Travis Zajac

If you have any doubt the New Jersey Devils are frustrating the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference finals, just look at Game 4. Forget that Zach Parise scored two goals and set up another in the Devils' 4-1 win that evened the series at 2-all. Look at the extracurricular stuff in the game Monday night. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur got sucker-punched by former teammate Mike Rupp, who might now be facing a suspension. New Jersey teammates Patrik Elias, Adam Henrique and Steve Bernier were the victims of cheap shots, and the Rangers spent most of the final 20 minutes...

NEW YORK - Ryan Carter snapped a tie with 4:24 left, and the New Jersey Devils survived for a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers after blowing a three-goal lead in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night. The Devils, who led 3-0 before the first period was half over, have a 3-2 edge in the series and can advance to face the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup finals with a win at home Friday night. If the Rangers can stay alive then, Game 7 would be back in Madison Square Garden Sunday.

NEWARK - The New Jersey Devils are still alive in the Stanley Cup chase because of a player who spent most of the season off the ice working his way back from an Achilles' tendon injury. Travis Zajac scored at 5:39 of overtime and the Devils avoided elimination and sent yet another Eastern Conference first-round series to a seventh game with a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers Tuesday night. "It's fun to be back competing and playing at this time of year," said Zajac, who was limited to 15 regular-season games because of an Achilles' injury in August that required surgery.

NEWARK - The Eastern Conference finals between the rival New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils finally got ugly - real ugly. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was sucker punched in the third period by former teammate Mike Rupp. Coaches Peter DeBoer of New Jersey and John Tortorella of New York screamed at each other after the incident. And the Rangers blew their cool, as the Devils rode two goals and an assist by Zach Parise to a 4-1 victory on Monday night that evened the series, 2-2. "Throughout a seven-game series," Parise said, "both teams are going to get frustrated with things.

Kris Draper and Mathieu Schneider scored shorthanded goals in the third period to rally the Red Wings to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars last night in Detroit. Dominik Hasek made 20 saves for the Red Wings, who broke a five-game winless streak (0-2-3). Antti Miettinen scored for Dallas, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Schneider broke a 1-1 tie with 7:47 remaining with teammate Dan Cleary off for holding. After taking a pass from Henrik Zetterberg, Schneider blasted a slap shot past Marty Turco from the high slot.

NEWARK - The Eastern Conference finals between the rival New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils finally got ugly - real ugly. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was sucker punched in the third period by former teammate Mike Rupp. Coaches Peter DeBoer of New Jersey and John Tortorella of New York screamed at each other after the incident. And the Rangers blew their cool, as the Devils rode two goals and an assist by Zach Parise to a 4-1 victory on Monday night that evened the series, 2-2. "Throughout a seven-game series," Parise said, "both teams are going to get frustrated with things.

Daniel Sedin scored on the power play 1:39 into overtime and assisted on Vancouver’s two goals in regulation as the visiting Canucks sent the Edmonton Oilers to their ninth straight loss, 3-2, last night. Down by a goal late in the third period, the Canucks tied it, 2-2, during a four-on-three power play. Sami Salo fired a shot from the point that beat goaltender Devan Dubnyk with 4:06 remaining to force overtime. The Oilers have one win in 17 games and are in the midst of their worst losing streak since a 12-game skid from Feb. 25-March 21, 2007.

Martin Brodeur stopped 37 shots in his 96th regular-season shutout, and the New Jersey Devils beat Philadelphia, 3-0, last night for their 11th straight home win over the Flyers. Brodeur has four shutouts this season and is seven shy of tying Terry Sawchuk's mark of 103. Brodeur's total of 118, including 22 in the playoffs, is an NHL record. Brodeur has 40 of his 515 wins against Philadelphia, his most against any team. Defenseman Paul Martin, who hadn't recorded a point in 11 games, had a goal.

Henrik and Daniel Sedin had a hand in three first-period goals, and Roberto Luongo made 27 saves as the Vancouver Canucks beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-2, last night in Newark. Alex Burrows, Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin, Alexander Elder, and Jannik Hansen had goals for the Canucks, who won for the fifth time in seven games. Niclas Bergfors and Travis Zajac scored for the Devils, who had won three straight and six in a row at home. It was all Vancouver early, with the Sedin twins combining for four points as the Canucks jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Andrei Kostitsyn had his first career hat trick, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 victory over the Penguins last night in Pittsburgh. Kostitsyn, who missed the previous two games with a minor leg injury, scored twice in the first period and had the winner in the third. Tomas Plekanec added two assists for Montreal, 3-0-1 in its last four games. "We want [Kostitsyn] to shoot," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "I think he has the best shot on our club. He should be ready to shoot from everywhere, and tonight that's all he did. He got good shots right on the net and...

If you have any doubt the New Jersey Devils are frustrating the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference finals, just look at Game 4. Forget that Zach Parise scored two goals and set up another in the Devils' 4-1 win that evened the series at 2-all. Look at the extracurricular stuff in the game Monday night. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur got sucker-punched by former teammate Mike Rupp, who might now be facing a suspension. New Jersey teammates Patrik Elias, Adam Henrique and Steve Bernier were the victims of cheap shots, and the Rangers spent most of the final 20 minutes...

Adam Larsson and David Clarkson scored their first goals of the postseason, and the New Jersey Devils posted a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, evening this Eastern Conference semifinals series at 1-1. Larsson and Clarkson scored consecutive goals in the third period to rally the Devils past the Flyers and make up for the absence of Ilya Kovalchuk. The Devils played without their regular-season leading scorer because of a lower body injury. Travis Zajac added a late goal to make it 3-1, and Bryce Salvador scored a late empty-netter...

NEWARK - The New Jersey Devils are still alive in the Stanley Cup chase because of a player who spent most of the season off the ice working his way back from an Achilles' tendon injury. Travis Zajac scored at 5:39 of overtime and the Devils avoided elimination and sent yet another Eastern Conference first-round series to a seventh game with a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers Tuesday night. "It's fun to be back competing and playing at this time of year," said Zajac, who was limited to 15 regular-season games because of an Achilles' injury in...

Martin Brodeur bounced back from his shortest postseason performance with a record-setting 24th Stanley Cup playoff shutout, leading the host New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers Thursday night, tying their first-round series at 2-all. Brodeur made 26 saves in taking over sole possession of the postseason shutout mark from Patrick Roy. The 39-year-old goaltender also added his second assist of the series, giving him 10 for his career, four behind all-time leader Grant Fuhr.

Don't write Martin Brodeur off after one bad playoff game. The 39-year-old bounced back from his shortest postseason performance with a record-setting 24th Stanley Cup playoff shutout, leading the New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers Thursday night, tying their first-round series at 2-all. "He was on top of his game," Devils captain Zach Parise said. "You could tell. He was seeing the puck really well. He made the big saves early. I think we all knew he would have a great game but when you see the first couple of saves, we have all the confidence in the...