Devilish Development Red Wings Drop Game 2 Against N.J., Must Win On The Road To Stay Alive

They trailed the NHL’s best team, in the third period, on the road. The New Jersey Devils won anyway, and have a chance to capture the Stanley Cup at home.

“We played a super game. We showed that we can skate with them and play smart,” Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said Tuesday night after his team defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 to go up two games to none in the finals. “Our guys were physical and we nearly played a perfect game. Throughout the whole playoffs, it seems like they find a way to come back.”

Jim Dowd, a kid from the Jersey Shore who began rooting for the Devils when they relocated from Colorado in 1982, scored with 1:24 to play.

“It’s absolutely the kind of goal every player envisions he will score,” said Dowd, who missed all but 10 regular-season games with a shoulder injury and didn’t play in the finals opener.

The Red Wings, who had the NHL’s best record and went into the series with an 8-0 home record and 12-2 playoff mark, led 2-1 midway through the third period. But they gave up goals to Scott Niedermayer, Dowd and Stephane Richer in the final 10:13.

“I thought we played with a real sense of urgency, being down a game, and the flow of the game seemed to go with us,” Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman said. “But you have to be able to protect a lead.”

If the Red Wings are to break their 40-year Stanley Cup drought, they must win four of the next five games, including at least two on the road.

Only twice in finals history has a team won after dropping the first two games at home. Detroit was the loser - to Toronto in 1942 and to Montreal in 1966 - on those occasions.

New Jersey, which has a leagueplayoff record 10 road victories, can wrap up the Cup by winning at home on Thursday and Saturday nights. The Devils were in a similar situation in the previous round but Philadelphia won twice at New Jersey. The Devils then won the next two games.

“I hope we learned our lesson in the Philly series, but that’s a different series at a different time,” New Jersey’s Ken Daneyko said. “We can’t think about that now.”

Said teammate Bruce Driver: “We won’t do that again. We aren’t even really excited right now.”

On the winner, Detroit defenseman Paul Coffey blocked a shot by Guerin and lay on the ice even as the Devils passed the puck around Detroit’s zone.

Tommy Albelin got the puck to the right point for Shawn Chambers, whose slap shot was blocked by goalie Mike Vernon into the slot. Dowd then backhanded the puck into the vacated net.

Several Detroit players protested to referee Terry Gregson, saying they felt play should have been stopped because Coffey was injured, but Gregson kept play going.

Bowman said Gregson’s no-call was the correct call.

“I think it would be very unwise to criticize the referee in that situation,” he said. “If we had touched the puck, the referee would have had a decision to make. But we didn’t.”

Richer added an empty-net goal with 20.9 seconds to play as New Jersey pulled within two victories of its first title in franchise history.

Detroit, never held below 22 shots in any game during a season in which it had the NHL’s best record, was limited to 18 Tuesday. In Game 1, the Devils held the Red Wings to 17 shots.

Niedermayer’s tying goal, at 9:47 of the third period, came on a rare endto-end rush for a New Jersey defenseman as he beat both Coffey and Vernon on the play. The defenseminded Lemaire doesn’t like his defensemen to carry the puck deep into the opponents’ end.

“He just skated through them,” a proud Lemaire said.

Said Niedermayer: “When you’re down a goal, you want to try to create some offense. The opening was there and I just took off with it.”

The goals by Niedermayer and Dowd were part of a tough night for Coffey, one of the league’s best defensemen ever. Coffey also was caught deep in the offensive end when John MacLean scored at the end of a 3-on-1 break in the second period.

Notes

The Red Wings were well aware of the importance of winning Game 2. Since 1939, when the Finals became a best-of-seven series, only three teams have ever lost the first two games and come back to win the Cup. And the Wings themselves were the victims on two of those three occasions.

The last time it happened was in 1971 when the Chicago Blackhawks jumped on top of Montreal 2-0 and lost in seven games. The Red Wings, historically speaking, were in some trouble regardless of the outcome of Game 2. Only 12 teams have won the Cup after losing the opening game of the final series.

New Jersey forward Claude Lemieux isn’t surprised the Devils have a 10-1 road record in the playoffs.

“It takes pressure off your team,” said Lemieux about playing on the road. “The (home team) has to win. They work all year and have the homeice advantage and they can lose it in one night. And in the second game, the pressure doubles.”

The Devils have handed Detroit its only home losses of the playoffs. Detroit is 8-2 at home in the postseason.

While the Devils swear by their defensive system, one player who has seen both sides says it’s more fun playing for the relatively free-wheeling Red Wings.

“Nobody in New Jersey wants creative hockey,” said defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov, who was traded from the Devils to the Wings during the season. “They want dumping out, dumping in. No mistakes, but no fun, either. It’s just a job.”

New Jersey Coach Jacques Lemaire played on eight Stanley Cup champions with Montreal, but wears only the ring won by the 1977 team.

“That,” he said, “is the year we beat the (Philadelphia) Flyers. The Flyers had won two straight years and before the series they said they’d beat us in four and we did beat them in four.”

New Jersey 4, Detroit 2

New Jersey 0 1 3 - 4

Detroit 0 1 1 - 2

First Period-None. Penalties-Stevens, NJ (roughing), :37; Ciccarelli, Det (slashing), 5:57; McCarty, Det (roughing), 8:49; Broten, NJ (highsticking), 9:27.

Second Period-1, Detroit, Kozlov 9 (Ciccarelli, Fedorov), 7:17 (pp). 2, New Jersey, MacLean 5 (Niedermayer, Broten), 9:40. Penalties- Brodeur, NJ, served by Rolston (delay of game), 6:56; Guerin, NJ (slashing), 8:58; McCarty, Det (slashing), 8:58; Errey, Det (charging), 16:01; Dowd, NJ (interference), 18:30.

Third Period-3, Detroit, Fedorov 5 (Brown, Fetisov), 1:36. 4, New Jersey, Niedermayer 4 (Dowd), 9:47. 5, New Jersey, Dowd 2 (Chambers, Albelin), 18:36. 6, New Jersey, Richer 6 (Niedermayer), 19:39 (en). Penalties-Holik, NJ (boarding), 4:58.

Shots on goal-New Jersey 3-9-6-18. Detroit 7-6-10-23.Powerplay Opp.-New Jersey 0 of 3; Detroit 1 of 5.Goalies-New Jersey, Brodeur 14-4 (23 shots-21 saves). Detroit, Vernon 12-4 (17-14).A-19,875 (19,875).