FOWL ENDING DUCKS' MIGHTY POSTSEASON COMES UP ONE VICTORY SHORT OF TITLE.

Byline: Brice Nixon Staff Writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - After going further this season than even they envisioned, the Mighty Ducks found it hard to come within one game of the Stanley Cup and walk away empty-handed.

The Ducks found the resiliency to come back throughout a record-setting regular season and their longest playoff run ever, but they couldn't come up with one last show of will and determination in a 3-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday.

``We didn't finish the job and I'm a little disappointed about that,'' Ducks captain Paul Kariya said. ``I am sure we'll look back and be proud of what we accomplished.''

The home team won every game of the series, which had the feel it could have continued indefinitely that way. But it was a best-of-seven series and the Devils had home-ice advantage.

It was enough to earn them their third Stanley Cup in the last nine years and their second in the last four. The Devils set a record with their 12th home win in the playoffs, including all four in the Finals.

``If we'd had home-ice advantage, we'd have won the Stanley Cup,'' said Ducks right wing Steve Thomas, playing in the first Stanley Cup Finals of his 19-year career. ``We were just as good on home ice as they were.''

But to win the Cup, they needed to get one on the road. They weren't overwhelmed, as they had been in the first three games at Continental Airlines Arena, but they were undone in the second period, as they were the first three times here, and the Devils won their 29th consecutive playoff game when leading after two periods.

In the end, one of the players the Ducks traded away to start the building process before the season came back to deal them their biggest loss.

The Devils led 1-0 early in the second when the Ducks finally started getting more of a buildup in the Devils' zone. Then Jeff Friesen put in a rebound for a 2-0 lead the Ducks never came close to challenging.

Friesen added another goal in the third period. Rookie Mike Rupp scored the Devils' first goal and assisted on both of Friesen's.

``Two weeks ago, I never would have thought this could happen,'' said Rupp, who hadn't played in the postseason until unexpectedly being called in Game 4.

In July, the Ducks traded Friesen and Oleg Tverdovsky to the Devils for Petr Sykora, who led the Ducks with 34 goals in the regular season. He had two in the series. Friesen had three in the first two games, then disappeared until Monday.

The Ducks were trying to become the fourth team in Finals history to come back from a 2-0 series deficit to win the Cup. Only one of those teams, the 1971 Montreal Canadiens, did it on the road, a feat the Ducks couldn't match.

The Ducks' last win in New Jersey was in 1996. The Devils have won the last 10 games.

Sykora said before the game the Ducks had learned from Game 6 that it wasn't ``going to be anything pretty out there'' that would win the game, but they didn't follow through on that Monday.

They didn't create that kind of pressure on goal and didn't test Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, who bounced back from allowing five goals in Game 6 to shut out the Ducks and tie a record with his third in the series. Brodeur also set a record with his seventh shutout of the postseason.

``It's been a bumpy ride, with a great deal of adversity,'' goalie Martin Brodeur said. ``We definitely came through at the right time.''

``It's tough to lose like that,'' said Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. ``We gave so much effort to get where we are at, and you never know when the next chance is going to come.

``It was just hard to play in this building. I'm sure they thought it was tough to play in our building, too.''

Brice Nixon, [phone]

brice.nixon(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Emotions catch up with Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere as the Stanley Cup Finals end with a Game 7 loss at New Jersey.

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

(2) Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, left, moves away as the Devils' Jamie Langenbrunner (15) congratulates Michael Rupp on his second-period goal.

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Box:

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(2) GAME RECAP