Devils blow a 3-2 Stanley Cup lead again

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- There's something about a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup finals that just doesn't agree with the New Jersey Devils.\nThe Devils needed only to beat the surprising Anaheim Mighty Ducks in Game 6 on Saturday night to win the Stanley Cup for the third time since 1995.\nBut the silver trophy stayed in its traveling case and the champagne remained corked. The Ducks won 5-2 before a boisterous crowd at the Pond to tie the series at 3 games apiece.\nThe deciding game will be at New Jersey on Monday night.\nGoalie Martin Brodeur and the rest of the Devils knew it wasn't going to be easy to win Game 6 at the Pond.\nAnd it wasn't.\nThe home team has won every game this series, and the Devils were never in this one.\n"It's been like the homer series so far, but you never know what's going to happen in a Game 7," Brodeur said. "You rely on a bounce here, a bounce there, not just to win a series, not just to advance, but to win it all now."\nThe Devils were in the same position going into Game 6 just two years ago.\nLeading Colorado 3-2 in the series, a win in Game 6 at home would let the Devils play host to the Cup for the second straight year. But they were beaten badly in games 6 and 7, first at home and then on the road, by a combined score of 7-1.\nAlthough the Devils had won the Stanley Cup the year before, clinching it in Game 6 against Dallas, the loss to the Avalanche stuck with them all that summer. They don't want to experience that feeling again.\n"You don't have too many opportunities to go in and have a chance to win a Stanley Cup," Brodeur said. "We had two cracks at it last time and we didn't come through. We had two cracks this time and first one we failed, and hopefully we'll be better in Game 7."\nThe one thing they have going for them this time is that they'll play the deciding game at home, where the Devils have outscored the Ducks 12-3 in three victories.\nIf the Devils lose, though, they'll be the only team in the last 32 years to not win after holding a 3-2 lead.\nBrodeur thinks the Devils will be more disciplined at home.\n"I think it's important for us to try to get the lead," he said. "Whenever we're trailing, we just have a hard time competing with these guys.\n"I think we were out of control. Defensively, we ran after guys and tried to make some hits. Every time we get on the road, we seem to be like that. At home, we don't seem to have that problem."\nBrodeur was pulled with more than 10 minutes left in the third period after allowing five goals on 22 shots.\nAnaheim's five goals matched the most given up this postseason by Brodeur, who lost 5-1 to Boston in the first round.\nBrodeur gave up three goals in the first period, and fell behind 4-1 on Paul Kariya's first goal of the finals, a slap shot that energized the crowd late in the second period. Several minutes earlier, Kariya had been knocked flat by defenseman Scott Stevens and lay motionless on his back for a minute.\nBrodeur went sprawling at 3:57 of the third period and flailed helplessly with his stick when Petr Sykora scored on a rebound to give the Ducks a 5-1 lead. Not much later, he was gone, replaced by Corey Schwab.\nAfter everything went the Devils' way in a 6-3 win in Game 5 on Thursday, they were able to beat Jean-Sebastien Giguere just twice, on goals by Jay Pandolfo at 2:18 of the second, on a pass from John Madden from behind the net, and on a power-play slap shot by Grant Marshall that went between the goalie's pads.\n"It's tough to come back on a team like that, with a goalie like that," Devils forward Turner Stevenson said.