Stars, Devils Ready To Clash

When the New Jersey Devils gaze into the Stars, they see themselves.

Neutral zone trap? Check. A goaltender offended when he allows more than a goal a game? Check. A defense that has left its mark on the playoffs and their opponents? Check.

The NHL waited until 2000 to stage the Stanley Cup finals that were supposed to happen in 1999, or 1998. The Dallas Stars are the defending champions, but the Devils consider themselves their equal going into a Game 1 Tuesday night where hard hits should be plentiful and goals should be at a premium.

Call it the NHL's version of the Knicks vs. the Heat, one where the team that wins won't necessarily be that with more skilled players, but more survival skills.

"It will be a very interesting series," Stars forward Joe Nieuwendyk said. "We don't know each other real well now, but it won't take long."

Just don't call it boring, even if the Stars allowed only 14 goals against Colorado, the fewest in a seven-game conference finals or Stanley Cup semifinals in 50 years. Or that the Devils have permitted only three power-play goals in 51 chances in three playoff series.

Still, exciting isn't a word commonly used to describe two teams with remarkably similar systems and stratagems that can be traced to the Montreal Canadiens. Devils coach Larry Robinson, for example, once was a Montreal teammate of Stars general manager Bob Gainey.

"I don't care, they can call us whatever they want," Robinson said. "If you are standing there with the Stanley Cup, you don't care what kind of hockey you played, excting or not."

The Stars and Devils were the NHL's top two regular-season teams in 1998 and 1999, but didn't meet in the finals either year, only to make it in a season whether neither finished No. 1.

The Devils, who swept their only Cup finals in 1995 against Detroit, were overtaken by Philadelphia down the stretch in the East. The Stars scrambled to finish sixth-best overall following a succession of injuries and a terrible start.

The Western Conference has won the last four Stanley Cups, but the Devils the last Eastern Conference team to hoist the cup are the closest thing going to a Western Conference-style team.

All three teams the Devils have eliminated (Florida, Toronto and Philadelphia) had more points than any team Dallas defeated (Edmonton, San Jose and Colorado). And, while most of the stars in the East are goal scorers (Jaromir Jagr, Pavel Bure, Mats Sundin), the Devils' biggest names are defenseman Scott Stevens and goaltender Martin Brodeur.

For the first time in the playoffs, the Stars' talented and punishing defensemen, led by captain Derian Hatcher and Matvichuk, will line up against those just as skilled in delivering big hits and shutting down scorers.

Game 7 of the Devils-Flyers series, for example, may have been decided when Stevens wiped out Flyers star Eric Lindros with a clean but concussion-causing hit that may have ended Lindros' career.

"You have to play physical, but only when it's there," Stevens said. "We want to finish our checks and get in people's way and make things tougher for them."

The Stars own a decided edge in scorers with Brett Hull and Mike Modano, who are tied for the playoffs lead in scoring. But Stevens has controlled every goal scorer he has encountered this spring; Bure, Sundin and the Flyers' John LeClair combined for one goal against the Devils.

"Game 1, I think, is going to be a little nerve-wracking for us because we haven't been there in a while," the Devils' Jason Arnott said. "But it's going to be high-tempo and hard-hitting."

There is no decided advantage in goal, where Brodeur and the Stars' Ed Belfour ae almost identical statistically; Brodeur's goals-against average is 1.77; Belfour's is 1.81. Belfour is exceptional in traffic, while few goalies move the puck as well as Brodeur.

"We are both great goaltenders," Belfour said.

Still, Robinson said, "The edge always goes to the Stanley Cup champs of the year before."

Maybe not. For the first time since 1995, the Stars don't own home ice advantage. That could prove significant since the Stars have won 11 of their last 12 playoff home games and are 9-1 in Reunion Arena in these playoffs.

However, didn't the Stars win twice in Buffalo last season while winning the Cup?

"There is a certain status that goes with teams that have won two Stanley Cups, especially two in a row," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "And we want that status badly."

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