No one had to remind the New Jersey Devils what happened the last time they came home with a two-games-to-none series lead in Stanley Cup play. It happened in the Eastern Conference finals when they won the first two games in Philadelphia, then lost the next two at home in Brendan Byrne Arena.
“I’d even take it back further to the series against Boston,” says Devils defenseman Bruce Driver. “We’d never won a series in less than six games before and after the time off we came out flat against Pittsburgh in Game 1 and we lost.
“We learned from that experience by not coming out flat against Philadelphia. We played two extremely good games and took a 2-0 lead and then we lost two at home. So nobody even had to say anything in the locker room after the game (Tuesday) night. I know what was on most players’ minds was what happened to us in the Philadelphia series in Games 3 and 4.”
Flick click: An even more impressive number than the Devils’ 10-1 playoff road record is their record when goalie Martin Brodeur goes to the movies the night before a game. They were 14-1 in the playoffs on nights after Brodeur had taken in a flick.
His usual companion is defenseman Tom Albelin, who was not in a movie mood before Game 2 in Detroit. But duty compelled him to go anyway with the usual beneficial result.
Brodeur admits that most of the movies he has seen lately aren’t worth looking at, critically speaking. ” `Village of the Damned’ wasn’t too good,” he reported. “I didn’t think `Congo’ was that great either. The Batman movie was all right, but nothing big.”
Instant analysis: Detroit’s Paul Coffey is still smarting not only from the puck he took off the back of his leg in Game 2, but also from critical comments by ESPN announcers Barry Melrose and Mike Milbury, both former NHL coaches who likely will be back behind the bench next year.
“I see that Melrose and who is that other guy, Milbury, are now big experts who know it all,” seethed Coffey. “Melrose or Milbury couldn’t carry the puck from the goal line to the red line without the thing falling apart in a thousand pieces. If you have Bobby Orr on ESPN doing the analysis, I’ll listen to him.”
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