No one will ever again call the New Jersey Devils a Mickey Mouse team.
Mighty Mouse, maybe.
It was Wayne Gretzky who once pinned that smirking label on the Devils, but not even the Great One in his prime could have made much difference Thursday night.
As a crowd of 19,040 screamed in delight, the Devils dismantled the once-mighty Detroit Red Wings 5-2 in Brendan Byrne Arena and moved within a victory of clinching the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. That could come as soon as Saturday night and unless there is a major transformation in one of these two teams, it will.
The Red Wings certainly know only one team in history has come back from a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup finals. They were the losing team when the Toronto Maple Leafs did it in 1942.
The Red Wings could whine after their two losses at home that they were fortune’s stepchildren, but they were totally dominated, thoroughly humiliated, here Thursday night. A team that had not lost three games in a row even once this season was out of it by midway through the second period.
By then the only thing in doubt was whether Martin Brodeur could hold on for his fourth shutout of the playoffs.
The Wings finally got a pair of goals from Sergei Fedorov and Steve Yzerman in the final three minutes while the Devils’ Sergei Brylin was serving a double minor.
Scotty Bowman’s mother undoubtedly once told him, “Be careful what you wish for because you may get it.” Bowman had been carping all week that the Devils were getting away with holding the stick and had asked the officials to be on the lookout for it.
Referee Kerry Fraser was only too happy to oblige, but it was Bowman’s own defenseman, Vladimir Konstantinov, who was detected glomming onto Tom Chorske’s stick in the first period.
It was while Konstantinov was in the penalty box that Bruce Driver scored the game’s first goal on a drive from the left point that went through a screen in front of the net and also through Mike Vernon’s pads. It was the first goal of the playoffs for the veteran defenseman, who has spent his entire NHL career with the Devils.
The delirious Jersey fans unleashed a barrage of seafood on the ice, including a fish and a lobster–but no octopus. That wouldn’t come until the third period after Bobby Holik’s power-play goal built the lead to 5-0.
The critical second goal came with the teams skating four aside as a result of a double unsportsmanlike penalty.
Only 14 seconds into the double minor, Bobby Carpenter’s pass found Claude Lemieux just onside at the blue line. The leading goal scorer of the playoffs took a half-dozen strides and unleashed a bullet from the top of the circle that beat Vernon low on his glove side for a 2-0 lead.
All of the Red Wings’ walking wounded were back on the ice, including Keith Primeau and Fedorov, both considered iffy. Primeau was probably the Wings’ best player in the opening period but Detroit could level only seven shots on Brodeur.
It was Neal Broten who made it 3-0 seven minutes into the period when he picked the puck up along the boards at mid-ice, cut to the middle and, with defender Mike Ramsey in front of him, fired from just inside the blue line. Again the shot beat Vernon low on his glove side.
Just 81 seconds later the Devils scored again, getting a goal from the Crash Line of Randy McKay, Holik and Mike Peluso. McKay kept the puck in the zone, skating it behind the net before sending it to the point.
Vernon stopped Driver’s shot but the rebound kicked out to Holik, who passed to McKay in the slot for the goal and a 4-0 lead.
