[Devils-list] Another one from the Denver Post

[MikeNJ1109@aol.com]

Avs' final foe: The Devils

By Adrian Dater 
Denver Post Sports Writer

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 - To accomplish "Mission 16W," the motto inscribed on the playoff cap of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ray Bourque, the Avs will have to take exit 16W to get there. 
 
That is the numbered turnoff on the New Jersey Turnpike that leads to the Continental Airlines Arena, home of the New Jersey Devils, the team the Avs will meet in the Stanley Cup Finals. 

It will be the Devils, however, who will have to do the traveling at the start of the series, as Game 1 will be Saturday at the Pepsi Center. Because of their 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, the defending Stanley Cup champion Devils earned the right to face the Avalanche in a best-of-seven series. 

"The only thing we've accomplished so far is we've gotten (to the Finals)," Bourque said. "Now it's a matter of doing a job and getting it done." 

Intriguing subplots abound in the first playoff meeting between the teams. Chief among them is the fact the Devils used to be known as the Colorado Rockies, Denver's former NHL team that was moved to New Jersey in 1982 by former Devils owner John McMullen. Not until 1995 did Denver get another NHL team, when the Quebec Nordiques were sold to Comsat Video Enterprises and renamed the Colorado Avalanche. 

The series will feature a battle of top-flight French-Canadian goalies, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur. As a teenager, growing up in Montreal, Brodeur idolized Roy, patterning Roy's butterfly style to fit his own. Now Brodeur will try to win his third Stanley Cup ring, while Roy will try for his fourth. 

The 40-year-old Bourque is still looking for his first ring, and will try for the third time in the Finals to get one. Bourque last played for the Cup in 1990 with the Boston Bruins, and no doubt will be the sentimental choice of many hockey fans to finally win one. 

It certainly doesn't figure to come easily for Bourque and the Avs, however. The Devils are a powerful, well-balanced team that knows how to win. Win, and win easily, is what New Jersey did in two regular-season games against the Avs, outscoring Colorado a combined 12-4. The Avs lost a 6-1 decision at Continental Airlines Arena, and a 6-3 contest at the Pepsi Center. 

"We know nothing is going to be easy. Everything gets tougher the deeper into the playoffs you get," said Roy, who might be the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy entering the series. 

Beating Brodeur figures to be decidedly harder than it was putting shots past St. Louis Blues goalie Roman Turek in the Western finals. The Devils goalie has a 1.77 goals-against playoff average, just slightly behind Roy's 1.74 GAA. Colorado's task of scoring goals on Brodeur won't be made any easier because of a rock-solid Devils defense, led by veteran Scott Stevens, one of the game's all-time hardest hitters. 

The Devils don't get good defense from just the blue-liners; they have a solid core of defensive-minded forwards who clog up the neutral zone. Devils center Bobby Holik is a defensive specialist who figures to shadow Avs captain Joe Sakic throughout the series. Against Pittsburgh, Holik bottled up superstar Mario Lemieux, while checking forwards such as John Madden and Sergei Brylin did the same to Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Kovalev. 

Like the Avs, however, the Devils have shown some vulnerability at times in the playoffs. As the Avs did with Los Angeles in the second round, the Devils needed seven games to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, and lost two games to Carolina in the first round. Plus, the Devils drew a tired, banged-up Penguins team in the Eastern finals. 

Peter Forsberg, the injured Avs center, isn't likely to play in the series, which will make Colorado's job that much tougher against a top team such as the Devils. But the Avs have shown the ability to win without Forsberg, as their 4-1 record since his splenectomy attests. 

"This year, it's down to four wins left to go," Avs veteran Dave Reid said. "That's the idea, to keep knocking it down until you get down to zero. That's what it's all about." 

Sakic nets honor 

Sakic was named The Sporting News player of the year. He received 268 votes from fellow players, easily outdistancing Pittsburgh's Lemieux (34 votes) and Jagr (23 votes). The Sporting News' first-team all-stars: Sakic at center, Jagr at right wing, Kovalev at left wing, Rob Blake of Colorado and Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit on defense, and Brodeur in the net.