New Jersey Devils: Best Game 7 Wins In Franchise History
By Nick Villano
2. 2003 VS. Anaheim Ducks
The Devils won one of their three Stanley Cup Finals in a Game 7. It was an epic series with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Paul Kariya and Jean-Sebastien Giguere were carrying this Ducks team through three series, but Martin Brodeur at his absolute best and the Devils pushing for one more championship out of this dynasty was too much to match.
It was an interesting series where the home crowd played a huge role. The home team actually won each game of the series. It was good then that the Devils held home-ice advantage so that Game 7 would be at the Continental Airlines Arena.
Brodeur stood on his head, shutting out the Ducks for the third time. He actually got to the end of regulation with a shutout four times, but in one the Devils failed to score, too and the Ducks won in overtime. The Devils defense only allowed 24 shots, but it took Brodeur to make sure nothing got past him.
Mike Rupp scored the game-winning goal in the second period, and Jeff Friesen scored his ninth and 10th goals of the postseason to put the dagger in the Ducks chances. Rupp actually got a point on every goal for one of the best performances of his career. The Devils lifted the Cup in a winner-take-all fashion.
Brodeur should have won the Conn Smythe, but we’ll get to that in a later piece.