Defending champion New Jersey’s celebrated neutral-zone trap defense was buried by an Avalanche in Saturday night’s first game of the Stanley Cup finals.
Seizing the initiative in the opening period and never letting up, the Colorado Avalanche rolled to a decisive 5-0 victory.
Center Joe Sakic and defenseman Rob Blake were in the forefront as the Avalanche took Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur by storm.
Sakic collected a pair of goals, giving him 11 for the playoffs, and added an assist, while Blake contributed a power-play goal plus two assists. The other goals were by Chris Drury and Steven Reinprecht.
“I think the key is neutral-zone play against that team,” said Sakic. “They are so good at their transition, they have a lot of speed and a lot of scorers up front who can capitalize.
“We watched the tapes of Pittsburgh [which lost to New Jersey in the Eastern Conference finals]. Pittsburgh turned over the puck a lot and let them skate. If we can keep doing the simple plays and get the puck behind their defensemen and not let them use their transition, we will be well off.”
When New Jersey did get scoring chances, goaltender Patrick Roy squelched them. Roy made 25 saves, including a first-period gem against John Madden.
“I thought that was my best save, my most important save,” said Roy, who was protecting a one-goal lead when he made the stop.
The win was Roy’s ninth straight in the finals, one shy of Ken Dryden’s record set in 1976-78. It also marked his 18th career playoff shutout.
Colorado outshot the Devils 14-7 in the first period and opened the scoring at 11 minutes 7 seconds when Sakic was set up by Milan Hejduk and sent a shot from the right circle past Brodeur.
“I just went down the sideline and Milan made a perfect play,” said Sakic. “I just skated into it.”
The Avalanche piled on two more goals in the second period and another two in the third.
According to Blake, Roy’s play in goal was a major factor in the Avalanche being able to assert itself on offense. “You know it’s going to take a great play to beat him,” said Blake. “If he sees it coming, he’s going to stop it.”
Coach Bob Hartley was delighted with the game the Avalanche played.
“Our neutral-zone pressure was great,” he said. “We caused a lot of turnovers. Our transition game was excellent. We did a great job of driving to the net. Our players gave us a great game.
“Joe was simply Joe. It’s normal for us to see a performance like this from him.”
New Jersey coach Larry Robinson’s assessment?
“It was our inability to control their top line that was part of the difference,” he said. “We know all the little things they do. We didn’t react to them very well. We were a step behind all night.
“Our passes weren’t good. We always were looking for the extra pass when the shot was there.”
Early in the second period the Devils lost one of their best defensive forwards, Randy McKay. After taking a check from Ray Bourque, he left the contest with a fractured hand.
“I kind of saw him and tried to get out of the way, and he caught my hand and jammed it,” said McKay. “It was two fingers on the outside. I’ll be out a couple of games probably. If it gets a little better, I will try at the end of the week and see if I can play if we tape it.
“Right now there is no way I can hold the stick.”
Game 2 will be played Tuesday night in Denver.
