NEWARK, NJ – The New Jersey Devils got almost as many shots in one minute of overtime than they did in the entire third period. The third one went in, sending the Devils to the Stanley Cup finals against the Los Angeles Kings with a 3-2 win.
New Jersey seemed to have things under control in the opening period, scoring twice and dominating play. But the Rangers came right back in the second period to tie the game at two.
The Devils took advantage of several first period odd man rushes to control the puck and score the game’s opening goal. Ryan Carter sent a wrist shot past Henrik Lundqvist who had no chance and no help.
They extended the lead on a beautiful power play when every Devil touched the puck with Ilya Kovalchuk burying a slap shot.
The Rangers came back hard in the second period, scoring two goals in a four-minute span. Ruslan Fedotenko tipped in a Ryan McDonagh wrap around attempt to narrow the lead to one.
The Rangers got a little lucky on the game tying goal when Dan Girardi’s shot went in off Ryan Callahan’s leg.
Martin Brodeur kept the Rangers off the board in the third period, making several acrobatic saves to keep New York from extending the series to a game seven. He had 33 saves in the game.
The game ended just one minute and three seconds into overtime after Adam Henrique found the puck in the crease during a mad scramble and slid it into the net, ending New York’s quest for the cup.
Game one of the finals will be played in Newark next Wednesday night. Contact the writer at: mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com
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