Lemieux comes through again
Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New Jersey Devils remembered
what Claude Lemieux meant to their Stanley Cup champion team five
years ago.
They brought him back for moments just like the one he provided
Wednesday night to once again keep the Devils' season alive.
Lemieux scored with 8:34 left in the third period to snap a
scoreless tie and lead the Devils to a 2-1 victory over the
Philadelphia Flyers. New Jersey, which trailed 3-1 in the series,
forced a Game 7 at Philadelphia on Friday night.
|  | | Claude Lemieux scored the first goal of the game in the third period, leading the Devils to a 2-1 victory. |
"People were asking me for goals," said Lemieux, who has
scored 80 in the postseason -- eighth on the NHL's career list. "To
be able to come up with a goal like this tonight makes it much more
appreciated by me. I just loved the moment."
Only Eric Lindros' first goal for the Flyers kept Lemieux from
his 20th postseason game-winner. He is second only to Wayne Gretzky
on the career list.
The 34-year-old right wing has had plenty of proud postseason
moments. After scoring only six goals in a lackluster 1995 regular
season, Lemieux scored 13 to power the Devils to their only Stanley
Cup title.
"When you get hot from the start, you can't be stopped and
you're feeling good about yourself," said Lemieux, who has four
goals in this year's playoffs. "This was a slow start for me that
sort of tied into a slump late in the regular season. Sometimes you
can start to second-guess your ability, but I never second-guessed
that I could help this team."
Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello must have felt the same
way as he re-acquired Lemieux from the Colorado Avalanche last Nov.
3. A contract dispute following New Jersey's championship led
Lamoriello to deal him to Colorado. Lemieux had five goals in the
1996 playoffs as the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.
"I came back here to help this team be a better team, whether
it's the regular season or the playoffs and I'm fine with that,"
said Lemieux, who had 17 of his 20 goals after the trade that sent
Brian Rolston to Colorado.
"I take a lot of pride in the regular season," he added. "If
you don't have a good regular season, you don't get in the
playoffs."
After losing Game 4 at home to fall seemingly hopelessly behind,
New Jersey coach Larry Robinson screamed at his underachieving
team. Since then, the Devils have outscored the Flyers 6-2 to get
even.
"The way we lost was very disappointing," Lemieux said. "A
lot of coaches would have taken it easy on the group and said `OK
guys, it was a great year.' He really showed us that he believed in
us. He felt like we were quitting."
But New Jersey is very much alive in its quest to become the
first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a conference
finals.
"It's going to take a full team effort," defenseman Ken
Daneyko said. "It's going to be tough, it's tough to win three
games in a row. They did it to us, and we're going to try to do it
to them."
Robinson's yelling since last Saturday has been limited to
cheering his team's play.
"I'm sure everybody counted us out when we were down 3-1 and
probably rightfully so because Philly was playing great, and we
didn't really look like we were playing all that well," Robinson
said. "We've been facing Game 7 since Game 5 so we really just
have to keep going, keep thinking the same way. They've had
tomorrows, now we're both going back there with no tomorrows."
Philadelphia is not ready to fold up its tent, despite
squandering the series lead. The Flyers, who rallied from 15 points
behind the Devils to win the Atlantic Division and the right to
play host to a seventh game against the Devils have plenty left to
give.
"We'll have a plan for them in Philly and we'll go after them
and try and shut them down," Flyers forward Keith Jones said. "We
fought hard to get that first overall. We've earned the right to
have home ice, the last change and we can sit back and make a real
good game plan."
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