Bourque Is Tired of His Own Story

He’s 40 years old and the feel-good story of the Stanley Cup finals. He has played 22 NHL seasons and has never won a championship. He’s also concerned that he has become a tad overexposed.

“Probably like a lot of people I’m getting a little tired of hearing about Ray Bourque, Ray Bourque, Ray Bourque this and Ray Bourque that,” Colorado defenseman Ray Bourque admitted Sunday, a day after helping the Avalanche to a 5-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 1.

“I mean, I am here to do a job and play hockey and try to win my first Cup. It is a great story, but until it happens, that’s all it is, a story. I hope everything comes true.”

Moments later, someone asked Bourque for his thoughts on the possibility of rookies such as Dan Hinote and Ville Nieminen winning a championship in their first try.

“Well, my thought is that I hope they do,” Bourque said. “I keep telling those guys that you don’t know when you’re going to be back here, so take advantage of the situation.”

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Colorado Coach Bob Hartley paired Bourque with Adam Foote for Game 1 and the Avalanche blanked the Devils. Hartley had played Bourque with Rob Blake during the playoffs.

The Devils blamed themselves--not matchups--for the Game 1 rout.

“We looked like those guys with the shovels picking up the snow [along the boards and around the nets] during the commercial breaks,” New Jersey’s Bobby Holik said. “We can analyze this until we’re blue in the face, but we got outplayed, outworked and outhustled in all departments. They were the better team and we have to get a better result on Tuesday.”

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Blake’s absence for the final 10 minutes or so of the third period Saturday continued to prompt questions about his fitness. He said he was OK, but was spotted with a wrap on his right side. Hartley said he kept Blake off the ice because the former King lost his temper on the bench as the game turned chippy.

Asked if he believed the Devils were trying to send the Avalanche a message with their rough play late in Game 1, Blake said: “The message is they’re going to be ready for the next game. They’re not going to go down easy by any means. We expect them to come out harder in the next game. We’ve got to raise the level of our play.”

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The Avalanche’s five-goal margin of victory was the widest for a Game 1 of the finals since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 8-3, in the opening game of the 1973 finals. Montreal went on to win the series, four games to two.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Stanley Cup Finals

Best of Seven

COLORADO vs. NEW JERSEY

Avalanche leads, 1-0

Game 1: Colorado 5, New Jersey 0

Tuesday: at Colorado, 5 p.m.

Thursday: at New Jersey, 5 p.m.

Saturday: at New Jersey, 5 p.m.

June 4: *at Colorado, 5 p.m.

June 7: *at New Jersey, 5 p.m.

June 9: *at Colorado, 5 p.m.

*-if necessary; all times PDT