East Rutherford, June 10: Mike Rupp had a goal and two assists and Martin Brodeur collected his third shutout of the finals as New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup with a 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Monday.
The Game Seven win gave the Devils their third Stanley Cup in nine years and marked only the 12th time in 110 years of Stanley Cup history that the finals had gone to a deciding game.
Pulled in Game Six after giving up all five goals in the Ducks 5-2 win, Brodeur rebounded in brilliant fashion, stopping all 24 shots he faced to establish a new NHL record with his seventh shutout of the postseason.
The new mark eclipses the previous record held by Dominik Hasek when he played for the Detroit Red Wings last year.
Brodeur's record setting postseason, however, was not enough to earn MVP honors, Ducks netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere taking the Conn Smythe trophy, awarded to the playoffs outstanding performer.
Giguere, whose goaltending carried the Ducks past defending champions Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild, becomes just the fifth player from the losing to win the Conn Smythe and first since Philadelphia's Ron Hextall in 1987.
"It (the Conn Smythe) is well deserved for him," said Brodeur, who adds another Stanley Cup to the Olympic gold medal he won last year leading Canada to victory at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.
"He is the big reason why the Mighty Ducks made it so far and he deserves it.
"He accomplished some great things.
"But you know it's kind of easy when you win the Cup to be satisfied.
"Knowing that I have the Stanley Cup, I'm not worried about the Conn Smythe."
While Brodeur has been cornerstone of all three New Jersey Cup wins, Rupp was an unlikely hero, the faceoff specialist playing in just his fourth postseason game.
Bureau Report