East Rutherford, NJ (My Sportsbook) - What once consisted of 30 teams dwindles down to two tonight when the
New Jersey Devils host the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals at the Meadowlands.
The matchup is one of teams with two very different backgrounds, as one is a perennial power while the other is an upstart. New Jersey is making its fourth Finals appearance -- third in the last four years -- and Anaheim, which had been absent from the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, will make its debut in the championship round.
The focus of the series is an obvious one: between the pipes. Two Quebec-bred butterfly-style netminders will try to go save-for-save with one another, and the one who blinks most will likely fall.
On one hand there is Martin Brodeur, who has won two championships and an Olympic Gold Medal. With the exception of a couple poor outings, the Vezina favorite has carried his regular season momentum right over into the playoffs, posting a 1.62 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and four shutouts.
The Ducks' Jean-Sebastien Giguere, meanwhile, has risen from the obscurity of Orange County and is challenging the history books. He has registered a 1.22 goals-against average, .960 save percentage and four shutouts. His GAA is the third-best in one playoff year, and his SP is second all-time. In the conference final sweep over Minnesota, Giguere allowed just one goal, and it wasn't scored until the first period of Game 4.
"He's been playing really well," Brodeur said of Giguere. "He's playing with a lot of confidence. I think that's one of the things we're going to try to get to, make him play the game the hard way and not seeing pucks and making him make mistakes.
"I think they play well in front of him. They let him see a lot of shots. He's not going to beat himself too much. We're going to have to work really hard to get some offense on him."
Giguere somewhat downplayed the roles of the goaltenders in this series.
"It's team against team," Giguere said. "Whoever shows up best as a team is going to win. Obviously, a goalie's a part of the team, so you need the goalie to play well, along with your defensemen and your forwards. That's the only way you're successful."
Giguere and the Ducks, who have been off for 10 days, got to this point by shocking the hockey world with consecutive series wins over Detroit and Dallas, the top two seeds in the West, before disposing of Minnesota last round.
In addition to tremendous defensive play in front of him, Giguere has benefited from a balanced offensive attack that has helped Anaheim pull out 10 wins by one goal this spring. The Ducks have received two goals or more from nine different players, led by captain Paul Kariya's five. Kariya, who has been waiting nearly a decade to lead Anaheim to this point, had scored only once in an eight-game span before coming through with two tallies in a crucial Game 3 win versus Minnesota. Veteran playmaker Adam Oates and former Devil Petr Sykora have also started to heat up. Oates posted two goals -- both in Game 4 -- and three assists last round, and Sykora notched a score and two helpers.
New Jersey, meanwhile, defeated Boston and Tampa Bay in five games apiece before getting past top-seeded Ottawa in seven games. Game 7 of the East finals was on Friday in Ottawa, so the Devils have had only three full days off.
In the deciding contest, Jeff Friesen, who will now face his former team, snapped a 2-2 tie with 2:14 left in the third period to provide the heroics. Jamie Langenbrunner scored the other two goals for Jersey, tallying twice in a 1:54 span of the second period to put the team ahead after they fell behind 1-0.
The Devils have looked to numerous sources for goals this spring, as they lack the Alex Mogilny-type player they had during their last Cup run in 2000. But the hero of the conference finals was clearly Friesen, who potted three of New Jersey's four game-winners in the series after scoring just twice the entire playoffs.
Langenbrunner's two tallies in Game 7 were refreshing, considering he hadn't found the net in nine straight tilts after scoring seven goals in as many games to begin the postseason. Checker Jay Pandolfo helped the Devils to their early lead against Ottawa by scoring three goals in the first four games.
The one player the Devils would like to see get going is Patrik Elias, who has scored just twice after leading the team in goals during the regular season. Former Conn Smythe winner Joe Nieuwendyk is also key, but he's currently nursing a lower body injury and his level of contribution is in doubt.
Defensively, New Jersey has the pedigree with Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer leading the way, but Anaheim hasn't slouched either. Keith Carney has been the team's top warrior in these playoffs, averaging 28 minutes of ice time per-night while going head-to-head with the opponents' top guns.
Both teams also get tremendous help from their forwards on defense. The Devils have two of the best checkers around in Selke finalist John Madden and linemate Pandolfo, while the Ducks utilize Steve Rucchin and Rob Niedermayer the same way.
New Jersey is 8-1 at home this postseason, while Anaheim is 6-1 on the road.
Game 2 will be played Thursday night at the Meadowlands.
NOTABLE
Scott and Rob Niedermayer will be the first brothers to face each other in the championship round since Terry Reardon and Ken Reardon, who represented Boston and Montreal, respectively, in 1946...We will get to see who won the seven- player trade the teams completed last summer. The principles of the swap were Sykora going to Anaheim and Friesen and Oleg Tverdovsky heading to North Jersey...The Devils won both regular season meetings with the Ducks and have taken nine of the last 10 clashes overall.
