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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils surprised the
Dallas Stars in nearly every way possible -- with their speed, their
persistence, their nonstop scoring.
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Tues., May 30
The Devils did everything well in Game 1. They were a step faster than the Stars. They looked
bigger; their forecheck was incredible. And they made
smart decisions with the puck.
That is a big part of being successful. They didn't force
the puck into areas and put themselves into turnover situations. I was really impressed
with the way New Jersey played. They also gave Dallas problems because of the Claude
Lemieux-Bobby Holik combination. Their size forced Ken Hitchcock to use Richard
Matvichuk and Derian Hatcher against them quite a bit and that opened up Patrik Elias
and Jason Arnott to play against Sergei Zubov and Darryl Sydor.
Everything New Jersey
did was right on. There were no weaknesses in their game. They were like a machine.
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Most of all, they surprised themselves.
Petr Sykora scored twice in a four-point night and Ken Daneyko,
who has played every postseason game in Devils history, scored his
first playoff goal in five seasons as New Jersey's top line
embarrassed Dallas' stars in a commanding 7-3 victory Tuesday
night.
"This team worried us," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said.
"We have a lot of respect for them, and we still do. We knew we
couldn't let up at all."
They didn't. Sykora also assisted on Jason Arnott's two goals as
the Devils, attempting to become the first Eastern Conference team
to win the Stanley Cup since they did it five years ago, badly
outplayed the defending champions at their own game.
The Devils' top line of Sykora, Arnott and Patrik Elias combined
for four goals and now have nine in the last five games. By
contrast, the Stars' Brett Hull and Mike Modano, the top two
scorers in the playoffs, went scoreless, with Brodeur making a key
save of Hull's shot less than a minute before the Devils took a 3-1
lead.
"We were flat and a step late all night," Stars coach Ken
Hitchcock said. "I think our whole group really struggled in our
own zone with the quickness. I don't think we've played against a
group of forwards this quick before, and we made a lot of mistakes
because of it."
The Devils, considered the underdogs just as they were when they
upset Detroit in four games in the 1995 finals, can take a 2-0 lead
in the best-of-seven series by winning Thursday night at home.
The Stars are 11-1 at home in the playoffs, but even they can't
like their chances if they go back to Reunion Arena down two games.
"This puts a lot of pressure on us, but we know we're going to
play a better game," Hitchcock said.
The game was vintage Devils -- vintage 1995, that is.
The Devils followed still-new coach Larry Robinson's game plan
to perfection. They seized the critical early lead, dusted off the
neutral-zone trap that was so effective in '95 to shut down Dallas'
scorers and let Brodeur stop the shots that sneaked through their
defense.
|  | | Devils goalie Martin Brodeur only faced 18 shots in Game 1, and although he didn't come close to a shutout, he saved enough to get the victory. |
"We had some goals squeak through there for a change, and our
guys were skating well," Robinson said. "But I don't consider
this a 7-3 game. I've seen Dallas come back before, and we're in
for a game Thursday."
Dallas goaltender Eddie Belfour was no better than the forwards
in front of him. Belfour, who had allowed two or fewer goals in 12
of his previous 13 games, yielded six goals on 18 shots before
being replaced by Manny Fernandez with 16:58 left.
The Stars allowed just 13 goals in the entire Avalanche series _
the fewest in 50 years in a seven-game Stanley Cup semifinal
series.
Belfour took a decongestant, antibiotics and cold medicine
before the game, and wishes now he hadn't.
"It affected my judgment," he said.
When did he realize it?
"After they scored the sixth goal," he said.
Still, the Devils' oft-overlooked offense obviously ambushed a
baffled Belfour and the Stars, who looked fatigued and off their
game almost from the opening minute despite having three days off
since eliminating Colorado on Saturday.
"They have a history of slow starts in the playoffs," the
Devils' Bobby Holik said. "This is not surprising, they played a
day later than we did and they traveled. No one thinks this is
over. They're too good to feel that way."
The Devils, known more for their give-no-ground neutral-zone
trap, were the NHL's second-highest scoring team during the season,
but Robinson reshaped their game after succeeding the fired Robbie
Ftorek with eight games left in the regular season.
