Playoffs 2000:Frozen Moment: Arnott goes from goat to hero

Frozen Moment: Arnott goes from goat to hero
By Joe Lago
ESPN.com

DALLAS -- As soon as Jason Arnott saw the puck sliding across the ice, he knew the Stanley Cup was going back to the Meadowlands.

"I knew it was over," he said.

In that split second, with one sweeping motion of his stick, Arnott greeted the perfect pass from Patrik Elias with the perfect shot -- a one-timer into the top left corner of the net that not even Dallas Stars goaltender Ed Belfour could stop.


	To win the game, Arnott took a perfect feed from Patrik Elias and had to roof the puck to beat a sliding Ed Belfour.

Arnott's heroics at 8:20 of the second overtime capped another dramatic game and created the final image of a memorable Cup finals that ended in New Jersey's 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night at Reunion Arena.

"I had to roof it to beat Eddie Belfour," said Arnott of his series-best fourth goal. "That was the only way we were going to beat him."

First, Elias had to beat Stars defenseman Derian Hatcher to the puck in the right corner. The Devils left wing spun and backhanded the puck past Hatcher and across the top of the crease to Arnott, whose eyes grew big once the puck sneaked past Belfour.

"I don't know how Patty got the puck," Arnott said. "But he made a tremendous pass."

Ironically, going into the period, all Arnott wanted was a chance for redemption.

It's hard to imagine one of the top Conn Smythe Trophy candidates feeling guilty, but that was the situation Arnott put himself in after getting caught for cross checking Blake Sloan, broken jaw and all, in the face with 1:17 left in the first overtime.

With his stomach already turning from a second-straight multiple-OT thriller, Arnott squirmed in the penalty box as the Devils attempted to keep the Stars from capitalizing on the man advantage and sending the series back to New Jersey for Game 7.

"I didn't want to be the guy to lose this thing for us," Arnott said. "The guys pulled through on the penalty kill. I felt I had to do something for taking that penalty."

The other part of Arnott's personal mission was to win Game 6 for linemate Petr Sykora, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the first period from an open-ice hit by Hatcher. When Arnott and Elias returned to the bench, they had a quick talk.

"I turned to Patty and said 'we've got to do this for Petr,'" Arnott said. "No question that goal was for him."

Arnott had been a victim of Hatcher's earlier in the series in Game 4. The hit cost Arnott some teeth and a trip to the dentist, but it wasn't going to keep him out of the lineup.

"Yeah, I had headaches," Arnott said. "When you get hit like that, it's tough to come back. That wasn't going to stop me from playing. I would've gone through a brick wall."