Arnott’s Overtime Goal Gives Devils Their Due

The Stanley Cup was feather-light in Scott Stevens’ hands Saturday, even after the New Jersey Devils’ captain had played 88 minutes and 20 seconds of hockey and more than 194 minutes over the last two games against the Dallas Stars. It was equally light to his teammates, who could barely lift their sticks moments before because the weight of fatigue and history had sat heavily on their shoulders.

Jason Arnott had lifted those burdens seconds earlier, when he took a clever backhand pass from Patrik Elias and rifled a wrist shot past goaltender Ed Belfour at 8:20 of the second overtime, giving the Devils a 2-1 victory and a six-game triumph in a remarkably close series.

“It’s definitely tiring. We played some hard games,” said Stevens, who was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. “Dallas never quit. They seemed to get more energy as the series went on. It was scary. But we got a great team effort and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Said Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock: “It was a heck of a series and it was won by the smallest of margins. The Devils showed a lot of class and dignity. But I have to say I’m probably more proud of our team this year than last year. We won last year but this year we went through so much and missed it by an eyelash.”

The Stars did not relinquish their championship easily. They won in triple overtime Thursday to swing the series back to Reunion Arena, and they had a roaring crowd of 17,001 behind them Saturday. They trailed for only 69 seconds, from the time Mike Keane matched Scott Niedermayer’s short-handed goal in the second period, but they could hold on no longer. Their title was finally wrested away by the tenacious Devils, whose exhaustion fell away the moment the shiny Cup was thrust into their hands.

“It’s unbelievable,” Stevens said. “It’s like a dream come true for my teammates and myself.”

It was a storybook ending to a season that threatened to become a nightmare.

Fearful that morale was splintering under coach Robbie Ftorek, Devil General Manager Lou Lamoriello fired Ftorek with eight games left in the season and replaced him with a reluctant Larry Robinson, who had soured on being a head coach after four rough seasons with the Kings. But Robinson managed to strike the right chords, pat backs at the right time and scold at the right time, too, leading the Devils back from a 3-1 deficit in the Eastern Conference finals against Philadelphia and to a rugged victory over the Stars.

Robinson won the Cup six times as a player and once as an assistant with the Devils, in 1995, but he called this triumph the sweetest.

“I think it’s kind of a different thing,” said Robinson, who became the 14th person to win the Cup as a player and a coach. “As a player, you’re out there and you’re bumping guys and relieving your tension. When you’re behind the bench, you can’t relieve tension. Now you’re playing for 20 guys, not one. There were a lot of sleepless nights worrying about what to say and making sure you say the right things.

“Everybody was so low after [Thursday’s 1-0 triple-overtime loss]. You go so long and you’re so close. I had to wonder how to get them going and build them up again. . . . I told them they don’t want to lose this opportunity and go to a seventh game because that’s like overtime.”

Brett Hull nearly won the game for Dallas 4:43 into the second overtime with a blast from the right side that Martin Brodeur stopped with his leg but couldn’t track. The puck stopped underneath him, although he didn’t realize it; he sat and looked behind him but quickly realized it was beneath his leg.

The game was overshadowed by a head injury suffered by New Jersey right wing Petr Sykora at 12:08 of the first period.

Sykora took a hard hit from Dallas defenseman Derian Hatcher, who was skating backward and got all of his 6-foot-5, 225-pound body into the 5-11, 190-pound Czech. As players from both teams gathered in concern, Sykora--who plays on the Devils’ top line with Arnott and Elias--was carried off the ice on a stretcher with his head immobilized and taken to Baylor University Medical Center. Referees Bill McCreary and Terry Gregson, two of the NHL’s senior officials, did not call a penalty; ABC’s on-ice microphones captured McCreary telling Hatcher, “It’s a clean hit. You got him with the back of your shoulder.”

A CAT scan of Sykora’s head was normal, but he was held in the hospital overnight for observation. Robinson wore Sykora’s jersey for the postgame celebration.

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THE RESULTS

NEW JERSEY vs. DALLAS

Devils win series, 4-2

* 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

* GAME 5: Dallas 1, New Jersey 0 (3 OTs)

* GAME 6: New Jersey 2, Dallas 1 (2 OTs)