Martin Brodeur's playoff overtime record

[Brodeur]

I'd attribute that to the fact that New Jersey likely didn't have a great supply of goal scorers to supply the OT heroics.

In the first chunk of Brodeur's career, the Devils were above average offensively (and top notch in a few years). But they still went 6-12 in OT from 1994-2001:

94: (1-4) 2nd in GF
95: (2-1) 13th
96: N/A
97: (0-2) 16th
98: (0-2) 9th, both losses against Ottawa who was 24th out of 26 teams in offense
99: (0-1) 2nd
00: (1-1) 2nd
01: (2-1) 1st

I suppose you could make the argument that the Devils were offense by committee, so when teams shortened their benches then perhaps they were at a slight disadvantage in a one game sample. But then Brodeur went 10-12 the rest of his career when the Devils were below average offensively, so that's a bit odd as well.

 

[Stephen]

In the first chunk of Brodeur's career, the Devils were above average offensively (and top notch in a few years). But they still went 6-12 in OT from 1994-2001:

94: (1-4) 2nd in GF
95: (2-1) 13th
96: N/A
97: (0-2) 16th
98: (0-2) 9th, both losses against Ottawa who was 24th out of 26 teams in offense
99: (0-1) 2nd
00: (1-1) 2nd
01: (2-1) 1st

I suppose you could make the argument that the Devils were offense by committee, so when teams shortened their benches then perhaps they were at a slight disadvantage in a one game sample. But then Brodeur went 10-12 the rest of his career when the Devils were below average offensively, so that's a bit odd as well.

Would be interested to see who scored all the Devils game winners in those years. I’m guessing Elias shows up a few times but I’m just speculating. Certainly don’t need big names to come up with all the OT winners but I suspect it helps to have those kind of go to scorers over the course of a 20 year career.

 

[MadLuke]

Would be interested to see who scored all the Devils game winners in those years.

NHL Playoff Overtime Goals | Hockey-Reference.com


NJD devils since 1994 OT goal scorer

Arnott
Broten
Gomez
Henrique x2
Langenbrunner x2
Madden
Marshall
McKay x2
Ponikarovsky
Raflaski
Richer x2
Zajac x2

No Elias, that list is 17 so I guess I am counting a game Brodeur didn't play ?

 

[Brodeur]

1994-05-15: Stephane Richer (2OT)

1995-05-12: Randy McKay
1995-05-26: Neal Broten

2000-06-10: Jason Arnott (2OT)

2001-04-28: Randy McKay
2001-05-02: Brian Rafalski

(offense starts to dwindle at this point)

2003-04-26: Jamie Langenbrunner
2003-05-02: Grant Marshall (3OT) -- Entered that postseason with 0 goals in 59 career playoff games

2007-04-18: Scott Gomez
2007-04-28: Jamie Langenbrunner (2OT)

2008-04-13: John Madden

2009-04-19: Travis Zajac

2012-04-24: Travis Zajac
2012-04-26: Adam Henrique (2OT) -- rookie
2012-05-03: Alexei Ponikarovsky
2012-05-25: Adam Henrique

 

[Stephen]

NHL Playoff Overtime Goals | Hockey-Reference.com


NJD devils since 1994 OT goal scorer

Arnott
Broten
Gomez
Henrique x2
Langenbrunner x2
Madden
Marshall
McKay x2
Ponikarovsky
Raflaski
Richer x2
Zajac x2

No Elias, that list is 17 so I guess I am counting a game Brodeur didn't play ?

I’m surprised Elias never scored an OT winner but for some reason Langenbrunner and Henrique make a lot of sense.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

I always see this take and I vehemently disagree.
We know, just psychologically, that people respond to pressure differently. This is true in all walks of life. There are people who's experience of time slows down in a crisis, and people who panic and the world speeds up and decisions are harder to come by.
The pressure of playoff moments is inherently going to have some guys (people) for whom it narrows and enhances their focus to a superlative level like Michael Jordan, Joe Sakic, those sorts.
And it will have people who are overwhelmed by the moment. People who cannot execute, or lose a bit of access to their executive functioning. Just because stats in a chaotic sport fail to pick up this fact, doesn't mean that it's some narrative myth.

Ehhhhh, yes and no.

If stats don’t pick it up, how do people pass judgement on whether a player is clutch or not? It’s too subjective to really say one way or the other. Some players handle pressure better, sure. I don’t think this proves anything when it comes to how people use the word clutch and what they mean by it.

Take the post I responded to, someone was amazed that these clutch players never scored an OT goal. I think it’s just as valid to say something like “these players never scored an OT goal, how can they be clutch?” It’s just too subjective to carry any weight or meaning.

An example I like to use that illustrates this is Jordan Eberle. Never done anything in the playoffs before ‘19, yet we used to see all the time how he was “clutch” because of a goal in a junior tournament! Because there is no way to quantify it, people pick and choose more than any other characteristic what they use when it fits their notion of if a player is clutch or not, and what they choose to ignore. I don’t think it fits into as neat of a box as people try to fit it in to.

 

[GMR]

I'd attribute that to the fact that New Jersey likely didn't have a great supply of goal scorers to supply the OT heroics.

Detroit had plenty of goal scorers between 1999 to 2009, yet they were notoriously bad in OTs during that time in the playoffs.

I wonder if "team belief" has anything to do with it? Some teams like Anaheim in 2003 or Montreal in 1993 just seemed to look invincible in OT. Like they knew there would win. I know that sounds silly because a bad bounce can go against anyone, but it feels like some teams were just better than others at playoff OT. As the Devils and Red Wings showed, it's not necessarily tied to goaltending or offensive stars.

 

[Doctor No]

I think "team belief" is more accurately "narrative bias" - prospectively, I'm not sure that you'd be able to predict the team to score in overtime (beyond a first-order approximation based on overall team strength, that is).

It's easier to look backwards at outliers and ascribe their success to something.

 

[Cruor]

Not sure if it fits here but I came across a video of Hasek's 70 saves in '94 against the Devils and wanted to share it.