The Devils went on to sweep the series.

"Some players have the hands of a pickpocket and win faceoffs quick and clean. Others have to use their body and bull their way to win a faceoff," Primeau, who now plays for the Philadelphia Flyers, told me a couple of years ago, crouching to demonstrate how he became one of the top faceoff men in the NHL.

Primeau estimates almost 50 percent of all faceoffs are won cleanly. The rest are where the hand-to-hand combat takes over.

"When I was in Detroit," Primeau recalled, "Scotty Bowman advised us not to try to win the faceoffs cleanly because the percentage was against you. He preached that everyone on the ice had an important job to win a scramble for the puck. Even the goaltender, when we were in our own zone."

I wouldn't say the Devils won that series in the faceoff circle, but they certainly overcame a real obstacle. And it was the third year in a row that a faceoff or three became a dramatic part of who won/and lost the Stanley Cup.

To underscore the drama, let me take you back to 1993 and Game 2 of the Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings, with Los Angeles leading in the series 1-0 and leading in the game 2-1.

With 1:45 left, Montreal coach Jacques Demers called goaltender Patrick Roy over to the bench for an extra attacker. Roy looked at Demers like he was crazy, fearing the Kings winning the faceoff and scoring into the Canadiens empty net.

"Kirk Muller will win the faceoff," Demers told Roy, with no doubt in his voice. "Don't worry about it."

Muller did win that faceoff, leading to defenseman Eric Desjardins' goal, which sent the game into overtime. Desjardins scored again in sudden death to win it.

The Canadiens, with Muller and Guy Carbonneau taking the important draws, beat the Kings in five games to win their 23rd Stanley Cup.

"Winning faceoffs is one thing. Some faceoff statistics are just for show," former Kings coach Barry Melrose said at the time. "But Montreal won all the key draws -- on the power play, penalty killing and in the final minutes of a period ... or the game."

Just because there can be 70 or 80 faceoffs in a game, don't disregard the importance of winning each one.

In 1994, the Rangers' 54-year Stanley Cup drought ended against the Canucks. But in Game 7, with the Rangers up 3-2 and the Cup on the line, the last 1.6 seconds were the longest. It came down to one last faceoff.

"Time stands still," Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch said at the time. "You skate for what you think is about a minute and a half, but you look up and only 20 seconds are gone and you have another important faceoff to win."

With Canucks goalie Kirk McLean pulled, Craig MacTavish won the last faceoff for the Rangers and knocked the puck into the corner, clinching the Cup win.

"Mac was like a robot out there," Mark Messier told me. "I don't think he lost a draw down the stretch."

MacTavish, now the head coach in Edmonton, never will forget all the faceoffs he had.

"I remember my stick getting heavier and heavier," he told me a short while back. "Actually, I'd like to get a copy of those tapes and show them to my centers now. We work on it in practice, but when it comes to games, opponents often pull our pants down and spank us in those situations."

Former New Jersey Devils coach Larry Robinson refers to faceoffs down the stretch and in the playoffs as "life and death."