NHL und andere ausländische Ligen » DEVILS HOLEN DEN STANLEY CUP!

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Home has never been so sweet for the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils' home-ice dominance produced adjacent to Exit 16W of the New Jersey Turnpike, resulted in the best outcome possible for a hockey team Monday night as New Jersey captured its third Stanley Cup in the last nine years with typically relentless 3-0 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the seventh game of the 2003 Finals.

Buoyed by Martin Brodeur's third shutout of these Finals and a huge effort from rookie center Mike Rupp -- the game-winning goal and two assists -- and more timely scoring from winger Jeff Friesen, the Devils were unbeatable on the ice of Continental Airlines Arena.

Mighty Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of this postseason after he led the Ducks to series victories over the Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild before coming up short against the Devils.

"You have to give them credit," Giguere said of the Devils. "They played really well. They are a really good team and tonight they deserved to win."

New Jersey captain Scott Stevens, who accepted the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for the third time, was quick to credit the Ducks.

"I give them a lot of credit," Stevens said. "They never quit and they made it very difficult for us.

"This is so hard to win," Stevens continued. "I never would have thought this would have happened again, but we started at the beginning of the year and we built and worked hard as a team. We've got a lot of character and guys worked hard together. All year, we found a way to win. It was never easy for us to win all the games we won. We had 108 points, but all of those were close games, hard-fought games. Once again, we found a way to win, we found a way to win this last game of the year."

The Devils won the Cup in Game 7 the way they did all season long. Brodeur provided great goaltending, the defense was suffocating and the scoring was opportunistic. In addition, the Devils are a maddeningly patient team that doesn't make mistakes and are simply relentless.

"It was exciting," said New Jersey coach Pat Burns, who, ironically, banged home his point all season that the Devils needed to be calm, cool and collected. "I'm glad for this team. I think the biggest thing is you're afraid to disappoint people. Not really for myself, but I was afraid to disappoint people -- your family, the fans."

Jeff Friesen's second goal of the game at 16:16 made it 3-0 and started the party at Exit 16W off the New Jersey Turnpike as the Devils recorded their 16th win of the Playoffs against a true Cinderella story.
Well, no one rooting for the Devils Monday night came away the least bit disappointed as the Devils' third Stanley Cup in nine years places them square in the middle with the Detroit Red Wings when talking about dominant teams of the last decade.

"Three Cups in nine years is something special," said veteran defenseman Ken Daneyko, who had sat out the first six games of the Finals. "We have built a solid foundation for next year. For us, we don't care about the Rodney Dangerfield mentality. This year was probably the most difficult year of all. It was a year that, going into the season, I didn't really know what to expect. We were a different kind of team. This is as great a feeling as you're ever going to get."

"Right now it's an empty feeling," Mighty Ducks coach Mike Babcock said. "I'm real proud of our guys who came in at the beginning of the year. People didn't know we were alive at the start of the year and we're alive now. We know that we have to have a much better team to be back here again."

The Devils set an NHL record with their 12th home win of these Playoffs, posting a 12-1 record at Continental Airlines Arena. In addition, Brodeur sent a single-season mark with his seventh shutout and tied a Stanley Cup Finals record with his third shutout of the series. For the Finals, Brodeur was 4-3 with a 1.73 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. In New Jersey's 24-game run to the Cup, Brodeur was 16-8 with a 1.68 GAA and .928 save percentage.

In addition, Stevens played in his 13th career Game 7, tying retired goaltender Patrick Roy for first place on the all-time list. Daneyko appeared in his 12th Game 7, tied for third place on the all-time list.

Friesen's second of the game at 16:16 made it 3-0 and started the party going in full force. For the Mighty Ducks, who posted upset victories over Detroit, Dallas and Minnesota, falling short to the Devils was a bitter pill.

Martin Brodeur became just the third goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
"It's not a question of us not wanting it," Giguere said. "It's a question of them playing well. At the end, we just couldn't do it."

The Devils have been a solid second-period team throughout these Playoffs and it was very apparent in this, the last game of the postseason, when everything was on the line. The middle 20 minutes produced two goals that triggered another daunting stat for the Devils who entered Game 7 with a 28-0 record in Stanley Cup competition when leading after two periods. New Jersey also entered the game with a 10-0 record when scoring first in a game.

Rupp, who has assumed a huge amount of responsibility since being inserted into the lineup in Game 4 to help stem Anaheim's faceoff dominance, scored the first goal of the game at 2:22 of the period. Rupp, stationed in front of the Anaheim net, deflected a Scott Niedermayer shot from the blue line between the legs of Giguere. It was Rupp's first career Playoff goal and couldn't have come at a better time for the Devils.

Anaheim didn't slink away after Rupp's goal. In fact, the Mighty Ducks turned up the heat in a big way in the New Jersey zone. Fourth-line winger Dan Bylsma nearly tied it at 8:45 when he came around the New Jersey net and tired to ram the puck past Brodeur.

Brodeur came up with a huge save at 9:04 when Steve Thomas broke in down the right wing, cut to the net and put a shot on Brodeur through traffic that was punched wide of the net.

Adam Oates got into the act at 10:15 and may have been too selfless, dishing a pass across the slot to a covered linemate when he probably had a better shot himself.

Seconds later Brodeur was called upon to make another strong save on a point drive from Niclas Havelid that he steered away from the New Jersey net. But the Ducks weren't done as Brodeur was forced to make another stop on Steve Rucchin from the slot with 8:52 left.

The Devils gave themselves some breathing room at 12:18 when former Mighty Duck Jeff Friesen scored his ninth goal of the Playoffs, slamming the rebound of a shot by Rupp past Giguere. Scott Niedermayer also assisted on the goal, getting another point shot caroming around the Anaheim end.

Pascal Rheaume nearly made it a three-goal game at 16:15 when his shot along the goal line to Giguere's left snuck through the goalie and hung on the goal line. New Jersey's Turner Stevenson was unable to push the puck across the line and Giguere covered up.

But that near-miss proved to be inconsequential. The Devils are a team noted for never relinquishing a lead and that was going to be especially true on this night when the light at the end of a long tunnel was the glimmer of the Stanley Cup, all shined up and ready to be presented to the NHL's newest champion.

Quelle: NHL.com

Naja ich spiele zwar mit den Devs in der Online-Liga aber im echten Leben wärs mir dann doch lieber gewesen wenn die Ducks die silberne Regentonne geholt hätten.

Magro

***Alexander Serikow, zieh das Trikot aus! (...das Bayern Trikot)***
***Zak McKracken Nedved Eishockeygott***

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