OTTAWA, May 23 (UPI) -- Jeff Friesen, one of only six New Jersey players who have never reached the Stanley Cup Finals, scored with 2:14 remaining Friday night to give the Devils a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals.
Undermanned since early in the first period, New Jersey squandered a lead in the opening minutes of the third. But Friesen scored his third game-winning goal of the series to set up a Stanley Cup Finals matchup with his former team, the well-rested Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
The opening game of the NHL's championship series will be played Tuesday night in New Jersey. It will be the third Stanley Cup Finals for the Devils in four years.
New Jersey's John Madden cleared the puck from his own zone to Grant Marshall, who drew defensemen Karel Rachunek and Wade Redden as he moved into the Senators' zone. Marshall threaded a pass through Redden's legs to Friesen, who collected it on his backhand, shifted to his forehand and flipped a shot under the stick of lunging goaltender Patrick Lalime.
The Devils steadied themselves after squandering a three games to one lead and losing veteran center Joe Nieuwendyk, who played just three shifts before leaving with an injury suffered late in Game 6.
Magnus Arvedson and Radek Bonk scored for Ottawa, which survived a bankruptcy filing during the season but could not become the third team in this year's playoffs to win a series after trailing three games to one.
