Game Recap

NEW JERSEY 2, DALLAS 1 DALLAS (AP) - The New Jersey Devils lured the Dallas Stars into their trap. Now, they have the lead -- and the momentum -- in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Devils' top line scored twice, with Petr Sykora and Jason Arnott each scoring their third goal in three games, and shut out the Stars' frustrated big scorers for a 2-1 victory Saturday night in Game 3. The Devils overcame an early deficit, in one of the toughest buildings for any road team to win, behind goaltender Martin Brodeur's strong play to seize a 2-1 advantage over the defending champions. Game 4 is Monday night in Reunion Arena. "We controlled the puck and didn't give a whole lot of chances," Devils defenseman Scott Stevens said. "They can't score if they don't have the puck." It has started at the top for the Devils, who lack Dallas' big names and big guns yet are getting a huge series from Sykora, Arnott and Patrik Elias, who have 14 points to four for the Stars' Brett Hull, Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen. Before the game, the Devils' top line met privately to discuss their ineffectiveness in the Stars' 2-1 victory in Game 2. In the opener, trio combined for four goals and 11 points as the Devils won 7-3. "We were pretty quiet," Arnott said. "We all knew what we had to do to get out of it." Mostly, get a lead, then let the Devils' neutral zone trap defense and Brodeur protect it. Brodeur made 22 saves, several during a power play resulting from his own delay-of-game penalty with 4:15 remaining. "Our penalty killing won this game for us," said coach Larry Robinson, whose Devils killed off a two-man advantage after Dallas opened a 1-0 lead. Brodeur's biggest save may have come against Hull in the closing minutes. Modano set Hull up perfectly in the slot, just as he did during Hull's two-goal night in Game 2, but the shot bounced off Brodeur's shoulder. Arnott scored the tying goal late in the first period, then set up Sykora's game winner on a power play in the second. Apparently, the Devils' top liners paid attention when Robinson said he wished he had split them up because of their ineffectiveness in Game 2. "We didn't play that well in second game. We knew we had to come back and score some goals," Sykora said. "This is the way we wanted to come back. We could've scored a couple more, but we'll take those two goals." Sykora, who had two goals in Game 1, took Arnott's pass and snapped it past goaltender Ed Belfour, who mistimed the hard shot, closing his glove a millisecond after the puck flew by at 12:27. The power play resulted from Sylvain Cote's elbowing of John Madden directly in front of referee Terry Gregson. It was only the 14th goal allowed by Belfour in the Stars' 11 home playoff games. Belfour played well, turning aside 29-of-31 shots, many on acrobatic saves, but had no help from his offense. "Their desperation to defend was more evident than our desperation to score," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Their ability to defend was everything." Modano was unhappy his line didn't go against the Devils' No. 1 line nearly as much in Game 3, and that the Stars had so much trouble getting open in the clogged neutral zone. "We feel very flat footed in the neutral zone," Modano said. "We are standing around, and they are coming through pretty fast and they have some defensemen who can skate. They also counter off mistakes very well." The Stars' top line ineffectiveness is even more glaring because it isn't getting help from the second line. Joe Nieuwendyk, the Most Valuable Player of last year's playoffs, doesn't have a point in the series. The Stars supposedly had the advantage going back to a humid Reunion Arena, where the ice is always soft and the Stars hard to beat, going 9-1 previously in the playoffs and 11-1 since the Cup Finals a year ago. But the Devils' defense-driven road show plays successfully just about everywhere, as evidenced by their 8-2 playoff road record. Dallas took a 1-0 lead, just as it did in Game 2. With the Stars on only their second power play of the series, Lehtinen's hard shot from the left circle deflected off Brodeur's chest. Stevens tried to clear, but swept the puck into the right circle directly to Cote, who wristed it into the top of the net at 13:08 of the first. Later in the period, the Stars missed an excellent opportunity to expand the lead when they couldn't score during a two-man power play lasting 49 seconds. "We could have put a nail into things if we had scored there," Hitchcock said. New Jersey Devils 2, DALLAS STARS 1 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- New Jersey 1 1 0 2 Dallas 1 0 0 1 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Cote 2, 13:08 (pp). 2, New Jersey, Arnott 7 (Rafalski, White), 18:06. PENALTIES: Nemchinov, NJ (slashing), 12:46; Malakhov, NJ (interference), 13:51; Lemieux, NJ (cross-checking), 15:02. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 3, New Jersey, Sykora 9 (Arnott, Rafalski), 12:27 (pp). PENALTIES: Hull, Dal (interference), 8:09; Cote, Dal (elbowing), 11:03. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Brodeur, NJ, served by Arnott (delay of game), 15:45. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- New Jersey 10 16 5 31 Dallas 7 9 7 23 POWER PLAY: New Jersey 1 of 2; Dallas 1 of 4. GOALIES: New Jersey, Brodeur 14-6 (23 shots 22 saves). Dallas, Belfour 13-7 (31-29). Referee: Terry Gregson, Don Koharski. Linesmen: Ray Scapinello, Jay Sharrers. A: 17,001 (17,001).