Game Recap

NEW JERSEY 7, DALLAS 3 (AP) - Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock loves to relive the past, yet this historical footnote apparently eluded him. The New Jersey Devils are nobody's underdogs. Petr Sykora scored twice in a four-point night and Ken Daneyko, who has played every postseason game in Devils history, scored his first playoff goal in five seasons as New Jersey's top line embarrassed Dallas' stars in a commanding 7-3 victory Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. "This team worried us," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "We have a lot of respect for them, and we still do. We knew we couldn't let up at all." They didn't. Sykora assisted on Jason Arnott's two goals as the Devils, attempting to become the first Eastern Conference team to win the Stanley Cup since they did it five years ago, badly outplayed the defending champions at their own game. The Devils' top line of Sykora, Arnott and Patrik Elias combined for four goals and 11 points and now have nine goals in the last five games. By contrast, the Stars' Brett Hull and Mike Modano, the top two scorers in the playoffs, went scoreless, with Brodeur making a key save of Hull's shot less than a minute before the Devils took a 3-1 lead. Barely a week ago, the Devils were down 3-1 to Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference finals and were a loss away from playoff elimination. Now it's the Stars who badly need a comeback. "We were flat and a step late all night," said Hitchcock, who often spends his summers reenacting Civil War battles. "I think our whole group really struggled in our own zone with the quickness. I don't think we've played against a group of forwards this quick before, and we made a lot of mistakes because of it." The Devils, considered the underdogs just as they were when they upset Detroit in four games in the 1995 Finals, can take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series by winning Thursday night at home. The Stars are 11-1 at home in the playoffs since last year's Finals against Buffalo, but even they can't like their chances if they go back to Reunion Arena down two games. Especially since the Devils still haven't lost a Stanley Cup playoff finals game. They are 5-0, including their sweep of Detroit. The game was vintage Devils -- vintage 1995, that is. The Devils followed still-new coach Larry Robinson's game plan to perfection. They seized the critical early lead, dusted off the neutral-zone trap that was so effective in '95 to shut down Dallas' scorers and let Brodeur stop the shots that sneaked through their defense. Remarkably, the Devils didn't commit a single penalty, thus keeping Dallas' dangerous power play grounded all night. Dallas goaltender Eddie Belfour was no better than the forwards in front of him. Belfour, who had allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of his previous 13 games, yielded six goals on 18 shots before being replaced by Manny Fernandez with 16:58 left. The Stars allowed just 13 goals in the entire Avalanche series -- the fewest in 50 years in a seven-game Stanley Cup semifinal series. Belfour took a decongestant, antibiotics and cold medicine before the game, and wishes now he hadn't. "It affected my judgment," he said. When did he realize it? "After they scored the sixth goal," he said. Still, the Devils' oft-overlooked offense obviously ambushed a baffled Belfour and the Stars, who looked fatigued and off their game almost from the opening minute despite having three days off since eliminating Colorado on Saturday. "They have a history of slow starts in the playoffs," the Devils' Bobby Holik said. "This is not surprising, they played a day later than we did and they traveled. No one thinks this is over. They're too good to feel that way." After Arnott and Stars defenseman Darryl Sydor traded goals in the first period, the game quickly got away from Dallas in the second period. And the biggest goal of all was scored by perhaps the least-likely player. John Madden won a faceoff in the Stars' end that bounced to Daneyko, who didn't score a goal all season. Daneyko teed up a knuckleball-type shot from the top of the left circle that somehow eluded Belfour at 2:52 of the second for his first playoff goal in 49 games since June 5, 1995. The Stars should have known then they were done. And they were, even if the Devils weren't. New Jersey now hopes this historical footnote is significant: the Game 1 winner has won the cup 79 percent of the time. NEW JERSEY DEVILS 7, Dallas Stars 3 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 1 0 2 3 New Jersey 1 3 3 7 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, New Jersey, Arnott 5 (Sykora, Elias), 7:22. 2, Dallas, Sydor 1 (Lehtinen, Keane), 13:13. PENALTIES: None. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 3, New Jersey, Daneyko 1 (Brylin, Madden), 2:52. 4, New Jersey, Sykora 7 (Elias, Arnott), 10:28. 5, New Jersey, Stevens 3 (Pandolfo, Rafalski), 16:04. PENALTIES: Hatcher, Dal (slashing), 18:20. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 6, New Jersey, Brylin 2 (McKay), 2:21. 7, New Jersey, Sykora 8 (Arnott, Elias), 3:02. 8, New Jersey, Arnott 6 (Holik, Sykora), 5:12 (pp). 9, Dallas, Sim 1 (Carbonneau), 7:43. 10, Dallas, Muller 2 (Carbonneau), 7:55. PENALTIES: Thornton, Dal (roughing), 3:35; Manson, Dal (slashing), 12:05; Manson, Dal (elbowing), 19:55. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 5 7 6 18 New Jersey 7 9 10 26 POWER PLAY: Dallas 0 of 0; New Jersey 1 of 4. GOALIES: Dallas, Belfour, 12-6 (18 shots-12 saves), Fernandez (3:02 third, 8-7). New Jersey, Brodeur 13-5 (18-15). Referees: Don Koharski, Bill McCreary. Linesmen: Ray Scapinello, Jay Sharrers. A: 19,040 (19,040).