Home >  Sports >  Penguins

Thursday, June 05, 2003

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Devils vs. Mighty Ducks, 8 p.m. today, Game 5, Stanley Cup final, Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J. TV: WTAE. Devils C John Madden scored a team-high 14 points in his first 14 playoff games, but he has just one in the past seven and none against the Mighty Ducks.

NEWS & NOTES

Anaheim carries some serious momentum -- a byproduct of overtime victories in Games 3 and 4 -- into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final tonight, but at least a couple of statistics point toward a Devils victory. New Jersey is 10-1 on home ice this spring and has won eight consecutive games against the Mighty Ducks at Continental Airlines Arena since Feb. 11, 1996.

Anaheim has dominated faceoffs in this series, and that has been a significant factor in the Mighty Ducks' resurgence after losing the first two games. New Jersey's already lackluster collection of faceoff men has suffered greatly from the absence of C Joe Nieuwendyk, who has yet to play in the series because of an apparent hip injury. What's more, Anaheim Coach Mike Babcock gives his centers extra incentive to do well on draws by basing ice time, in part, on faceoff prowess. "It's the easiest 50-50 [up for grabs] puck in the game," he said. "Why would you chase it vs. have it? Why would you play defense if you can play offense? It seems like common sense to me."

New Jersey G Martin Brodeur's next playoff victory will be his 82nd, tying him with Ed Belfour for fourth place on the all-time list. Patrick Roy is the runaway leader with 151, followed by Grant Fuhr (92) and Bill Smith (88). Brodeur's prospects for overtaking Roy in that category don't seem particularly good but, with Roy having retired, Brodeur might eventually be able to break some of the records Roy has set. Not that Brodeur plans to make that the focus of his work. "I don't want to put too much pressure on myself," he told the Newark Star-Ledger. "I want to make sure I have fun playing the game. I know when I get close to his records, it'll be hard. I want to enjoy the ride. It's been an awesome ride. If I have a good hockey team in front of me, all those records will come within reach."

The Mighty Ducks and Devils have gone to great lengths to disrupt their opponent's offense. Babcock offered a couple of scathing indictments -- he volunteered that "there is more obstruction in this series than any series we've played," and said, "you have to figure out whether you want to go water skiing or you want to play hockey" -- but the officials don't appear to have noticed. Or, more to the point, care. Through four games, the referees have handed out just two holding minors, two interference calls and one interference/obstruction penalty. "I think, at times, you get a little frustrated because it's obviously not called as much as it was during the season," Anaheim C Adam Oates told the Orange County Register. "But then all of a sudden, it is called."

With New Jersey winning Games 1 and 2 at Continental Airlines Arena and the Mighty Ducks taking Games 3 and 4 at the Arrowhead Pond, home teams have captured the first four games of a Cup final for the first time since Montreal and Boston did it in 1978. That year, Montreal, which had home-ice advantage, grabbed the championship with victories in Games 5 and 6. The last time the home team won every game in a Cup final was 1965, when Montreal defeated Chicago. Three years earlier, Toronto and Chicago each won their first three home games, but the Maple Leafs took Game 7 at Chicago Stadium.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere's goaltending has been the single biggest factor in Anaheim's playoff run, but his willingness to call out his teammates after two lopsided losses at the start of the final might be the major reason Anaheim's season didn't end a few days ago. Giguere challenged the Mighty Ducks to raise their performance level -- and intensity -- when the series shifted to southern California, and they responded with efforts like those they routinely put forth during the previous three rounds. "We gave [the Devils] too much respect, and you can't do that if you're going to be successful," Giguere said. "There's two teams invited to the final, and we needed to be involved."

This is the third time in five years the Cup final has been tied after four games. The encouraging thing for New Jersey is that the team with home-ice advantage took the Cup on both previous occasions. In 1999, the Dallas won Games 5 and 6 against Buffalo while, two years later, Colorado lost Game 5 on home ice, but rebounded to win Games 6 and 7 against New Jersey.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere contends that Anaheim lost the first two games of the final not because it failed to take New Jersey seriously, but because it might have been in awe of the Devils. "I thought our team gave them too much respect," he said. "I gave them too much respect. If you give them too much respect, you're too careful on the ice. You don't want to make mistakes. By not wanting to make mistakes, you do make mistakes. You can't win if you do that. You have to play your game if you want a chance to win, and I think that's what we've done the past two games."

NUMBERS

The Devils and Mighty Ducks probably don't care that almost no one is watching them play, just as almost no TV viewers seem to care that New Jersey and Anaheim are competing for the Stanley Cup. ABC-TV's ratings for Games 3 and 4 were down 29 percent from last year, according to Bloomsberg News, with an average of 2.4 percent of the 107 million U.S. households with televisions being tuned into those games. Ratings on ESPN for Games 1 and 2 were down 57 percent from 2002. In Canada, the CBC broadcast of Game 4 attracted a series-best 1,566,000 viewers, but that still was down from the 1,674,000 who watched Game 4 between Detroit and Carolina a year ago.

HE SAID IT

Martin Brodeur, Devils G, on the impact Anaheim's dominance on faceoffs has had on New Jersey's tactics: "We like to ice the puck a lot. That's part of our strategy, to slow the game down. But, when you do that, it creates a lot of draws. That's a dangerous thing against a team like the Ducks, and sometimes you pay the price."