DEVILS INSIDE LOOK: BOUNCES DON'T GO DEVILS' WAY NEW JERSEY CONFIDENT DESPITE MISTAKES IN GAME 3.

Byline: A.J. Perez Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Goalie Martin Brodeur went from being the so-called third defenseman on the New Jersey Devils to the only comedian on the ice with six minutes left in the second period.

``They laughed,'' Brodeur said of his teammates' reaction to his gaffe that led to the Ducks' second goal in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals at the Pond on Saturday. ``Didn't you laugh?''

There was a bit of levity in the Devils' locker room after their overtime loss to the Mighty Ducks. There was no finger-pointing or head-hanging, though players gave a simple explanation for their first loss of the series.

``Hockey is a game of bounces and you have to get them going in your direction to win,'' Devils center John Madden said. ``You have to work for the bounces before you get the bounces. ... We got them in the first two games. Now we have to look at the things we didn't do right in this game and correct them.''

High up on that list is winning faceoffs, a struggle all game for the Devils. New Jersey, still without top center Joe Nieuwendyk due to a knee injury, lost 63 percent of their faceoffs Saturday.

``It came down to errors and mistakes like every hockey game,'' New Jersey coach Pat Burns said. ``We made a mistake on the final goal and it can't happen again.''

That goal was set up by another lost faceoff, this time by center Pascal Rheaume. Ducks center Adam Oates easily won the draw, shuffling the puck to Ruslan Salei, who in turn shot it past Brodeur for the game-winner.

The Devils were quick to point out that their goal in Anaheim is to steal one game and get back to New Jersey.

``We came out here to get one and we still have an opportunity to do that,'' New Jersey center Scott Gomez said. ``Hopefully, we can do that. We very seldom lost two in a row in the regular season. We always bounce back after a loss in the playoffs. We were right there tonight, and we'll be there again Monday.''

The Devils lost back-to-back games only four times in the regular season and their longest losing streak was three games. In the playoffs, the Devils lost two in a row to Ottawa in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

After winning the first two games with ease, some questioned whether the Ducks were a fluke primed to be swept. Several Devils players said they never considered the Ducks to be pushovers, especially at home.

``Nobody on this team thought that,'' Gomez said. ``Anytime you come home it's a big deal, especially since this is their first Cup game ever. Oates, (Paul) Kariya and the other guys were moving out there. We knew how good a team they are. We still do. They deserve to be here.''

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Photo:

The Ducks' Kurt Sauer trips up New Jersey's Jeff Friesen, who tried to maintain possession in the second period Saturday.

Associated Press

Box:

MIGHTY DUCKS vs. NEW JERSEY: New Jersey leads series 2-1