Quote Originally Posted by Puckstop31 View Post
Yeah, that baseball bat swing at the puck right before the 2nd US goal was nuts. What the heck was he thinking? The only place it could go was back in the slot, which was crowded with people at the time. Little good can come from that. Actually, both goalies took a lot of silly chances with the poke check... 2 of the US goals were a result of a bad poke check attempt.
Regarding that swing of the bat - from the NY Times - keeping in mind that Rafalski once played for the Devils.

Team Canada goalie Martin Brodeur was heavily faulted for mistakes against the Americans. Brodeur stopped only 18 of 22 shots Sunday. On the Americans’ second goal, he tried to clear the puck up the middle of the ice, gifting Brian Rafalski an opportunity he converted.

“I’ve seen Marty do that before where he bats it out of mid air and he wanted to try to go up the middle so I just jumped there early,” said Rafalski after the game.
Brodeur was also partly to blame on the Americans’ third goal.