LOS ANGELES — The New Jersey Devils kept their slim Stanley Cup hopes alive with a battling 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday to avoid a sweep and send the series back to the Prudential Center.
Devils rookie forward Adam Henrique dampened celebrations for a sold out Staples Center crowd that had turned up hoping to witness the franchise’s first Stanley Cup when he scored the tiebreaking goal with less than five minutes remaining.
Ilya Kovalchuk added an insurance marker into an empty net to cap a wild third period and send both teams silently off the ice and to the airport for a trip back to Newark for Saturday’s Game Five.
“We’re pretty happy to live another day,” said Devils netminder Martin Brodeur, who stopped 21 shots in the win.
“We just wanted to play well, give everything we had, and see where that’s going to bring us.
“We pulled it off, one game. We’ll take it one game at a time but I’m sure they’re not happy to make that trip. We’ll try to make it miserable for them again.”
While the Devils finally made the breakthrough they had been seeking, the three third-period goals one more than they had mustered in the entire series to date, the challenge ahead remains a daunting one.
Only one team, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, has ever clawed back from a 3-0 deficit to hoist the Cup.
It marked the third time in four series that the Kings have held a 3-0 lead and failed to finish off their opponents at the first opportunity, having also allowed Vancouver and Phoenix a consolation win before delivering the knockout punch.
“Close out a series in Game Four?” Kings coach Darryl Sutter scoffed. “It’s the Stanley Cup final. The game is the very same as the first two games.”
Heading back to New Jersey will not strike any fear into the Kings, however, who opened the series with a pair of tight 2-1 wins at the Prudential Center.
In fact, the Kings have been at their best on the road, unbeaten away from the Staples Center this post-season in winning an NHL playoff record 10 consecutive games on enemy ice.
“We’ve got to take it home and take care of business now and win another one,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’re a good team in front of our home crowd. I’m confident that we’ll be ready to play and we’ll get the job done.”
For DeBoer, Henrique has definitely been one of New Jerseys’s players doing just that. It is the third time this post-season that the rookie has come to the Devils rescue and he is developing a reputation as a clutch player with a penchant for scoring big goals. — Reuters