June 10, 2000: The New Jersey Devils take the Stanley Cup Playoffs' idea of "It's a marathon, not a sprint" too far, but they finally break the tape. If you don't mind me mixing my sports metaphors.
As in their Stanley Cup win in 1995, they did not finish 1st in the Atlantic Division, the Philadelphia Flyers did. As a result, late in the regular season, general manager Lou Lamoriello fired head coach Robbie Ftorek, and replaced him with Larry Robinson, an assistant to Jacques Lemaire for the 1995 win, and previously a Hall of Fame defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens.
Robinson settled things down. The Devils swept the Florida Panthers in the 1st round of the Playoffs, beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in 6 games, and then came from 3 games to 1 down to beat the Flyers for the Eastern Conference title. Their opponents in the Stanley Cup Finals would be the defending Champions, the Dallas Stars.
May 30, 2000: Game 1 was played at the Continental Airlines Arena (formerly the Brendan Byrne Arena), at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. It was the only game of the series that turned out not to be close. Goaltender Ed Belfour was a big reason why the Stars won the previous year's Cup, as he was for the Chicago Blackhawks' run to the Finals in 1992. This time, he was an absolute sieve.
The game was a relatively innocent 1-1 after the 1st period. Then, Eddie the Eagle, with eagles painted on his mask, began leaking. He let in 2 goals by Petr Sýkora (not a big surprise), but also a goal each by defensemen Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko (in each case, a big surprise). Sergei Brylin added one, despite practically getting mugged by his fellow Russian Sergei Zubov. Just 3 minutes into the 3rd period, it was 6-1 New Jersey.
Variation on an old joke: What time was it? Six past Belfour. Stars coach Ken Hitchcock finally showed mercy and pulled Belfour, who blamed his bad performance on a cold and too much cough medicine.
Jason Arnott had scored the 1st goal of the game, and he scored the Devils’ last, past Manny Fernandez. The Stars did get a consolation goal, ironically from Kirk Muller, a former Devils Captain. (Yes, we called him "Captain Kirk.") Devils 7, Stars 1. The entire rest of the series, the Devils only scored 8 goals.
June 1, 2000: The Devils lost Game 2, 2-1 at the Meadowlands, and the series went to Dallas tied.
June 3, 2000: Game 3 was held at the Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas. Again, Belfour and Devils goalie Martin Brodeur – who went on to win 1,276 games between them, including Playoffs – have an epic goalies' duel. But Sýkora made the difference for the Devils, and they won, 2-1, and took a lead of the same value in the series.
The Stars would remember this, and would exact a price from Sýkora.
June 5, 2000: John Madden scored a goal in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Yes, you read that right: This John Madden, no relation to the football coach turned announcer turned video game impresario, scored for the Devils in their 3-1 defeat of the Stars. The Devils also led the series, 3-1, and could have wrapped it up in Game 5 at the Meadowlands.
June 8, 2000: Game 5 ended scoreless, and it went to overtime. And then to a 2nd overtime. And then to a 3rd overtime. This game went on, and on, and on, with Brodeur stopping 40 shots, and Belfour stopping 48.
Finally, 6 minutes and 21 seconds into the 3rd overtime, Mike Modano of Dallas ended it. It was a "blink and you'll miss it" moment. The Meadowlands hadn't been that quiet since... the last time the NBA's New Jersey Nets played there, in April.
Those of us watching Game 5 hoped that Game 6 would end in regulation. It didn’t.
June 10, 2000: Game 6, at the Reunion Arena. The Stars need to beat the Devils to force a Game 7 of the Meadowlands. But after the triple-overtime loss in Game 5, the Devils wanted to end the thing on this night.
Stars Captain Derian Hatcher elbowed Sýkora in the face. The game was held up as Sýkora was tended to, carried off the ice, and taken to a hospital. No penalty was called for this massively dirty play. Nor was Hatcher ever suspended, or even fined.
