Their royal robes more like the Emperor’s New Clothes, the Devils have run out of delusions, just as they’ve run out of chances. Their dream of glory demands Their Greatest Game tonight, just as it insists on victory. Defeat will surely dethrone them within days.
“If we don’t win this game, then we’d have to win three in a row, and I think Colorado’s too good to let us do that,” John Madden said, winding himself up for Game 4 against the Avalanche tonight at the Meadowlands.
They are so close, within three victories of their third Stanley Cup, with a maximum of four games left in the season. Yet, the Devils seem to have run out of desire as much as gas, and that’s what has shocked them most.
“They want it more than we want it right now,” Larry Robinson marveled, complained, said. “We’re just not as hungry.”
They are desperate, or at least their situation is. Trailing the Avalanche 2-1, they realize that no team has won the Cup from a 3-1 finals deficit since they painted a red line at center ice to start the Modern Era in 1943. Nobody.
And regardless of last year’s 3-1 comeback on the Flyers in the semis, they don’t think they’re up to that task here, now.
“That was a ‘once in a blue moon’ situation, and it was meant to be,” Bobby Holik said. “We never had to question ourselves like we’ve had to this year about our effort.
“It’s black and white. If we play well, we have a great chance of beating them. If we don’t play well, we have no chance.”
With victory imperative, the Devils are expected to finally do what they should have done in the first place – paste Holik to Joe Sakic, whose three goals in this series matches the Devils’ entire output.
“If you only score three goals in three games, you’re not going to win a lot of games,” said Robinson, who is also expected to follow through on his Game 2 threat of breaking up Scott Gomez and Alexander Mogilny, goal-less in 12 and 13 games, respectively.
They were dismal in Game 3’s 3-1 loss at the Meadowlands, when they could have launched themselves straight towards the ranks of the Canadiens, Isles and Oilers as the only three-Cup teams since expansion.
Still, they were not ready to concede yet.
“It’s hard to believe that as bad as we’ve been for two games, we are at home and have a chance to tie this up,” Holik said. “We put ourselves in this situation, so we have to get ourselves out.”
Madden agreed.
“Last year I felt worse than I do today,” he said. “I still feel we have what it takes to win.”
Again, Robinson complained that the team abandoned what was a successful style of getting the puck deep, and instead reverted to its Fancy-Dan suicide.
“We’re struggling to score and we know it,” Jason Arnott said of his line, showing only his Game 3 PPG in this series. “We have to stop worrying about each other not scoring and who’s going to do it, and do it as a team.”
The allusions to selfishness were frequent.
“It’s almost like we want to score goals and have the media write good stories about us,” Madden said. “It’s not paying the price for each other. I don’t see guys going the distance for each other.”
Sergei Brylin, who may play with Sergei Nemchinov and Mogilny tonight, zeroed in.
“We have to become a family again,” Brylin said, “and play for each other. That’s the only way we’ll win.
“But we haven’t played our best game yet.”
It must come tonight.
“This is it,” Arnott said. “The bottom line, we have to win.”
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Tremendous to hear that Roger Neilson will again run his annual Coaches’ Clinic in Windsor, Ont., June 15-17, a unique chance for 300 to learn from the greats. They’ve all gone there, and Mike Keenan and Jacques Martin head this year’s slate of speakers. For info: 1-800-368-0001 or http://www.rogerneilsonshockey.com. Neilson says he shot 105 the other day, so “may quit golf.”
Robinson’s charge Thursday that players in the Stanley Cup finals shouldn’t require a coach’s inspiration, and that such players should be shipped out, nonetheless registered with his squadron. “The biggest knock you can get as a professional athlete is to be called lazy and not interested in the Stanley Cup finals. I wouldn’t want that strapped on my back,” Madden said. “We should react to that positively and have a great effort.”
Game 5 is Monday in Denver . . . Devils are only 6-5 at home in these playoffs, on a 32-25 goal edge. They are 4-5 in last nine at home . . . Avs are 6-2 on the road, 26-16 . . . The 1942 Leafs, coming from 0-3, are the only team to win the Cup from a 1-3 deficit . . . Only three teams that lost Game 3 to fall behind 2-1 in the finals have won the Cup, and none since the 1991 Penguins did it to the North Stars.
