New Jersey’s best defenseman, Scott Stevens, had the worst plus/minus rating to show for the opening game of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals against Colorado.
Stevens was a minus-3, which is determined by the goals for and goals against scored when a player is on the ice and teams are skating at even strength.
Although Stevens was on for the Avalanche’s first three goals, coach Larry Robinson refused to point the finger.
“Certainly it was not because of Scott Stevens that we lost 5-0,” said Robinson. “It was because we collectively–starting from the goaltender–did not play our best. If you are not playing at your best in the Stanley Cup finals, you are not going to win games.
“With [Colorado’s] speed, if they are not being physically challenged, they are going to skate against you all night.”
Stevens went into the game with a plus-9 rating for his previous 17 playoff games.
“Obviously, you don’t like to lose and you never like to lose like that,” he said. “Sometimes things happen.
“They really stretched us out. They put a guy up high at the post and tried to get the puck to him. He either tipped it to the middle or he dumped it in and the other two guys were coming with speed.”
Inoffensive: The Devils’ Brian Rafalski, who is the highest-scoring defenseman in the playoffs with 15 points on seven goals and eight assists, also played a game that wasn’t up to his standards. Rafalski was held to a single shot and was on the ice during the four-on-four situation late in the second period when Joe Sakic scored his second goal of the night and Colorado’s third of the game.
Different strokes: After facing only 99 shots in the five-game Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh, New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur was hit with 30 in Saturday’s game, 14 coming in the first period.
“Series are different; teams are different,” said Brodeur. “Colorado is a team that loves to shoot the puck. They shot some pucks from the red line and their blue line.
“Sakic is playing with a great deal of confidence, knowing that every time he shoots he has a great chance to score. If he does what he did [Saturday], we are going to have a hard time winning this series. Hopefully we will put doubt in his mind before this series is over.”
Horror show: With the Avalanche holding a substantial lead in the third period, the Devils started taking needless roughing, slashing, charging and fighting penalties. In the opening 40 minutes, the Devils were assessed two penalties totaling four minutes; in the final period they were whistled for nine infractions totaling 29 minutes. Nine of Colorado’s 11 penalties and 21 of its 25 minutes in the penalty box came in the third period.
