GAME DAY PREVIEWS
PLAYOFFS ROUND 2: EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI FINALS
Updated: Monday May 8, 2000 2:40PM EST
Monday May 8, 2000 Toronto at New Jersey 7pm
New Jeresey leads 3-2
The New Jersey Devils look to put away the Toronto Maple Leafs and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in five years Monday night in Game 6 of the series. New Jersey is one victory away from making their first appearance in the East finals since 1995, when it defeated Philadelphia to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time.
The Devils went on to sweep Detroit, earning their first championship.
Rookie Scott Gomez made two brilliant passes which led to goals and fellow rookie, Toronto-native John Madden tallied the eventual game-winner as New Jersey hung on for a 4-3 triumph over the Maple Leafs in Game Five on Saturday. Patrik Elias, Sergei Nemchinov and Vladimir Malakov also scored for the Devils.
Gomez is the favorite for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. But coach Larry Robinson nearly made him a healthy scratch in Game 2 and that has sparked him to play his best hockey of the postseason. In the three games since, he has two goals -- one game-winner -- and three assists.
As the final horn sounded the teams battled in the first serious altercations of the series. Darcy Tucker, who had battled with goaltender Martin Brodeur all game long, got into another scrum with the netminder. Ex-Devil Steve Thomas reopened a gash under his left eye when he exchanged blows with New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer.
But it did not stop there as an angry Maple Leaf fan taunted one of the Devils players as they left the ice following the game.
"Somebody jumped Marty, I don't know who," Madden said. "Cooler heads prevailed. A fan took liberties with one of our players when we were coming off the ice."
New Jersey has been outstanding on its special teams in the series. The Devils have killed all 18 of the Leafs' power plays while scoring five times in the last 16 chances with the man advantage over the last three games.
After winning all three of its home games against Ottawa and Game One of this series, Toronto has lost two straight at the Air Canada Centre and tonight will have to overcome what most likely will be the second sellout crowd of the postseason at Continental Airlines Arena.
Along with the struggles of their power play, the Leafs have had little offensive support from their top line. Captain Mats Sundin (one assist), Jonas Hoglund (one goal) and Thomas (one assist) have been held in check in this series after the line was the key factor in the elimination of Ottawa in six games.
Goaltender Curtis Joseph has kept Toronto in every game and has faced a barrage of shots as the Devils have kept the Leafs pinned in their own zone. The Devils have a 170-111 advantage in shots through five games.
Toronto is looking to force its first Game Seven since 1995. In their Western Conference quarterfinal battle with Chicago, the Leafs won Game 6 in overtime, but fell 5-2 in Game Seven.
New Jersey is 5-7 lifetime in Game 6 and has lost two straight. The Devils were eliminated by the Senators in 1998 and fell in overtime at Pittsburgh last season before bowing to the Penguins in Game 7.
Saturday May 6, 2000 New Jersey at Toronto 7:30pm
Series tied 2-2
In what is now a best-of-three series, the Toronto Maple Leafs have regained home-ice advantage and look to send the New Jersey Devils to the brink of elimination tonight in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Tomas Kaberle scored with 1:35 left in regulation Wednesday, sending the Maple Leafs to a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Devils in Game Four and evening the series at two games apiece. Kaberle's first-career playoff tally came 4:11 after Claude Lemieux tied the contest for New Jersey, which lost its first home postseason game. "Going back home 2-2 is big," Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "Being down 3-1 is not fun. And the odds are you don't come back from it." Toronto had a couple of very important firsts occur in Wednesday's triumph. The line of Mats Sundin, Steve Thomas and Jonas Hoglund played their first strong game of the series, with Hoglund recording his first goal and Thomas earning his first assist on the tally. It was also the first time the Leafs had scored in the first period in the playoffs. They had gone the entire quarterfinal series against Ottawa and the first three games of this series without scoring in the opening 20 minutes before tallying twice in the first period in Game 4. Goaltender Curtis Joseph was once again stellar in the net for Toronto, stopping 34 shots and improving to 6-4 in the playoffs. He has kept the Leafs in every game with key stops when his defense has failed. Toronto is now in the same position it was in during the first-round series with Ottawa. In that matchup, the Leafs won the final two games to take the series. For New Jersey, the club can take heed in that it has been in every game until the final horn. The Devils have outshot the Leafs in every game and have for the most part pinned Toronto in its defensive end for much of the series. The key for New Jersey could be rookie Scott Gomez and Lemieux. Gomez, who was on the verge of being scratched from Game Two, has scored in each of the last two games and has seemed to regain the form which made him a nominee and favorite for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Lemieux, who