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BOX SCORE
DALLAS (AP) -- Dallas supposedly had the stars. So far in the
Stanley Cup finals, it's been the New Jersey Devils who have the
scorers.
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Sat, June 3
Well, the guys in red looked pretty good in Game 3. It
was one of those games that Dallas could say 'if we had
just gotten a break'. But without Eddie Belfour, it
wouldn't have been close. It's like, if Dallas had
not gotten another power play opportunity, they weren't
going to be able to do anything.
The Devils showed that
they are an incredible team on both sides of the puck.
They have a great offensive attack, and the Arnott line
served as leaders as we always expect them to do. But when it comes
time to shut people down, they shut people down. Ken
Hitchcock tried multiple line combinations, tried to put
together two scoring units in the third period -- no matter
what he did, the Devils consistently looked like the
stronger team.
This gives New Jersey great momentum because it
leaves the Stars scratching their heads. Not only did Dallas
need great goaltending to stay close, but they
weren't able to get pucks past Martin Brodeur.
Ken Hitchcock and his coaching staff now are going to have to
spend most of the day tomorrow scratching their heads. And I'm not sure they can come
up with any answers.
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The Devils' top line scored twice, with Petr Sykora and Jason
Arnott each scoring their third goal in three games, and shut out
Dallas' big scorers for a 2-1 victory Saturday night in Game 3.
The Devils overcame an early deficit, in one of the toughest
buildings for any road team to win, behind goaltender Martin
Brodeur's strong play to seize a 2-1 advantage over the defending
champion Stars. Game 4 is Monday night in Reunion Arena.
It has started at the top for the Devils, who lack Dallas' big
names and big guns yet are getting a huge series from Sykora,
Arnott and Patrik Elias, who have 14 points to four for the Stars'
Brett Hull, Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen.
Brodeur stopped 22 of 23 shots, several during a power play
resulting from his own delay of game penalty with 4:15 to play.
"Our penalty killing won this game for us," said coach Larry
Robinson, whose Devils killed off a two-man advantage after Dallas
opened a 1-0 lead.
Arnott scored the tying goal late in the first period, then set
up Sykora's game winner on a power play in the second. Apparently,
the Devils' top liners paid attention when Robinson said he wished
he had split them up because of their ineffectiveness in Dallas'
2-1 victory in Game 2.
"We didn't play that well in second game. We knew we had to
come back and score some goals," Sykora said. "This is the way we
wanted to come back. We could've scored a couple more, but we'll
take those two goals."
Defenseman Ken Daneyko said, "They were unhappy with what
happened in Game 2. They have carried us all season and they came
up with a big effort again."
The dominance by a Devils No. 1 line that had 11 points in a 7-3
romp in Game 1 is particularly significant because both coaches
have frequently matched their top lines. Modano was unhappy his
line didn't go against the Devils' No. 1 line nearly as much in
Game 3.
"They're two of the best lines in NHL, and it has been a bit of
a pattern," Devils defenseman Scott Stevens said. "Hopefully, we
can now put two good games together."
|  | | Jason Arnott, bottom right, didn't care where he was when he scored. He was just pumped to tie the game. |
Also, Stars forward Joe Nieuwendyk, the MVP of last year's
playoffs, doesn't have a point in the series.
"Obviously the key to our success is our depth," Modano said.
"If we're scoring one or two goals a game, we need support. That's
they way it was last year, we always got key goals from the other
guys in our lineup."
Now, the Stars aren't getting reliable scoring from any line.
"We're not playing with the necessary sense of urgency," coach
Ken Hitchcock said. "With the defense so strong, it takes that
kind of urgency to score goals in a series like this."
The Stars supposedly had all the advantages going back to a
humid Reunion Arena, where the ice is always soft and the Stars
hard to beat, going 9-1 previously in the playoffs and 11-1 since
the Cup finals a year ago.
But the Devils' defense-driven road show plays successfully just
about everywhere, as evidenced by their 8-2 playoff record away
from home.
"The ice was bad and it was really hot, but we came through,"
Brodeur said.
Sykora's goal at 12:27 of the second, his ninth of the
postseason, proved the game winner.
Sykora, who had two goals in Game 1, took Arnott's pass and
snapped it past goaltender Ed Belfour, who mistimed the hard shot,
closing his glove a millisecond after the puck flew by. The power
play resulted from Sylvain Cote's elbowing of John Madden, directly
in front of referee Terry Gregson.
It was only the 14th goal allowed by Belfour in the Stars' 11
home playoff games. Belfour played well, turning aside 29 of 31
shots, many on acrobatic saves, but had no help from his offense.
"Their desperation to defend was more evident than our
desperation to score," Hitchcock said. "Their ability to defend
was everything."
Dallas took a 1-0 lead, just as it did in Game 2. With the Stars
on only their second power play of the series, Lehtinen's hard shot
from the left circle deflected off Brodeur's chest. Stevens tried
to clear, but swept the puck into the right circle directly to
Cote, who wristed it into the top of the net at 13:08 of the first.
Later in the period, the Stars missed an excellent opportunity
to expand the lead when they couldn't score during a two-man power
play lasting 49 seconds.
"We could have put a nail into things if we had scored there,"
Hitchcock said.
About a minute after Claude Lemieux's cross-checking penalty
expired, the Devils tied it at 18:06 on Arnott's seventh goal of
the playoffs. Derian Hatcher and Dave Manson couldn't get the puck
out of the Stars' end, allowing Arnott to drive down the slot and
steer a shot by Belfour just as he was swept off his skates.
The 2-1 lead -- New Jersey is 9-1 when leading into the third
period -- allowed the Devils to be at their neutral zone-trapping
best in a third period in which Brodeur had to make only a couple
of difficult saves. He stopped 22 of 23 shots.
Dallas had a chance to tie it when Brodeur drew a delay of the
game penalty for shooting the puck into the stands at 15:45, but
the Stars didn't have any especially good scoring chances during
the power play.
"It was a bad mistake, but my team came through for me,"
Brodeur said.
The Stars got their usual thunderous support from their 101st
consecutive sellout crowd in Reunion Arena, a low-roofed concrete
relic from the 1970s they will abandon a year from now for a new
arena.
However, the white towels the fans usually wave were missing. It
seems they were shipped to Minnesota -- the Stars' former home -- and
weren't rerouted in time for the game. Late in the second period,
arena staffers handed out substitute white paper towels.
But, just like the Stars' ineffective top line, they weren't a
reasonable facsimile of the real thing.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
New Jersey Clubhouse
Dallas Clubhouse
Frozen Moment: A clinic on killing Dallas
X Factor: Dallas demise tied to matchups
Three Stars and Game 3 at a glance
Game 3: New Jersey road warriors
RECAPS
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Martin Brodeur goes airborne to make the save.
avi: 594 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jason Arnott fights through two defenders to beat Ed Belfour for the goal.
avi: 694 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Sylvain Cote finds the wide open net to score the power-play goal.
avi: 901 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Petr Sykora fires the shot from the blue line for the power-play goal.
avi: 952 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Jason Arnott explains New Jersey's Game 3 victory over Dallas on Saturday.
wav: 165 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Jason Arnott says New Jersey came out focused in Game 3.
wav: 181 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Ken Hitchcock calls Jason Arnott's goal the key to Game 3.
wav: 124 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Larry Robinson is proud of his team for rebounding from the Game 2 loss.
wav: 178 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Scott Stevens knows the Devils needed to win a game on the road.
wav: 91 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mike Modano exlpains the key to Dallas' success.
wav: 138 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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