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Sunday, 20 May, 2001, 11:37 GMT 12:37 UK
Devils close to final return
Patrick Elias opens the scoring for New Jersey
Elias celebrates opening the scoring
New Jersey Devils 5-0 Pittsburgh Penguins
(Devils lead best-of-seven series 3-1)

Stanley Cup holders the New Jersey Devils took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series with an emphatic 5-0 demolition of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Goaltender Martin Brodeur saved 21 shots in a second successive clean sheet as the Devils moved within one win of a return to the Cup decider.

"Our guys are coming together at the right time, really working together," Brodeur said.

Broduer makes another save
Brodeur earned his second straight shutout
Brian Rafalski set a Devils' record for most playoff goals by a backliner in a season with his sixth and seventh strikes.

Patrick Elias extended his points-scoring streak to nine games, the longest in Devils' play-off history.

He began the scoring with a goal after 18:11 minutes, and Rafalski and Petr Sykora pushed the advantage to 3-0 with second-period goals.

Jason Arnott made it 4-0 early in the third period and Rafalski finished off the romp with his second goal at 13:14 as the Devils seized a commanding lead in the series.

The Devils can tie up the series with victory in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

"This is the way we always wanted to play in the play-offs," said New Jersey captain Scott Stevens.

The usually high-scoring Penguins have scoreless for 134 minutes and 41 seconds.

They had never been shut out in back-to-back play-off games. On Thursday, Brodeur handed them their first home shutout loss since 1975.


They may be the best team that I've played agains
  Mario Lemieux praises the Devils
Five-time NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr, rumoured to be traded by Pittburgh in the off-season, has been held scoreless in the series.

On Saturday, Jagr had just two shots, one more than Mario Lemieux.

Lemieux, the Penguins' part-owner who left the owners' box to return to the ice this season, paid tribute to the Devils.

"They may be the best team that I've played against," he said.

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