Setting up Round 2
MATCHUPS
BRACKET 1
1997 Detroit Red Wings vs. 2000 New Jersey Devils
1994 New York Rangers vs. 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins
BRACKET 2
2001 Colorado Avalanche vs. 1998 Detroit Red Wings
2007 Anaheim Ducks vs. 2002 Detroit Red Wings
Round 2 runs from today through Monday!
—
’97 Red Wings vs. ’00 Devils
TEAM BIOS
1997 DETROIT RED WINGS
#3 Seed, Western Conference
Season record: 38-26-18 (94 points)
Head Coach: Scotty Bowman
Playoff Roster:
#2 D Slava Fetisov
#3 D Bob Rouse
#4 D Jamie Pushor
#5 D Nicklas Lidstrom
#8 C Igor Larionov
#11 F/D Mathieu Dandenault
#13 LW Slava Kozlov
#14 LW Brendan Shanahan
#15 LW Tomas Holmstrom
#16 D Vladimir Konstantinov
#17 RW Doug Brown
#18 RW Kirk Maltby
#19 C Steve Yzerman (C)
#20 RW Martin Lapointe
#25 RW Darren McCarty
#26 RW Joey Kocur
#27 D Aaron Ward
#28 F Tomas Sandstrom#29 G Mike Vernon
#30 G Chris Osgood
#33 C Kris Draper
#37 C Tim Taylor
#55 D Larry Murphy
#91 C Sergei Fedorov
Playoff Stat Leaders:
Goals-
Brendan Shanahan, 9
Sergei Fedorov, 8
Slava Kozlov, 8
Assists-
Sergei Fedorov, 12
Larry Murphy, 9
3 tied with 8
Points-
Sergei Fedorov, 20
Brendan Shanahan, 17
Slava Kozlov, 13
Steve Yzerman, 13
Goalie Stats-
Mike Vernon (16-4, 1.76 GAA, .927 SV%)
The Road to the Cup:
WCQF- 4-2 over #6 St. Louis Blues
WCSF- 4-0 over #4 Anaheim Mighty Ducks
WCF- 4-2 over #1 Colorado Avalanche
SCF- 4-0 over #3 Philadelphia Flyers
Conn Smythe winner: Mike Vernon
Turning point of the playoffs:
Game 2 vs. Colorado… The Avalanche took Game 1 of the series, 2-1, behind the great play of Patrick Roy. And down 2-0 in Game 2, it looked like the defending champion Avs were bound to take a 2-0 series lead. But the Red Wings stormed back to win the game, 4-2. With the comeback win, the Wings were able to earn a split on the road, and followed that up with 2 straight wins at home to take a 3-1 series lead. They went on to eliminate Colorado, and then sweep Philadelphia for their first Cup since 1955.
—
2000 NEW JERSEY DEVILS
#4 Seed, Eastern Conference
Season record: 45-24-8-5 (103 points)
Head Coach: Larry Robinson
Playoff Roster:
#3 D Ken Daneyko
#4 D Scott Stevens (C)
#5 D Colin White
#6 D Brad Bombardir
#7 D Vladimir Malakhov
#11 C John Madden
#12 C Sergei Nemchinov
#16 C Bobby Holik
#17 RW Petr Sykora
#18 LW Sergei Brylin
#20 LW Jay Pandolfo
#21 RW Randy McKay
#22 RW Claude Lemieux
#23 C Scott Gomez
#25 C Jason Arnott
#26 LW Patrik Elias
#27 D Scott Niedermayer
#28 D Brian Rafalski
#29 F Krzysztof Oliwa
#30 G Martin Brodeur
#31 G Chris Terreri
#89 RW Alexander Mogilny
Playoff Stat Leaders:
Goals-
Petr Sykora, 9
Jason Arnott, 8
Patrik Elias, 7
Assists-
Patrik Elias, 13
Jason Arnott, 12
Scott Stevens, 8
Petr Sykora, 8
Points-
Jason Arnott, 20
Patrik Elias, 20
Petr Sykora, 17
Goalie Stats-
Martin Brodeur (16-7, 1.61 GAA, .927 SV%)
The Road to the Cup:
ECQF- 4-0 over #5 Florida Panthers
ECSF- 4-2 over #3 Toronto Maple Leafs
ECF- 4-3 over #1 Philadelphia Flyers
SCF- 4-2 over #2 Dallas Stars
Conn Smythe winner: Scott Stevens
Turning point of the playoffs:
Game 5 vs. Philadelphia… Down 3-1 in the series, New Jersey faced a tough task going into Philly for Game 5. Nothing fazed them, though, cruising to a huge 4-1 win over the Flyers to stay alive. The Devils went on to win Game 6 at home, then beat the Flyers again on the road in Game 7. Martin Brodeur was as dominant as ever in those final 3 games. They were able to carry that momentum over into the finals against Dallas to win the Cup in six!
—
SERIES SUMMARY:
This would qualify as a heavyweight matchup! Both teams possessed great depth up front and on the back end. The Wings had the likes of Shanahan, Yzerman, and Fedorov on offense… New Jersey had Elias, Sykora, and Arnott. The blue lines had HOF’ers throughout… Lidstrom & Murphy for Detroit; Stevens & Niedermayer for the Devils. To me, the series-breaker is the goaltending matchup. Mike Vernon was great and all, but Brodeur was on another planet in 2000. If you combine that with home-ice advantage for the Devils, I think they prevail in seven!
Devils win in 7 games… will face winner of ’94 Rangers & ’09 Penguins