Goals were scored by New Jersey's Scott Niedermayer and Dallas' Mike Keane. The game ended tied. More overtime. The 1st overtime ended scoreless. ABC's cameras kept focusing on Melanie Brodeur, Marty's wife. She was wearing a black cowboy hat and a tight black T-shirt. In a terrible lapse of judgement, he would later leave her -- for Melanie's sister-in-law, an unfortunate scandal.
At that point, I was burnt out. I pleaded with the TV, saying, "Please, no more hockey. Somebody win this!"
At 12:30 AM Eastern Time on June 11, at 8 minutes and 20 seconds of the 2nd overtime, Jason Arnott listened to me: He took a hellacious backhanded pass from Patrik Eliáš, and shoveled the puck past Belfour to win it.
Gary Thorne had the call on ABC. The Devils had their 2nd Stanley Cup. Bill Clement, a member of the Philadelphia Flyers' 1974 and '75 Stanley Cup winners, was Thorne's color man, and, seeing the camera go on an overjoyed Melanie, he said, "Finally, the ending of the movie that Melanie Brodeur has been watching!"
The Dallas fans, showing greater respect for the sport and a great effort than I would have expected from people who root for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, shook off the shock enough to chant for Belfour: "Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!"
Devils Captain Stevens was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs, and, as in 1995, was handed the Stanley Cup by Commissioner Gary Bettman.
It was fitting that the winning goal was scored by Arnott: A native of Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada, his age then 25, matching his uniform number, he usually centered a line with Czechs Patrik Eliáš on one side and Sýkora on the other. During the celebration, Robinson, who had his Number 19 retired by the Canadiens, wore Sýkora's Number 17 jersey, backwards so it the name could be seen from the front.
Left to right: Petr Sýkora, Jason Arnott, Patrik Eliáš
(Eliáš wore 26, and it would go on to be retired by the Devils, as would the 4 of Stevens, the 30 of Brodeur, the 3 of Daneyko, and the 27 of Niedermayer.)
The Devils got back to the Finals in 2001, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche; in 2003, beating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for their 3rd Cup. Ironically, in between, they traded Arnott to the Stars, but that trade gained them Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner, from the Stars' 1999 Cup win. Nieuwendyk also played on the Calgary Flames' 1989 Cup win, and both contributed to the Devils' 2003 Cup win. With a very different roster, and a new home arena, the Prudential Center in Newark, they made the Finals again in 2012, losing to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Stars would also open a new arena, the American Airlines Center. They made the Finals again in 2020, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Arnott returned to the Devils in the 2010-11 season, and retired a year later with 417 career goals. He became a scout.
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June 10, 2000 was a Saturday. The NBA Finals were between Games 2 and 3. The Los Angeles Lakers went on to beat the Indiana Pacers in 6 games. Football was out of season. And these games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the New York Mets, 13-5 at Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada hit home runs off Pat Mahomes, whose son Patrick became a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Paul O'Neill hit a home run off Bobby Jones.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-0 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. How many Braves does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? This time, 5: Terry Mulholland, 3 over 5 innings; Kerry Ligtenberg, 1 over 2; Rudy Caballero Seánez, 1 over 1; Don Wengert, a perfect 8th; and Mike Remlinger, a perfect 9th.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken hit a home run off Curt Schilling.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Neither of the Florida teams uses their 2000 names anymore.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-2 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs, including his 416th career home run.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Mark McGwire went 2-for-4, but did not hit a home run.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Sammy Sosa did not hit a home run, but Mark Grace did.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mike Sweeney singled Johnny Damon home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Texas Rangers, 12-6 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Anaheim Angels beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 13-3 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Tony Gwynn did not play.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. For the M's, Rickey Henderson went 2-for-5 with a home run, a walk, a stolen base and 2 RBIs. Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-2 with 2 walks, a stolen base and an RBI. For the Jints, Barry Bonds went 3-for-4.
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