Robinson sold the Devils on returning to their '95 style, in
which the trapping defense set up an opportunistic offense, rather
than vice versa. But even Robinson couldn't have expected this, not
against a determined, defense-driven team that Hitchcock said was
extremely focused on winning a second Cup.
"This series, just like in 1995, we have a lot of respect for
the team we're playing," Brodeur said. "We were scared of that
series in '95, they were supposed to beat us bad, and next thing
you know series is over. This time around, it's the same thing _ we
know they have a lot more to give."
The Stars have already matched the worst result of the last four
defending champions -- Detroit, Pittsburgh and two of Wayne
Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers teams -- who returned to the finals the
year after winning the cup. All four of those teams repeated as
champion, and only one lost even one game in the finals.
After Arnott and Stars defenseman Darryl Sydor traded goals in
the first period, the game quickly got away from Dallas in the
second period. And the biggest goal of all was scored by perhaps
the least-likely player.
John Madden won a faceoff in the Stars' end that bounced to
Daneyko, who didn't score a goal all season. Daneyko teed up a
knuckleball-type shot from the top of the left circle that somehow
eluded Belfour at 2:52 of the second for his first playoff goal in
49 games since June 5, 1995.
The Stars should have known then they were done. And they were,
even if the Devils weren't.
"We wanted (Daneyko's goal) to be the game-winner," Brodeur
said. "He's been the heart and soul for New Jersey for the last 15
years, and it was great for him to score a goal like that in the
Stanley Cup final."
Sykora effectively finished them off at 10:28 with the first of
his two goals, grabbing Elias' blind pass from behind the net and
slipping it by Belfour, who began the game with a 1.88
goals-against average.
"He hasn't had too many nights like that," Hitchcock said of
Belfour.
Defenseman Scott Stevens, whose punishing hits left the Flyers'
Daymond Langkow and Eric Lindros with concussions in the Eastern
Conference finals, made it 4-1 at 16:04 with a soft wrist shot from
the left point, and the rout was on.
"Individuals are playing well, and that means the team is
playing well," Stevens said. "Everybody was expecting a boring,
slow game and I remember thinking, `Geez, this is a lot of
scoring."'
Sykora and Arnott scored again in the third period, and Sergei
Brylin added a goal, before the Stars' Jon Sim and former Devils
captain Kirk Muller scored meaningless goals 12 seconds apart.
The Devils, who won all four games of the Eastern Conference
finals against Philadelphia in which they scored first, did so
again. Elias' wraparound attempt deflected off Belfour's glove to
Sykora, who swept a pass across the slot to Arnott at 7:22 for his
fifth playoff goal.
The first goal in the first game of a Stanley Cup final can be
critical to determining the early momentum -- the Game 1 winner has
won the cup 79 percent of the time.
Stars defenseman Derian Hatcher left in the third period with a
slight hyperextension of his right knee, but Hitchcock expects him
to play in Game 2.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Dallas Clubhouse
New Jersey Clubhouse
Frozen Moment: Belfour's bad day
X-Factor: New Jersey's top guns
Three Stars and Game 1 at a glance
Daneyko's goal a rare but special one
RECAPS
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jason Arnott scores on the backhand.
avi: 870 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Darryl Sydor scores through the screen.
avi: 720 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Patrik Elias leaves the puck for Petr Sykora, who scores.
avi: 743 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Martin Brodeur denies Brett Hull a goal.
avi: 885 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Scott Stevens beats Ed Belfour.
avi: 763 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Jason Arnott knows the Devils can't get too excited.
wav: 83 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Arnott is not expecting the same performance by Ed Belfour.
wav: 65 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Petr Sykora says the Devils played the way they wanted to on Tuesday.
wav: 361 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Ed Belfour's cold medication may have affected his play in Game 1.
wav: 141 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Larry Robinson puts the Devils' Game 1 win in perspective.
wav: 139 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Ken Hitchcock says Martin Brodeur played great for New Jersey in Game 1.
wav: 80 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Martin Brodeur explains how the Devils took control of Game 1.
wav: 76 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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