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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey -- They do not play pretty hockey but the defensive-minded Devils are in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time.
Atoning for last year's Game 6 collapse at home against the Rangers, the Devils beat the Flyers 4-2, Tuesday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at Meadowlands Arena.
They play the Red Wings in the finals beginning Saturday in Detroit.
The Devils advanced because of these factors:
Their system. They played coach Jacques Lemaire's 1-2-2 neutral-zone trap to perfection, sending in one forechecker, forcing turnovers in the neutral zone and counterattacking with speed. They outshot the Flyers in all six games and held them shotless for a 19-minute span Tuesday night, ending at 13:21 of the second period. Their patience led to road wins in Games 1, 2 and 5 and the clincher at home.
Depth. Lemaire used four lines and three defense pairs in every game. Flyers coach Terry Murray shortened his bench as the series went on and did not get much from his bottom two lines. The Devils' Crash Line of Mike Peluso (one goal), Bobby Holik (one) and Randy McKay (four) forechecked well and outscored the Legion of Doom 6-5.
They contained the Legion. Using defensemen Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko and alternating lines centered by Bob Carpenter and Neal Broten (often on the same shift), the Devils held John LeClair, Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg to a combined five goals, eight assists. Claude Lemieux harassed Lindros, as he had the Bruins' Cam Neely and the Penguins' Jaromir Jagr.
Their special teams. The Devils' power play was 23rd in the regular season but went 6-for-23 in this series and killed 16 of 19 Flyers' power plays. Goaltending. Goalie Ron Hextall let the Flyers down when he failed to stop Lemieux's blue-line rocket that won Game 5. Devils goalie Martin Brodeur allowed a total of seven goals in the four games he won.
The Flyers went ahead 1-0 4:05 into Tuesday's game on Jim Montgomery's first goal of the playoffs.
The Devils tied it at10:25 on Stephane Richer's power-play goal.
Brian Rolston put the Devils ahead for good at18:15. The Devils outshot the Flyers 10-5 in the period.
It went to 3-1 at 11:58 of the second after Holik, Lemieux and McKay got a three-on-one against Flyers defenseman Kevin Haller. Holik carried the puck down the left side, pulled up in the circle, got Haller to go down and passed across to McKay for a tap-in for his seventh goal. Lemieux got his playoff-high 11th goal in the third period to make it 4-1. Renberg scored a power-play goal at 16:29.
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