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Monday, June 02, 2003

By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Devils vs. Mighty Ducks, 8 p.m. today, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, Anaheim, Calif. TV: ESPN. Game 4, Stanley Cup final. New Jersey leads series, 2-1. New Jersey's power play is 11 of 72 in the playoffs, including 0 for 2 in Game 3 of the final.

Anaheim entered Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final Saturday with a pretty simple mission: To score a goal against New Jersey. That's something the Mighty Ducks hadn't managed while losing Games 1 and 2 at Continental Airlines Arena. Well, they got three pucks past Devils G Martin Brodeur Saturday -- one courtesy of Brodeur -- and were rewarded with a 3-2 overtime victory. That got Anaheim back into the series, and underscored what should be the Mighty Ducks' objective in Game 4 this evening: To stretch the game beyond the third period. Anaheim is 6-0 in overtime this spring, and G Jean-Sebastien Giguere broke Patrick Roy's playoff record by not allowing a goal in 167 minutes, 48 seconds of overtime work. New Jersey, conversely, is just 2-3 in overtime during these playoffs, and Brodeur's career overtime record during the playoffs is 8-17. And it's easy to believe that Brodeur's chronic tough luck in overtime just might have been a factor Saturday, because visiting teams had won 11 of the previous 13 Cup final games that went past the third period.

One of the main reasons Anaheim signed C Adam Oates as a free agent last summer was his prowess on faceoffs, and that decision paid enormous dividends Saturday. Oates set up the game-winning goal -- and took the Mighty Ducks' season off life-support -- by beating Pascal Rheaume of the Devils cleanly on a draw. He pulled the puck directly back to Anaheim D Ruslan Salei, who snapped a wrist shot past Brodeur's glove. "There is nothing much to say," Rheaume told reporters. "I lost the draw. I lost it clean. Instead of taking it on my backhand, I took it on my forehand, and [Oates] won it clean." The Mighty Ducks won 51 of 81 faceoffs in Game 3, reinforcing the notion that the Devils have at least one noteworthy flaw. The absence of C Joe Nieuwendyk, who is injured, makes New Jersey even more vulnerable than usual in the circle. "I have been worried all year long about my faceoff situation," Devils Coach Pat Burns said. "It's nothing new. Joe Nieuwendyk not being here really hurts us. We struggled for a good part of the season. It came down to that [in Game 3]." Rheaume, it should be noted, had been New Jersey's best faceoff man before the game-ending sequence, going 9-9 on his previous 18 draws.

Anaheim has precious little playoff experience -- only three Mighty Ducks own Stanley Cup rings -- but that hasn't prevented it from thriving in pressure situations during the first three-plus rounds of these playoffs. The Mighty Ducks, who have 13 victories this spring, not only are 6-0 in overtime, but have gotten game-winning goals during the third period on four other occasions.

New Jersey's RW Jamie Langenbrunner has moved into a tie with Ottawa's Marian Hossa for second place in the playoff scoring race with 16 points -- Marian Gaborik of Minnesota is the leader with 17 -- but more important for the Devils is that Langenbrunner's linemate, LW Patrik Elias, is rediscovering his scoring touch. Elias has a goal in each of the past two games after scoring just two during the first 18 games of these playoffs. His center, Scott Gomez, also has scored in back-to-back games, adding badly needed diversity to New Jersey's offense. "It's important that we find our opportunities and be in the position to get the bounces," Gomez said. "We're starting to know about being in the right place at the right time [to beat Giguere], and we have to keep on plugging away."

Devils D Ken Daneyko, who had moved in and out of the lineup during the playoffs, has acknowledged to The Record, a New Jersey newspaper, he has considered the possibility of retiring if the Devils win the Stanley Cup. "It would be a nice way to go out," he said. "I'm just taking it day by day here. I'm very fortunate to be here for the fourth time in the Stanley Cup final and have an opportunity to be part of winning another one. We still have a long way to go here, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." Daneyko, 39, has been a healthy scratch for seven of the past 10 games, and has resisted the temptation to complain publicly about losing his place in the lineup. "You've got to bite your tongue sometimes," he said. "You've got to bide your time. Every situation is different. We talked before the playoffs that we were going to use all eight defensemen, and we have. And look where we are. Everybody has contributed in their own way."

Marc Chouinard was an unlikely candidate to end Brodeur's shutout streak, which had reached 161:46. Chouinard's goal was his first since Jan. 22, and just his fourth since the start of the regular season. "Thanks for the reminder," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I guess the only thing I can say to that is my timing is great." Brodeur's series-opening shutout streak was 143:38, the second-longest in Cup final history. The record of 188:35 was set by Toronto's Frank McCool in 1945.

Oates' assist on Salei's goal was his ninth career overtime point, good for a share of the league record held by Colorado's Joe Sakic and Doug Gilmour of Toronto.

The Devils are 10-0 when getting the game-opening goal, while the Mighty Ducks are 9-0.

So far, the seven-player deal that sent LW Jeff Friesen and D Oleg Tverdovsky from Anaheim to New Jersey -- and RW Petr Sykora from the Devils to the Mighty Ducks -- has tilted in New Jersey's favor during this series. Friesen has three goals and Tverdovsky two assists, while Sykora still is looking for his first point. Not that he seems to be dwelling on it. "I don't care," Sykora told reporters, when those stats were brought to his attention. "Whatever."