NEWARK, N.J., May 25 (UPI) -- Adam Henrique scored 63 seconds into overtime Friday, sending the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals with a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.
New Jersey eliminated the Rangers in six games to win the Eastern Conference crown and will meet the Los Angeles Kings for the championship of the National Hockey League. That series will begin in Newark Wednesday.
The Devils will be making their first trip to the title series in nine years.
New Jersey jumped on the Rangers quickly Friday, getting goals from Ryan Carter and Ilya Kovalchuk less than 4 minutes apart in the opening period. New York then came back to tie it in the second on scores by Ruslan Fedotenko and Ryan Callahan, both goals coming on deflections.
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The game then became a goaltending duel between New York's Henrik Lundqvist and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, who is capping off the 19th season of his record-setting career.
Brodeur made 33 saves to record his 111th playoff victory. Lundqvist stopped 26 shots.
The game came on the 18th anniversary of a playoff game between the Devils and Rangers that featured a similar set of circumstances. New Jersey had a 3-2 lead over the Rangers on May 25, 1995, and Brodeur was in goal trying to lead the Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals.
New York captain Mark Messier guaranteed a victory in that game and he produced a hat trick to rally the Rangers from a 2-0 deficit and force a seventh game.
New York then defeated Brodeur in the deciding contest. Almost two decades later, the New Jersey goaltender managed to create a different result Friday.
