Devils drink from Cup as Brodeur blanks Ducks

— -- EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) - Home, sweet home.

The New Jersey Devils captured their third championship innine years with a 3-0 blanking of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim as Martin Brodeur broke a record with his seventh playoff shutout and Jeff Friesen scored two more goals.

Faced with the prospect of squandering a three games to twolead in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in threeyears, the Devils relied on Brodeur, who bounced back froma sub-par effort in Game Six and recorded his third shutoutof the series.

Six times, Brodeur has surrendered as many as five goals ina playoff game. He is 6-0 with three shutouts in the following contest.

Friesen again victimized his former team with his fourthand fifth goals of the series. But the game-winner wasscored by rookie Michael Rupp, who also had a pair of assists in just his fourth career playoff game.

For the third time in NHL history, the home team won allseven games in the Stanley Cup Finals. New Jersey tiedthe record set by the 1984 Edmonton Oilers with their 12thhome win of the playoffs.

The Devils also became the first team since the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers to capture the Stanley Cup with a losing road record in the playoffs. That's a starkcontrast to their first two championships, when they tiedthe record with 10 road victories.

It was a disheartening end to a magical season for theDucks, who vanquished the defending Stanley Cup championDetroit Red Wings in the first round and topped the top-seeded Dallas Stars in the Western Conference semifinals.

But Anaheim was unable to win a game in New Jersey, whereit has lost 10 straight since 1996. The Ducks were outscored, 15-3, in the four games at the ContinentalAirlines Arena.

A small consolation was goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who became just the fifth member of the losing team to win theConn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Once again, the second period belonged to the Devils. They outscored opponents, 22-12, in the middle period in the playoffs, including a 9-4 edge in this series.