ANAHEIM, California, 2 June 2003 — Ruslan Salei’s goal 6:29 into the first overtime period earned the Anaheim Mighty Ducks a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday putting them back into the hunt for their first Stanley Cup.
Trailing the Devils 2-0 in best-of-seven final after absorbing back-to-back 3-0 losses in Games One and Two, the Ducks finally found their scoring touch but still face a daunting task.
Only three teams in Stanley Cup history have clawed back to claim the championship after dropping the first two games.
The Ducks dominated the overtime, swarming into the New Jersey end rush-after-rush. Their determination was finally rewarded when Adam Oates cleanly won a faceoff in the Devils zone, sending the puck back to Salei, who rifled a wrist shot past a waving Martin Brodeur.
The win improved the Ducks overtime postseason record to 6-0 and left them 7-1 at home with Game Four set for today.
Neither of the Ducks goals during regulation play could be described as works of art - particularly the second whom Brodeur put in his own net - but they nonetheless add up to a Game Three win.
Hosting their first Stanley Cup game in the franchise’s 10-year history, the Ducks were greeted with a thundering ovation as they skated onto the Pond, the capacity crowd of 17,174 wildly waving “Fowl Towels” and blowing duck whistles.
Anaheim withstood a shaky start, Steve Thomas and Mike Leclerc taking minor penalties in the first four minutes twice giving the Devils a man-advantage.
The Ducks weathered the storm, enthusiastically killing off both power plays but still ended the opening period searching for their first goal of the finals.
The breakthrough finally came 3:39 in the second period when Marc Chouinard redirected Sandis Ozolinsh’s shot, after it had ricocheted off a New Jersey defenseman, past a helpless Brodeur.
Chouinard’s first of the postseason ended a goal-drought that had stretched back an agonizing 143 minutes, ending Brodeur’s bid for a third consecutive shutout following carbon copy wins in New Jersey.
Skating with renewed purpose, the Ducks surged onto the attack looking to quickly build on their lead and stamp their authority on the contest much as New Jersey did in Games One and Two.
But it was the Devils who would strike, Patrik Elias taking a pinpoint cross-ice feed from Jamie Langenbrunner as he streaked towards the net and snapping a wrist-shot past Jean-Sebastien Giguere to level the contest at 1-1.
Just 45 seconds later the Ducks would retake lead, Brodeur’s playoff brilliance dulled when he surrendered one of the softest goals ever seen in the Stanley Cup competition, deflecting the puck into his own net. Still absorbing the Devils’ tying goal, the crowd looked on in disbelief and delight as the Ducks regained their advantage.
Ozolinsh drifted a weak shot towards the New Jersey net when Brodeur — coming out to make the routine play — fumbled his stick and watched the puck deflect through his legs into the goal.
The miscue, however, would not deflate the Devils, Scott Gomez forcing overtime with the third period’s only goal, deflecting Grant Marshall’s shot from just inside the blueline over Giguere’s outstretched pad.
