Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 1

Devils 3, Panthers 2 (Box score, Recap)

MVP 

Dainius Zubrus: No, his goal wasn't the winner, but it was the game-changer. The Panthers were just eight seconds from killing four minutes of short-handed time (more on that below). He also assisted on the game's first goal, a Patrik Elias wrister. It wasn't the top line that was the Devils' best in Game 1, and in this case that wasn't a bad thing.

Turning Point 

The 15th minute of the game. The Panthers were only eight seconds from killing a double-minor penalty to Shawn Matthias -- one that frankly they shouldn't have had in the first place, but that's neither here nor there now -- in strong fashion. Then they were caught on a bad change and Zubrus beat Jose Theodore to take any energy that was just starting to build in the arena back out. If there was any left it was then completely sucked out less than a minute later when Ryan Carter broke free and beat Theodore. That pushed the Devils lead to 3-0, and they needed each of them.

It was....(fill in blank) 

Uneven. The first period was as tilted as the ice gets, the Devils fired a franchise postseason-record 26 shots on goal. All in all, it was actually a pretty good first period for Theodore despite three goals against. The second period swung the other way and the Panthers mounted a comeback playing largely at the Devils' end of the ice. The third slowed to a crawl with the Devils not pushing much and the Panthers unable to break through and into the offensive zone.

Photo: US Presswire

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