Devils skate to the brink

Troubled times: Avalanche players face series defeat

Colorado Avalanche 1-4 New Jersey Devils
(Devils lead best-of-seven series 3-2)

The New Jersey Devils are within one victory of a second consecutive Stanley Cup after an impressive win on the road in game five of their final series against the Colorado Avalanche.

They can now capture ice hockey's holy grail with a win on home ice on Thursday night.

Among the heroes were Patrik Elias, who scored his ninth goal of the playoffs, and Alexander Mogilny, who ended a 14-game scoring drought and set up Sergei Brylin's powerplay goal.

Devils' Elias sweeps up the ice during game five

The Devils were forced to play without injured first-line center Jason Arnott, but the rest of the team raised their game.

"When everyone is working hard, we're a tough team to beat," said Scott Gomez, who set up Mogilny's goal.

New Jersey netminder Martin Brodeur - seeking his third career Stanley Cup - had his finest performance of the finals, repeatedly coming up with saves that left the flashy Avalanche attackers shaking their heads in disbelief.

"He was definitely very focused," said Devils coach Larry Robinson.

"On every shot he was square to the puck - he was smothering his rebounds and handling the puck well.

"It's the kind of goaltending that we have become accustomed to with Marty."

It's a long way from being over and we have every intention of bringing it back to Denver for game seven

  Ray Bourque
Colorado Avalanche

The lone Colorado goal followed a brilliant defensive play by Ray Bourque, whose quest to win his first Stanley Cup in his 22nd NHL season is suddenly looking in jeopardy.

"There's no quit in us," said Bourque.

"Obviously we have lost the last two games and that is disappointing.

"But it's a long way from being over and we have every intention of bringing it back to Denver for game seven."

The Devils are less keen and, with home ice always a factor, there is a feeling that game six will be decisive in this series, even if Colorado prevail.

"I don't think we want to get ourselves in the situation of coming back here [to Colorado]," said the Devils' Brodeur.

"We have a great opportunity for us in front of our fans. It's been a long, long play-offs so we will try to finish it off in Jersey."