ANAHEIM, Calif. - The funny part about what happened to Martin Brodeur Saturday was that, well, it was funny.
The Devils goaltender extended his stick to play Sandis Ozolinsh's dump-in from the neutral zone. The stick slipped out of his hand, the puck hit the stick and deflected through his skates into the net 14:47 into the second period.
The blunder gave the Mighty Ducks a 2-1 lead in what turned into a 3-2 Anaheim victory.
"They were laughing at me," Brodeur said of his teammates. "I thought it was funny. It's definitely not fun to get scored on like that but it's something you can't control. I didn't want to drop my stick there and it just hit it.
"It's one of those goals you'll probably see once in a lifetime."
Brodeur said he had similar trouble with his stick earlier in the season.
"The stick went all the way to the corner and I didn't have a stick the rest of the shift," he said. "But this one just kind of ... it was an unfortunate bounce."
It was an unfortunate game for Brodeur, whose shutout streak that went back to Game 7 of the East final was snapped at 161 minutes, 46 seconds. He was out of position on Marc Chouinard's first goal and let a high velocity but stoppable shot from Ruslan Salei get by him for the winner.
"I've seen worse," Devils center Scott Gomez said of Brodeur's 30-save effort. "It happens. It didn't affect us one bit. It's part of the game."
Ducks goalie Jean Sebastien Giguere was more critical.
"Regardless of what they're saying, that it's no big deal, it is a big deal," he said. "It gives us a chance to win."
No one thought the play would affect Brodeur, one of the loosest players in the league.
"The only thing Marty proved last night was that he is human," Devils coach Pat Burns said. "There was a lot of laughing about it this morning. The guys wanted to know if they could run a drill like that. We're all anxious to see how he'll react. If you ask me, he'll react strongly."
"I have no doubt in my mind he'll bounce back," Giguere said. "Having said that, we need to keep testing him and see what he's made of."
CHEATERS: Burns said the Ducks cheat on faceoffs. No revelation there; all players try to cheat. But Anaheim is apparently doing it better than New Jersey.
The Ducks were the league's No.1 faceoff team in the regular season with a 55.2 winning percentage. They are No. 2 in the playoffs at 54.34, and have won 122 of 202 (60.4 percent) against the Devils.
New Jersey is 13th in the playoffs at 47.88 percent.
"They do encroach and cheat a bit, yes," Burns said. "Their stick won't be on the ice at the proper time. They have their skates turned a little bit. They'll fake a little bit to get a guy to move. You can do anything you want in life, just don't get caught. They're doing it."
Ducks center Adam Oates shrugged off what he perceived as Burns' gamesmanship.
"Maybe he's trying to send a message, trying to get to the refs," he said.
FROM THE BRINK: Three teams have won the Cup after falling behind two games to none: the 1942 Maple Leafs, the only team to come back from 3-0, beat the Red Wings; the 1966 Canadiens beat Detroit and the 1971 Canadiens beat the Blackhawks.
