The New Jersey Devils reached the Stanley Cup Finals by eliminating cross-river rival New York Rangers with a 3-2 sudden-death victory on Friday, as rookie center Adam Henrique produced more overtime magic.
Henrique, whose overtime goal clinched New Jersey’s seven-game playoff series against the Florida Panthers, did it again when he scored 63 seconds into extra-time to set off a wild celebration in the packed Prudential Center.
The 22-year-old Henrique stuffed the puck past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist after a mad scramble in front of the net, to give New Jersey a 4-2 triumph over New York in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.
The victory put the Devils into the NHL championship series against Western Conference champion Los Angeles Kings, with Game One on Wednesday in New Jersey.
“I was Johnny on the spot for that one, I guess,” Henrique said. “I couldn’t see the puck. I knew he [Lundqvist] was down and I was just praying it would go under his pad.”
“That’s a goal you dream about. It’s a good feeling to see everybody come off the bench. I didn’t even mind being at the bottom of the pile,” he added.
The Devils lost a 2-0 first period to a rousing second-period comeback by the Rangers, but in the end New Jersey won the Hudson River battle and gave their 40-year-old netminder Martin Brodeur a chance at winning a fourth Stanley Cup ring.
“This is to go to the big dance,” a beaming Brodeur said after stopping 33 of 35 Rangers shots.
“When you’re a kid you dream of a chance to win the Stanley Cup. This win gives us the opportunity to go for it and along the way we beat a big rival,” he said.
It looked like it would be easy sailing for New Jersey after first-period goals by Ryan Carter and Ilya Kovalchuk produced a 2-0 lead that had the red-clad crowd rocking with delight.
Carter slipped in a rebound of Stephen Gionta’s shot off a feed from Steve Bernier on an odd-man rush halfway through the opening period.
The Carter-Gionta connection on New Jersey’s fourth line also produced the game-winning score in Wednesday’s Game Five win for the Devils at Madison Square Garden.
New Jersey doubled their advantage four minutes later with a power-play goal on a one-timer by Kovalchuk from a crisp feed by Dainius Zubrus.
The Rangers, however, roared back in the second period with goals from Ruslan Fedotenko and Ryan Callahan to equalize 2-2, and after a scoreless third period the game went to overtime.
New Jersey swarmed the net in a frantic attack on Lundqvist and Henrique delivered another series-clinching goal.
“We caught them on a line change there, and we got a little room and were able to jam one in,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said.
New York coach John Tortorella said he was proud of how his young team battled back.
“We got kicked a little bit early, but got our swagger back and I thought we were coming,” the Rangers coach said. “But we didn’t score the big goal and they did.”
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set