leads the Devils in shots during the postseason with 32, finally scored his first goal of the playoffs in Game 4, but has been typically pestering the Leafs into taking bad penalties. "I said since the first game if you score and don't win, it's no fun and it's not the objective," Lemieux said after Game Four. "You're excited when you tie it up but then you've got to finish it off. Although he has played inspired hockey, one person who needs to break a long goalless streak is Bobby Holik. He is one behind Lemieux in shots, but has not scored a goal in postseason play since April 23, 1997, Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quartefinals against Montreal. New Jersey is competing in its 11th series in which it was been tied after four games. The Devils are 4-6 in those situations, last winning in 1995, defeating Philadelphia in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Wednesday May 3, 2000 Toronto at New Jersey 7pm
New Jersey leads 2-1
The New Jersey Devils seek to take a commanding three games to one lead in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series with the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night in Game 4 at Continental Airlines Arena. New Jersey erupted for three goals in an eight-minute stretch during the second period after a scoreless opening 20 minutes and coasted to a 5-1 triumph over Toronto on Monday. One of the tallies came from rookie Scott Gomez, who was almost scratched from the lineup in Game Two. It was his first postseason goal since the opening contest against Florida, but his second game-winner of the playoffs. New Jersey also took the first lead in the series by more than one goal and outshot Toronto, 14-2, over the final 20 minutes. Another reason for the Devils' success over the last two games has been goaltender Martin Brodeur, who came within minutes of recording consecutive shutouts, until a meaningless goal by Kevyn Adams late in the third period. His 1.29 goals-against average and .946 save percentage in the postseason have propelled him among the league leaders in both categories. New Jersey also received some offense from the power play, which had been blanked in the first two games of the series. The Devils were 2-for-8 with the man advantage after not scoring in their previous five chances. Toronto has struggled and is even lucky to be down by only one game. The club has received no offensive support from the top line of captain Mats Sundin, former Devil Steve Thomas and Jonas Hoglund and the defense has supported goaltender Curtis Joseph. However, most of the current Maple Leafs have been in the same situation before. Last season, they were down two games to one and rallied to defeat Philadelphia and Pittsburgh before bowing to Buffalo in five games during the Eastern Conference Finals. Toronto still has not tallied in the first period in nine games during the postseason. Game 5 will be Saturday night in Toronto.
Monday May 1, 2000 Toronto at New Jersey 7pm
Series tied 1-1
The New Jersey Devils hope their newfound home-ice advantage can lead them to a two games to one series lead Monday night as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Rookie defenseman Colin White scored his first career playoff goal and Martin Brodeur made it stand up with 20 saves as the Devils claimed home-ice advantage in the series with a 1-0 blanking of Toronto. The win was the Devils' first in six meetings with the Maple Leafs this season (4-1-1). White became the fourth Devils blueliner to get a playoff game-winner, joining Scott Stevens, Brian Rafalski and Scott Niedermayer. He played only 21 games during the regular season but one of his two goals was a game-winner. Brodeur recorded his seventh career playoff shutout. Although he faced only five shots in the third period, he came up with a key stop on Sergei Berezin with 17 1/2 minutes remaining and denied Wendel Clark from point-blank range 10 minutes later. Playing on his 33rd birthday, Toronto netminder Curtis Joseph stopped 32 shots, but he could not prevent the Leafs from suffering their first home loss of the postseason. He also made 32 saves in a 2-1 win on Thursday. The Devils are 0-for-5 on the power play in this series and 2-for-21 in the postseason. But they have killed 23 of 24 shorthanded situations. Toronto has yet to score a goal in the first period during the playoffs.
Saturday April 29, 2000 New Jersey at Toronto 7pm
Toronto leads 1-0
The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to continue their dominance of the New Jersey Devils and take a commanding two games to none lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals tonight when the teams meet in Game Two.
Darcy Tucker scored the winning goal 1:18 into the final period and goaltender Curtis Joseph made it stand up with 32 saves as the Maple Leafs hung on for a 2-1 triumph over the Devils in Thursday's series opener.
New Jersey was victimized by bad luck, hitting the post at least three times and saw both of Toronto's scoring plays bounce off a Devils player.
Joseph, who was 3-0-1 against the Devils during the regular season, kept the lead intact with game-saving stops on Jason Arnott and Claude Lemieux early in the third period.
Petr Sykora scored the lone goal for New Jersey, which lost for the first time in this postseason. The club swept Florida in the opening round to reach the semifinals for the first time since 1997, when it was eliminated by the New York Rangers.
