Early in the first period of Game 2, though, there seemed to be a lot of confusion on the Devils bench.

"I got up to jump (change on the fly) Holik," said Devils C John Madden, just minutes after his club had evened the series with a 2-1 win. "Then, Gomer (Scott Gomez) grabs me and tells me he's up. I looked at him and said, 'I thought you were playing wing with Bobby [Holik]?'"

Gomez wasn't. But Madden wasn't the only one on the Devils bench who wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"I didn't know we weren't changing the lines until after the game started," said Devils captain Scott Stevens. "There were a few things I didn't know about until after we started."

On Monday, at an afternoon practice, Jersey coach Larry Robinson started the confusion by juggling his lines. He was forced to make a change due to the broken left hand suffered by RW Randy McKay in Game 1. But, instead of just inserting C/RW Bob Corkum in McKay's place, he shook up his second and third lines.

Monday's plan had Corkum playing with Holik, a center, and Gomez (normally a center) on the left side, while Sergei Brylin, Sergei Nemchinov and Alexander Mogilny would form an all-Russian unit.

But, after watching Monday afternoon's practice, Robinson started to re-think his decision. "I didn't really like what I saw," he said on his way out of the Pepsi Center. "And, Gomez and Mogilny have been playing together all year, they read off of each other really well.

"I finally figured it would be easier to just make the one switch and put Corkum in McKay's place."

So, if he made the decision on Monday night, how come everybody wasn't told of the plan?

"He told me on the way to lunch," said Gomez, whose pointless streak reached seven games in Game 2. "He gave me a reason and that was that."

When asked what the reason was, Gomez added: "I think I'll keep that between Larry and me."

Gomez's linemate, Mogilny, didn't get the news until later – a few hours later.

"He told me just before the (pregame) warm-up," said Mogilny, who hasn't scored a goal in his last 12 games. "To me, it was no big deal, things like this happen all the time, nothing changes."

Corkum, who ended up the most unlikely star of the evening by scoring the critical tying goal, didn't even hear the news from the boss.

"Bobby Holik told me after lunch," said Corkum, who calmly answered more media questions in one hour than he has probably answered all season. "He told me I'd be with him and Nemo. To be honest, It didn't matter to me. I was just happy to be playing."

A cynic – and there are many found in the press box – might say Robinson created the distraction for the psychological benefit of his struggling players (read, Gomez and Mogilny), the media and the Avs. Of course, Robinson says no, he just changed his mind.

Whatever his intent, Robinson's final decision paid off with a gritty one-goal win. Now, the series is tied and going east. Next time, though – if there is a next time – Robinson might want to make sure everybody on his bench knows exactly what's going. After all, Larry, it is the Stanley Cup finals.

E.J. Hradek writes puck for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail ej.hradek@espnmag.com.