Rangers end Devils' year
NEWARK, N.J. — The New Jersey Devils' reign in the metropolitan area might be over. The New York Rangers are now the top team.
Two years after being swept out of the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers showed their regular-season domination of the Devils was not a fluke by eliminating New Jersey in five games in the opening round of the playoffs.
Michal Rozsival and Jaromir Jagr scored in a 1:40 span in the first period to wipe out an early lead and Henrik Lundqvist stopped John Madden on a potential game-tying penalty shot with 7:08 to play to lead the Rangers to a 5-3 win in the series decider Friday night.
"It is poetic justice to a degree," Rangers coach Tom Renney said.
In other NHL playoff games Friday night, the Anaheim Ducks kept their season alive with a 5-2 win against Dallas, while Detroit took a 3-2 series lead on Nashville with a 2-1 win in overtime.
The Rangers won seven of the eight regular-season games against New Jersey, and they took this series by making all the big plays with the game on the line.
New York outscored New Jersey 9-2 in the third period during the series. Brandon Dubinsky iced the series with an empty-net goal with 59.1 seconds to play.
There were two crucial moments in Game 5.
The first came just 18 seconds after Brian Gionta gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead. Jagr collected a loose puck behind the net and found Rozsival in front for a game-tying goal.
Jagr gave New York the lead with a power-play goal less than two minutes later. Gomez scored later in the period for a 3-1 lead.
"The turning point of the game was the shift right after we scored," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We had the momentum for 20 seconds or something like that ... bang bang and you're down 3-1."
Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf and Sean O'Donnell each had a goal and an assist at home to trim the Stars' lead in the first-round series to 3-2.Game 6 is Sunday in Dallas. A seventh game would be in Anaheim on Tuesday.The defending Stanley Cup champions, on the brink of elimination, scored three times in the third period to break open a tight, physical game.
After Detroit goalie Chris Osgood allowed a tying goal in the final minute, Johan Franzen scored 1:48 into overtime, lifting the Red Wings to a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.Valtteri Filppula, who scored Detroit's first goal, poked the puck away and Franzen ended up with it and beat Dan Ellis with a backhander.Nashville's Radek Bonk slipped through the defense to get off a one-timer that got past Chris Osgood with 44 seconds left.In the end, Osgood validated Detroit coach Mike Babcock's decision to start him over Dominik Hasek. Game 6 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Nashville.Ellis kept the Predators in the game, making 52 saves before he was pulled for an extra skater.
