Devils Confident but Quiet

The Stanley Cup will be at Continental Airlines Arena Thursday, close enough for the New Jersey Devils to touch.

Not that they’ll go near it, even though they need only one more victory over the defending champion Dallas Stars to claim the Cup for the second time in six seasons. Nor will they make predictions that might end up on the Stars’ bulletin board. The Devils are confident, but not stupid.

“This is a very mature group from top to bottom,” General Manager Lou Lamoriello said Tuesday, less than 12 hours after the 3-1 victory that gave his team a 3-1 series lead. “The veterans on your hockey team are the foundation of your organization. They know your philosophy and pass it to the younger players.”

That philosophy seems to rest on conservative thinking, clandestine decision-making and a style that bores opponents into submission. But it takes a surprising amount of emotion to play an apparently dispassionate style so well.

“They have a commitment to defend with speed and size. That’s hard to play against,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “That’s the challenge you have to meet on a daily basis. . . . I think over the course of a 60-minute hockey game, their passion is stronger than ours.”

Under Lamoriello and a scouting staff headed by David Conte, the Devils have produced a flood of young talent. When they can’t develop what they need, they trade kids who can’t crack their lineup but are coveted elsewhere, as when they acquired game-breaker Alexander Mogilny from Vancouver for Brendan Morrison and Dennis Pederson in March.

“Consistency, and maybe straightforwardness so everyone within the organization knows where they stand,” Lamoriello said in summing up his philosophy. “Sometimes, you have to say things they don’t want to hear, but players know their job descriptions and know what’s expected from them from Day One.

“We also believe our younger players will determine when they get in the lineup. It’s not when they’re drafted or how old they are, it’s whether they deserve it.”

A prime example is Colin White, who spent three seasons with Albany of the American Hockey League before he won a regular spot in March. Like fellow rookies Scott Gomez, John Madden and Brian Rafalski, White has played a key role in the Devils’ playoff run.

“They do a great job bringing players up from the minors,” White said. “They’ve got a great minor league system, where they teach the same things they do here. A lot of organizations rush players. [Lamoriello] told me from Day One we’re not going to rush players.

“At times I was frustrated, but it was in the back of my head to keep working hard. Right now, I have to say the best thing that could have happened to me was going to Albany. I came up and didn’t feel uncomfortable.”

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Devil Coach Larry Robinson is no rookie when it comes to winning the Stanley Cup, having won six times as a player. But getting this close as a coach has been more satisfying. “It’s great to win as a player. You’re so banged up you say, ‘Geez, it’s finally over,’ ” he said. “For a coach, just to see the guys who have never been through it before, the euphoria. . . . It’s great to see guys jumping around like little kids.” . . .

A club spokesman said Devil center Jason Arnott, woozy after being hit in the face by Derian Hatcher’s forearm late in the third period Monday, was fine Tuesday.

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Stanley Cup Finals

NEW JERSEY vs. DALLAS

Devils lead series, 3-1

* GAME 1: New Jersey 7, Dallas 3

* GAME 2: Dallas 2, New Jersey 1

* GAME 3: New Jersey 2, Dallas 1

* GAME 4: New Jersey 3, Dallas 1

* THURSDAY: Game 5, at New Jersey, Ch. 7

* SATURDAY: Game 6, at Dallas, Ch. 7*

* MONDAY: Game 7, at New Jersey, Ch. 7*

* if necessary; all games 5 p.m. Pacific