Speak of the Devils-June 7, 2012

Speak of the Devils

Staring their own doom in the face down three games to none in the Stanley Cup Finals, the sixth-seeded New Jersey Devils refused to blink. Playing in a raucous STAPLES Center against the miracle eight-seeded LA Kings of the Western Conference, the Devils avoided a sweep with a clutch 3-1 victory in 60 scintillating minutes last night.

Certain future Hall-of-Fame goalkeeper Martin Brodeur had 21 saves and rookie Adam Henrique had the winning goal with less than five minutes left, keeping the Devils' season alive for at least three more days, and denying the Kings the chance to match the all-time best playoff run at 16 wins and 2 losses.

"We have to go back to Jersey anyway," Brodeur said cheerfully after the game. "We figured we might as well bring them with us, and play another game."

The Devils' victory called into question-again-the go-for-the-throat killer instinct of a Devils team that obliterated the #1, 2, and 3 seeds in their conference but seemed to lose focus every time they were on the verge of a sweep.

"We know it's going to be a tough task," moustachioed rookie Henrique admitted, "but there's no quit in this group. We know we can do it."

That belief is somewhat validated after a game in which the Devils were held without even a single shot on goal for nearly 17 minutes in the second period, but nonetheless scored first (Patrik Elias knocked a ricochet past LA netminder Jonathan Quick 7:56 into the 3rd period) and then shook off a game-tying goal by LA's Drew Doughty exactly one minute later. Veteran Ilya Kovalchuk added an empty-net goal with twenty seconds left to push New Jersey's advantage to 3-1.

"We stayed alive," Elias added. "Marty (Brodeur) had to work hard, but he gave us a chance. All we've got to do is keep playing hard."

Saturday, the Devils will, on their home ice, look to stave off elimination again, to see if they can come without shouting distance of the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the only team to ever win the Stanley Cup Finals after losing the first three games (it has been done three other times in the NHL playoffs).

"It's fun," Henrique said. "This is where every kid dreams of playing one day."