Zach Parise

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...

The New Jersey Devils never could have imagined they would have a three-goal lead on the New York Rangers less than 10 minutes into Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals at hostile Madison Square Garden. Their shock was even greater when that advantage was gone, and they were suddenly locked in a tie game in the opening minute of the third period. In the end, it all worked out for the Devils, who got another surprising goal from fourth-line forward Ryan Carter in the closing minutes and escaped with a win that put New Jersey on the brink of a spot in the Stanley Cup finals.

The New Jersey Devils have filed for arbitration with restricted free-agent Zach Parise. Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said Friday the NHL team made the move to protect its rights, adding it will continue to work to sign the star left wing to a long-term contract. “He knows that,’’ Lamoriello said. “Everything has been amicable as far as the talks. We will continue to work toward a long-term agreement.’’ The move means that Parise, who earned $5 million last season, will be awarded a one-year contract in arbitration and become unrestricted July 1,...

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.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise each scored in a shootout to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. Kovalchuk also scored a power-play goal and David Clarkson added a goal for New Jersey. It was the Devils' second straight shootout win. Colin Wilson, Jerred Smithson scored for Nashville. The Predators jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Wilson, skating in the middle of the slot, scored on a tip-in of a pass from Sergei Kostitsyn at 12:22.

David Clarkson scored in the fourth round of the shootout, after Johan Hedberg made a pad save on Nicklas Backstrom, and the New Jersey Devils rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. Clarkson skated in on Michael Neuvirth, faked to the right and then lifted a backhander over the sliding goalie to give the Devils a split in a weekend home-and-home series with the Capitals. Zach Parise also scored for the Devils in the shootout, and Alex Ovechkin connected for Washington.

Rookie Adam Henrique scored on a backhander in the fourth round of the shootout to give the New Jersey Devils a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Zach Parise and Patrik Elias also scored in the shootout for the Devils, who trailed 3-0 with about 5 minutes left in the second period before scoring four unanswered goals. Ottawa's Jesse Winchester scored a short-handed goal to tie it with just 5 seconds remaining in regulation. The goal came after the Senators pulled goalie Alex Auld with just 21 seconds to go. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson scored in...

Zach Parise and Adam Henrique both had a goal and two assists to lead the New Jersey Devils past the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Monday night. Parise, Henrique and Ilya Kovalchuk each scored in the second period as the Devils broke open a tie game after both teams scored twice in the first. Petr Sykora and Dainius Zubrus had the other goals for New Jersey, which had lost five of seven. Steve Stamkos had two goals for the Lightning, losers of seven of eight. Steve Downie and Blair Jones also scored.

■When, where: Tonight, 7, at the Prudential Center, Newark. ■TV, radio: NESN, WBZ-FM (98.5). ■Goals: Ilya Kovalchuk 19, Patrik Elias 17, David Clarkson 16. ■Assists: Elias 27, Zach Parise 24, Kovalchuk 21, Adam Henrique 21. ■Goaltending: Martin Brodeur (14-10-1, 2.82 GAA), Johan Hedberg (12-7-1, 2.45). ■Head to head: This is the third of four meetings. Boston won the first two. ■Miscellany: The Devils started off a six-game homestand Tuesday with a 5-1 win over the Jets, their third straight victory … Kovalchuk had two goals Monday and...

David Clarkson's power-play goal with 4:21 left in the second period, snapped a tie and lifted the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 preseason victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. Petr Sykora added his second goal of the preseason, strengthening his chances of making the team. Sykora scored on a breakaway off a pass from Zach Parise that got by three Flyers at 4:12 of the second. The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Scott Hartnell's power-play goal with 3:31 left in the first.

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...

Coach John Tortorella's postgame news conference was so short you might think that just like the rest of the Rangers, he was trying to conserve energy. After all, his team had less than 48 hours off after beating Washington in Game 7 of their Eastern conference semifinal series to get ready for a well-rested New Jersey side. And even after beating the Devils 3-0 in the opening game of their series Monday night, the Rangers will still have only the same two days or so to get ready to mix it up with New Jersey again in Game 2. But the truth is...

No Ilya Kovalchuk, no problem for New Jersey. With the injured Devils forward out for Game 2, Adam Larsson traded his seat in the rafters for an up-close look at postseason play. He might get to stick around. Larsson scored the first playoff goal of his career off a wrist shot in the third, igniting a four-goal outburst in the period that rallied the Devils to a 4-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday night and tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1. "I'm not a goal scorer so I was happy for that," he said.

A one-game showdown to win their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. Neither New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer nor Florida coach Kevin Dineen is complaining about the prospect. The series between the sixth-seeded Devils and third-seeded Panthers has been close, so it's appropriate it comes down to 60 minutes, or more. The Devils staved off elimination and forced the deciding contest when Travis Zajac scored at 5:39 of overtime in a 3-2 win over the Panthers on Tuesday night.

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.

Two days after ending a 15-year playoff drought, the Florida Panthers staged their greatest postseason comeback, knocked out an old nemesis, and seemingly found themselves a new goaltender. Brian Campbell scored on a second-period power play and the Panthers rallied from an early three-goal deficit to defeat the New Jersey Devils, 4-3, Tuesday night in Newark behind a 19-save performance in relief by Scott Clemmensen over the final 54 minutes. Not only did the Panthers take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference, first-round series, they did it by sending Devils...

Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists, Martin Brodeur made 22 saves in his third shutout of the season, and the New Jersey Devils clinched a playoff berth by routing the Hurricanes, 5-0, Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C. Petr Sykora added a goal and an assist for the Devils. David Clarkson, Ryan Carter, and Zach Parise also scored, and Patrik Elias had two assists. New Jersey scored three goals in a 3:50 span and had no trouble after that while wrapping up a return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.