Playoffs 2000:X-Factor: New Jersey's top guns

X-Factor: New Jersey's top guns
By Joe Lago
ESPN.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Meadowlands marquee said it was the Stanley Cup finals' Game 1 that was held Tuesday night in Continental Airlines Arena. But the flashing scoreboard inside made it seem more like a high-scoring Arena Football game.


	Jason Arnott, center, was pumped up about the play of his team in Game 1 of the Cup finals, but he was also pleased about the play of his line.

An impressive display of passing and scoring by New Jersey's top line of Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora was entertaining for 19,040 in attendance. But it was downright embarrassing for the defending champion Stars as the Devils kicked off the finals in a very un-playoff-like fashion with a 7-3 rout.

This type of offensive outburst is normally seen in a non-checking shoot-a-thon called the NHL All-Star Game. Ten goals in a Cup final game? That hasn't happened since 1982, when the New York Islanders beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-5 in overtime. Seven goals by one team? That hasn't been done since Colorado's 8-1 thrashing of Florida in 1996.

"All the guys were ready to play," said Sykora, who had a four-point night that included two goals. "All four lines were rolling. We all had fresh legs out there."

The trio of Elias, Arnott and Sykora skated circles around Dallas' usually stingy defense. The line combined for 11 points and four goals, producing six points and two goals against Dallas' top two lines. The threesome also registered a total of plus-9 while helping shut down Mike Modano, Brett Hull and Joe Nieuwendyk.

"We kept the puck (in their end) and cycled well," Sykora said. "We always kept a third man high and made sure there was support. That's why we were so successful tonight."

"We just went out and worked hard," said Arnott, who also scored twice. "The pucks went in for us tonight. Guaranteed, Game 2 will be a little different."

Will it?

Elias had no problem carrying the puck deep into the Dallas zone to gain assists on Arnott and Sykora's first goals. Elias deked himself out of a shot while stickhandling by goalie Ed Belfour but still managed to drop a pass back for Sykora, whose point-blank one-timer gave the Devils a 3-1 lead at 10:28 of the second period.

Elias finished with three assists to run his team-leading playoff point total to 18.

"Defensively, we just didn't do what we were supposed to do," Nieuwendyk said of the Stars' effort. "We didn't slow them down and they were able to do what they had to do."

"I think our whole group really struggled in our zone with the quickness," Dallas head coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I don't think we have played against a group of forwards this quick before, and I think we made a lot of mistakes because of it."

The moving targets made if difficult for the Stars defensemen to lay their usual number of hits. New Jersey actually out-hit Dallas 30-27.

"It is nice for some of our guys to start scoring some goals because they have been hard to come by," Devils coach Larry Robinson said. "So far we have been hitting a lot of posts and missing the net, so it was nice to see a few pucks go in."