach Pete DeBoer kept declaring the games were a coin flip.

Now that his squad has lost two in a row, Kings coach Darryl Sutter is saying the same thing.

"It's like I told the players, you can tell them they played good or you can tell them they played bad. It doesn't really matter, right? It's about the next game. We know how hard we play and we know how to re-create that," said Sutter. "It's not about winning and losing. Even last night, I know it's a series, we lost the game. But to me it's not about winning and losing, it's about getting that sort of an honest performance from your group. Do that, you're satisfied."

Sutter, for one, is not surprised the Devils have battled back and senses pressure or frustration or panic in his dressing room.

"We're at a really good place. How did we get here? I mean, we've been in a good series, that's for sure. We thought we played a heck of a game (Saturday) night," said Sutter.

"I think I said it after the game to some of the guys that were there, you know, we got breaks the first two games, they got breaks the last two games, right? We start again. Try and re-create that again tomorrow. If we play as well as we did last night, I like our team."

The Devils broke a couple of trends on Saturday, handing the Kings their first road loss of the post-season and ending their perfect record in Game 5s. There will be little comfort in that, however, if they can't force a Game 7.

"I don't look at it as what a great accomplishment to be in, a 3-0 hole and to claw your way back out," said DeBoer. We're trying to win a Stanley Cup. If I had my way, we would have never got in that hole. I didn't feel we deserved to be in that hole. That was the hand we were dealt. We made a little bit of our own bed there and now we're stuck with trying to get out of it."

Both coaches have been fairly honest in their assessment of the games in this series in the light of the morning after.

Technically, the Kings have two tries left to win this series, but that's a mirage. If they want to win the Stanley Cup they have to do it tonight.

If the Stanley Cup travels back to New Jersey for a Game 7, it's staying there.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless

Gary Lawless, Winnipeg Free Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 11, 2012 C1