Tuesday, May 22 7:00pm ET
Devils wrap up the right to defend their title
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BOX SCORE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- While the journey through the
postseason has had some perilous moments, the defending champion
New Jersey Devils are right where they expected to be -- in the
Stanley Cup finals.
|  | | Martin Brodeur and the Devils danced into the Stanley Cup finals. Brodeur shut out the Pens in Games 3 and 4. |
Jason Arnott scored twice and the Devils inched closer to their
third title since 1995 by defeating Mario Lemieux and his Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 Tuesday night to win the best-of-seven
Eastern Conference final in five games.
Bobby Holik and John Madden also scored for the Devils, who will
face the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the finals Saturday in
Denver.
"We knew how good we can be," Holik said. "This is not a
surprise to us that we are back. It was just a matter of whether we
wanted to do it or not."
The Devils seemingly couldn't make up their minds for the opening two rounds of the playoffs. They were very inconsistent in beating the Carolina Hurricanes in six games and then they had to rally from a 3-2 series deficit to beat Toronto in seven games in the second round.
That comeback seemed to convince the Devils they wanted another
shot at the Cup. They dominated the Penguins in the conference
finals, holding Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, the league's leading scorer, without a goal.
"This is the most self-driven team I have ever seen," said
defenseman Sean O'Donnell, who was acquired late in the season as a
final piece to the Devils' puzzle.
"Larry (Robinson) is great with Xs and Os and he occasionally
gives a pep talk, but others guys aren't afraid to step up and
talk," O'Donnell added. "This team wants to play perfect hockey.
We win 3-1 and we're mad. We want to win 5-1. That's the sign of a
champion. That's why this team is going back."
New Jersey won both regular regular-season games with the
Avalanche, knocking out goaltender Patrick Roy twice in posting 6-1 and 6-3 wins.
"The regular season isn't always indicative of what's going to
happen," veteran Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko said. "It's nice
to know we were able to put some pucks behind and that we skated
well against them."
While they have had moments of inconsistency in the playoffs, the
Devils played some of their best hockey in bringing the curtain
down on the Penguins' storybook season in which Lemieux returned
after a 3½-year retirement.
Super Mario and Jagr had very little to show in this series,
starting with no goals. Jagr, who thinks he will be traded in the
offseason because of his $10 million salary, was held scoreless.
Lemieux has three assists, but showed his frustration in the final
minute by cross-checking Madden after he claimed the Devils forward
laughed at him.
"It was a great ride, especially after coming back after 3½
years," Lemieux said. "Obviously, we wanted to get to the finals.
We got beat by a great team."
Pittsburgh's Aleksey Morozov and Martin Straka each scored his second goal of the series in Game 5.
The talented Penguins had just seven goals in the series against Martin Brodeur and not many more scoring chances against the
Devils' tenacious neutral zone trap.
"I think that's a perfect model to compete for the Stanley
Cup," Lemieux said. "It's a great system they play. It's very
simple. You just have to have an organization that is committed to
playing it."
Pittsburgh actually played one of its better periods in the
second period but still fell behind 3-2 as Arnott broke a 1-1 tie
on a power play and Holik added another on an odd-man rush.
Arnott's second of the game and seventh of the playoffs came
when he one-timed a pass from Petr Sykora past a screened Johan
Hedberg at 7:41.
Holik stretched the lead to two goals a little less than five
minutes later, taking a drop pass from Jay Pandolfo and ripping a shot past Hedberg.
At that point it looked like the Penguins were done.
They weren't.
After Holik took a hooking penalty, Hedberg stopped Madden on a breakaway and Straka scored on a counterattack, putting his own rebound past Brodeur.
Straka was stopped on a rebound in close late in the second
period and Lemieux whiffed on a bouncing puck early in the third as
the Penguins came close to tying the game.
Madden ended their chances at 3:32 of the third period, breaking
in alone on the left wing and scoring one-on-one with Hedberg, who
was outstanding in making 19 saves.
After shutting out the Penguins in Games 3 and 4, the Devils
looked like they were ready to bury them in the opening minutes of
Game 5, when Arnott scored 57 seconds after the opening faceoff.
It took the Penguins almost 16 minutes to get their first shot, a bad-angle attempt by Jagr from the right corner.
About 40 seconds after that, they had a goal.
With Sykora being whistled for a delayed penalty, defenseman Ian
Moran took a pass from Jan Hrdina, lifted a pass over Brian
Rafalski's stick to Morozov all alone down low. The goal snapped
Brodeur's shutout streak at 151 minutes, 19 seconds.
Game notes
Pittsburgh was 3-1 playing on two days' rest coming into Game 5. ... New Jersey had lost three straight Game 5s -- all at
home -- dating to last year's finals. ... Rafalski added an assist, pushing his league-leading point total for defensemen to 15 (seven goals, eight assists). ... Kevin Stevens (knee, flu) and Robert
Lang (muscle strain) were scratched from the Penguins' lineup.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
New Jersey Clubhouse
Penguins-Devils Series Page
Shactman: End of era for Pens?
Lemieux's storybook season fizzles out against Devils
Forlorn Jagr ponders a future away from the Penguins
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jason Arnott nets his second goal of the game on the New Jersey power play.
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Jason Arnott lights the lamp for the Devils just 57 seconds into the first period.
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The Devils push the puck up the ice and Bobby Holik rifles home the one-timer.
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Turner Stevenson feathers the pass to John Madden who goes in all alone for the goal.
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Johan Hedberg comes up with the big save and Martin Straka capitalizes on the other end.
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Aleksey Morozov beats Martin Brodeur from close range on the delayed whistle.
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Martin Brodeur was amazed at how the Devils were able to shut down the Penguins' offense.
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 Mario Lemieux speaks with ESPN's Brian Engblom following Pittsburgh's Game 5 loss.
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Devils captain Scott Stevens talks about shutting down the Pens and moving on to the finals.
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Coach Larry Robinson felt quality goaltending and defense led to the Devils' series victory.
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