Devils To Defend Title

Archived from 2000-01 season.

2001 Playoffs

Jason Arnott scored twice and the New Jersey Devils Jersey returned to the Stanley Cup Finals by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 Tuesday night to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final in five games.

"We knew how good we can be," Devils Bobby Holik said. "This is not a surprise to us that we are back. It was just a matter of whether we wanted to do it or not."

Holik and John Madden also scored for the Devils, who will face the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the finals Saturday in Denver.

The defeat ended Mario Lemieux's dream of a third title. Pittsburgh's owner ended a 3 1/2-year retirement in December and helped take his team to the conference finals for the first time since 1996.

"I was glad to give a little bit back to the fans," said Lemieux, who had three assists in the series. "All in all, this has been a fun year and I'll be back next year."

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