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Losing their focus Slow start doomed Devils' chances to close out finalsPosted: Sunday June 08, 2003 7:54 PMANAHEIM, Calif. (Ticker) -- The question was asked of nearly every player in the Devils' locker room Saturday night following a 5-2 loss to the Mighty Ducks that forced a decisive seventh game in the Stanley Cup finals. How could a team with so much experience play so poorly with a chance to win another championship?
In both games, however, the Devils got off to disturbingly shaky starts. "I think we were ready, we were almost too ready," right wing Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We're a patient team that lets the play come to us, and we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off for the first part of the game." On Thursday, the Ducks had a 1-0 lead and a 6-0 advantage in shots just 98 seconds into the first period. New Jersey regrouped and roared back, limiting Anaheim to four shots in the third period. There was no comeback Saturday. After Steve Rucchin put Anaheim in front at 4:26 of the first period, New Jersey's Turner Stevenson put a shot off the crossbar. The Ducks added two goals before the end of the period and never looked back. "We went out there and tried to get a big hit and run around, and this is not our game. This is not New Jersey Devils' hockey," defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky added. "We control the game, we control the puck, we stay patient and wait for mistakes. That's our game. For some reason, we got away from that." The Devils were trailing, 5-1, in the third when Martin Brodeur was pulled for just the second time in this year's playoffs. New Jersey ended up losing for the fourth time in its last five chances to win the Stanley Cup. In 2000, they lost Game 5 to Dallas in triple overtime before Jason Arnott's double-overtime goal gave them their second championship in six years. The following year, New Jersey was shut out in Game 6 by Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche, then dropped Game 7 in Denver. "I think the Colorado game was different a little bit," said Brodeur, one of 10 holdovers from the 2001 team. "This game, we got outplayed like we outplayed [the Ducks] in Game 5. It was a mirror image of Game 5 in New Jersey, but swapping teams." Unlike the series two years ago, the Devils will play the decisive seventh game at home, where they are 11-1 in the postseason. They have outscored Anaheim, 12-3, at Continental Airlines Arena in this series. "Let's hope it's a good thing," right wing Grant Marshall said. "We worked hard all year to get home-ice advantage, so let's hope we can take advantage of it once again and get a big win at home." The last time the home team won the first six games of the Stanley Cup finals was 1971. The Montreal Canadiens ended the trend with a victory at Chicago in Game 7. Overall, however, the home team has won nine of the 11 seventh games in Stanley Cup finals history. "With this much experience and a lot of guys being in this situation before, Game 7, I'm absolutely sure we're going to see a great home game [on Monday]," Tverdovsky said. Perhaps the Devils just can't stand prosperity. They squandered a three games to one lead in the Eastern Conference finals before rallying for a 3-2 victory in Game 7 at Ottawa. "It seems we've never done anything easy all year," Langenbrunner said. "There won't be any tomorrows, so we've got to be playing with desperation," left wing Patrik Elias added. "This team has played, in the past, its best hockey when we have our backs against the wall." And there's Brodeur, who is just 4-3 in Game 7s but 5-0 in the playoffs after allowing at least five goals. "He got blown out against Boston earlier in the year and we came back and played phenomenal," Stevenson said. "He has to. He's our guy, just like their guy bounced back tonight." © 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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