Toronto remained undefeated in the Air Canada Centre during the postseason, but has been outshot in all five of its playoffs wins.
Tucker continues to pay dividends since coming over from lowly Tampa Bay in February. He tallied his third game-winner of the postseason and his 17th in 57 games with the Maple Leafs.
Before the series started, Toronto coach Pat Quinn accused New Jersey of throwing the first punch, then looking for the retaliation from the opposition. In addition, the Devils were visited by NHL supervisor of officials John D'Amico, who warned the club against such tatics.
After Game One, Devils coach Larry Robinson talked about the Leafs being notorious for holding the stick.
Toronto went 0-for-5 on the power play in Game One and it has scored just twice in 28 chances in the postseason. New Jersey was 0-for-3 on the power play in Game One and is just 2-for-19 with the man advantage in the playoffs.
Wendel Clark had an assist for Toronto, moving into fourth in scoring on the club's all-time list with 61. He passed Ted Kennedy, George Armstrong and Frank Mahovlich and is just four points behind Darryl Sittler in third.
The Maple Leafs have yet to score a goal in the first period during the postseason.
The two teams have never met in the playoffs and the Devils are opening a series on the road for the first time since sweeping the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit.
Thursday April 27, 2000 New Jersey at Toronto 7pm
Series tied 0-0
Now that their first-round jinx is finally over, the New Jersey Devils can focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs as the teams battle Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
After losing in the opening round in each of the past two seasons, New Jersey made easy work of the Florida Panthers, sweeping them in four games. Toronto made it to the semifinals by disposing of province-rival Ottawa in six games.
The series will pit two of the premier goaltenders of the 1990s, Toronto's Curtis Joseph and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.
Brodeur shook off recent postseason disappointments and looked more like the goalie who backstopped New Jersey to the Stanley Cup championship in 1995. Against the Panthers, he allowed only six goals in four games and compiled a .942 save percentage.
Joseph was in typical postseason form with a 1.61 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage against the Senators, but it was a former Devil who helped Toronto reach the second round.
Relegated to a checking role for much of his three-year tenure in New Jersey, Steve Thomas is the Maple Leafs' leading playoff scorer with six goals and two assists. More importantly, he reversed Toronto's fortunes by scoring late in the third period of Game Five, then notching the overtime winner.
Captain Mats Sundin chipped in three goals and seven assists and, like Thomas, recorded an impressive plus-9 rating. He should see a lot of Devils defenseman Scott Stevens, who helped hold Florida's Pavel Bure to one goal in the four games.
Its first-round failures a thing of the past, New Jersey presents a more formidable challenge than Ottawa did. While the Devils and Senators employ systems that stress defense, New Jersey boasts more scoring threats.
Bolstered by the return of Scott Niedermayer, the Devils got five goals from defensemen and seven from forwards against Florida. During the season, however, one-third of their production came from the line of Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora and Jason Arnott, who combined for only two goals in the first round.
Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn would like to match that trio against defensemen Dimitri Yushkevich and Danny Markov, who held Ottawa's top line of Radek Bonk, Marian Hossa and Magnus Arvedson without a point.
But New Jersey is a deeper team. Scott Gomez is a favorite for the Calder Trophy after a 70-point season. Alexander Mogilny remains a threat from the right side and speedy rookie John Madden is a stellar penalty-killer.
Production from the likes of veterans Bobby Holik, Randy McKay and Claude Lemieux -- who combined for just five assists against Florida -- could pose matchup problems for Quinn.
Quinn got game-winning goals from four different players in the "Battle of Ontario." Thomas and Sundin were joined by sniper Sergei Berezin and tireless Darcy Tucker, who was acquired before the trade deadline from Tampa Bay and gives the Leafs a gritty edge they previously lacked.
Toronto will miss the faceoff skills of Yanic Perreault, who was injured in the first round, and needs more production from Igor Korolev and Dmitri Khristich. The Russian forwards managed just a goal and two assists against Ottawa.
New Jersey finished three points ahead of Toronto during the season, but the Maple Leafs will have home-ice advantage in this series after capturing their first division title in 37 years. Toronto went 3-0-1 against New Jersey this season.
Both teams struggled on the power play in the opening round. The Devils were 2-for-16, while Toronto was just 2-for-23. But New Jersey killed 13-of-14 power plays to rank second in the postseason.
The Leafs have presented problems for the Devils during Quinn's two-year tenure, going 5-1-2, including a 2-0-2 mark in New Jersey.