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ANAHEIM, Calif. - This isn't the way Ken Daneyko saw his career ending; dressed in street clothes as teammates fight for the Stanley Cup.
The Devils defenseman has not played in the final. Younger, fresher legs have taken his place. But Daneyko, who has spent his 20-year career with New Jersey and was there in 1983, a season after the franchise moved from Colorado, refuses to grouse.
"It's a disappointment but not a negative," he said. "The last thing I want to do is create a distraction when we're on the verge of doing something special."
Daneyko, 39, was on Cup-winning teams in 1995 and 2000. Entering this season he had played all of the Devils' 162 playoff games.
He once went an NHL-record 256 games without a goal. Most important to him: only three players - Detroit's Alex Delvecchio and Steve Yzerman, and Chicago's Stan Mikita - played more games with the same team than Daneyko's 1,283.
His biggest disappointment? The 2001 Cup final which New Jersey lost in seven to the Avalanche after leading three games to two with Game 6 at home.
"The most disappointed I've ever been in my career," he said. "They really didn't beat us. I hope we learn from it that you don't take anything for granted."
Daneyko said he has not thought about retirement ... yet.
"I don't want to look ahead," he said. "This is about winning, and to have another opportunity like this, with this group of guys, it's very special."
EXPERT ADVICE: Maybe the Ducks need to send out the goons and start a fight. Maybe they need to abandon their defense-first style and throw everything at Devils goalie Martin Brodeur.
Maybe not.
"If we start a fight at the end of the game or whatever, that may prove that we're frustrated," center Paul Kariya said. "That's not the type of team we are, and that's not why we've had success so far. We are disappointed and we are mad at the way we've played, but to send guys out at the end of the game to mix things up, I don't know if that proves anything."
"I don't buy that risk/reward type of thing," coach Mike Babcock said. "I don't see that working at all. You have to do the things you've done all the time. What we need to do is we have to play."
FUNNY GUY: Maybe it was sweeping Games 1 and 2 at home. Maybe he is finally getting comfortable with the swarm of reporters following his every move. Whatever it is, Devils coach Pat Burns, the usually sour former policeman, dropped a couple of one-liners before Game 3, and even cracked a smile.
Sitting down to his pregame news conference, the grim-faced coach said, "I just wish to advise everybody that in the last 24 hours, nothing has changed."
As things wound down, he added, "I feel for you guys because you have to write stuff, and I'm coming out and saying absolutely the same things I said last night. I imagine it must be boring for you like it's boring for me."
ODDS AND ENDS: The Devils have won 27 consecutive playoff games when leading after two periods. ... Babcock is the first rookie coach to reach the final since Florida's Doug MacLean in 1996. ... Anaheim is the 28th city to host the Cup final.
ELSEWHERE: Gordie Howe was released from a Detroit hospital after treatment for an irregular heartbeat, the Associated Press reported. Howe, 75, went to the hospital a day earlier. ... Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich appears from 1-3 p.m. today at the grand opening of the Kash N' Karry at 2525 N Dale Mabry. He will sign autographs and help with a street hockey clinic.