STANLEY CUP FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 1:
#4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs # 2 DALLAS STARS DEVILS
Series tied 0-0
Game time: Tuesday May 30th, 2000 8pm at New Jersey
The New Jersey Devils begin a quest for their first Stanley Cup championship in five years when they host Game 1 of the finals against the defending champions, the Dallas Stars. New Jersey, left for dead after a Game 4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, bounced back from a three games to one series deficit when they won Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 2-1, on Friday.
The victory enabled the Devils to return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1995, when it swept the Detroit Red Wings for the franchise's first championship.
Dallas avoided a third-period collapse Saturday to the Colorado Avalanche to post a 3-2 victory in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
The Stars earned their second consecutive Clarence Campbell Trophy and will look to become the first repeat champions since the Red Wings won consecutive championships in 1997 and 1998.
A key for New Jersey will be whether rugged defenseman Scott Stevens continues his sparkling play, which has made him a favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy. He has shut down every talented scorer each team has thrown his way and may have ended the career of Flyers center Eric Lindros with a thundering hit in Game 7.
Stevens will now be expected to stop the red-hot combination of Mike Modano and Brett Hull. Modano is one of the game's most talented centers and is the Stars' quarterback on their lethal power play. Hull has one of the most deceptive slap shots in the NHL while leading all playoff scorers with nine goals and 20 points.
"I am assuming that myself and (rookie) Brian (Rafalski) will be playing against the Modano line," Stevens said. "We have other good defensemen on this team, we have guys capable of playing. We are not going to worry about the matchups too much, but I think we will be playing against them."
The Devils have also had their game-breaking line going in high-gear. Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora have provided the squad with countless numbers of scoring chances throughout the postseason. Elias scored four goals in the conference finals, including two in Game 7.
The main focus will be on the battle between New Jersey's Martin Broduer and Dallas netminder Ed Belfour.
Both goalies have been spectacular and own almost identical statistics. Brodeur is 12-5 with a 1.77 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. Belfour is 12-5 with a 1.81 GAA and .931 save percentage.
Brodeur has again established himself as a top playoff goaltender after his squad had won just one playoff series since winning the Cup in 1995.
Belfour outdueled Colorado's Patrick Roy for the second consecutive year in the postseason and outplayed Buffalo's Dominik Hasek, whom many consider the best goaltender in the world, in last season's finals.
Dallas won both games between the teams during the regular season, winning each by one goal.
"I think it should be a close series," New Jersey coach Larry Robinson said. "We both have, I think, really good goaltending and solid lines. Certainly, it should be an exciting series and I hope for hockey's sake that it is a very exciting series. It should be two teams very closely matched, and basically it should come down to probably specialty teams."
Only one point separated these teams during the regular season, but that was enough to give New Jersey home-ice advantage, something it did not have when it completed the four-game sweep of Detroit in 1995.