It took four series for the Devils to finally breakthrough against the Rangers. In the fourth ever Battle of the Hudson, the Devils dominated from start to finish in sweeping their Lincoln Tunnel rivals.
The sweep was their third ever. In the other two postseasons they swept an opponent, the Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup- sweeping Detroit in '95 and Florida in '00.
How big a mismatch was it? The Devils outscored the Rangers 17-4 and only trailed once.
The star of the series was Patrik Elias. In finishing off the Rangers in a 4-2 Game Four win at Madison Square Garden Saturday, Elias scored twice and had an assist. With his team trailing for the only time in the series, he assisted on Scott Gomez' power play goal to turn the tide in the second period. He would later make a perfect redirection of a Gomez shot for another PPG to give his team a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Elias would put the exclamation point on the victory with a beautiful move to beat Ranger rookie netminder Henrik Lundqvist. With his team up 3-1 thanks to a Brian Gionta shorthanded tally early in the third, Elias took a Jamie Langenbrunner feed and then spun around Ranger defenseman Fedor Tyutin before roofing the puck inside the post to put the game out of reach with 6:39 remaining.
For the series, Elias paced all Devil scorers with five goals and six assists for 11 points. A remarkable feat by a player who missed half the season due to Hepatitis A.
"We put ourselves again in a good position to end the series," Elias said.
"I'm happy with the way I played and happy to help this team out."
"People don't realize when this guy is going, he's top five in the league," Gomez pointed out. "He's that good."
By winning their 15th consecutive game, the Devils matched a league record for longest streak which spanned the regular season and playoffs.
The victory was especially sweet for Martin Brodeur. The losing goalie in the Devils' last two series losses to the Rangers in '94 and '97, Brodeur was splendid throughout allowing just four goals on 114 shots. The three-time Cup winner easily outperformed the Ranger combo of Lundqvist and Kevin Weekes in this series to give the Devils a decided edge.
"It's pretty sweet for everybody especially in a season that the Rangers dominated all year long," Brodeur said. "It was a long time coming for the Devils fans. For myself it's been a long time, too."
In making his 137th consecutive postseason start to break Patrick Roy's record, he finished with 31 saves for his 88th career playoff win to move into a tie for third with Billy Smith and Ed Belfour on the NHL list.
Special Teams The Difference: One of the biggest differences in the series was special teams. Despite taking all four games from their opponent, the Devils were outshot 114-104. Sometimes stats are misleading. Chalk this one up to how well they performed on the power play and penalty kill. In the series, the Devils outscored the Rangers 8-2 on the man-advantage, going 8-for-27 while killing off 19 of 21 Ranger PPs. Not only did they shutdown New York's power play but they even victimized it with three shorthanded goals including two from Game Two hero John Madden.
White Remains Out: Defenseman Colin White sat out his third straight game with a groin injury. Rookie David Hale replaced him in the lineup for the third game in a row.
Second Round Foe Still To Be Determined: The Devils still don't know who they're playing. But it won't be the top seeded Ottawa Senators who advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals by eliminating the defending champion Lightning in five games Saturday night. If the second seeded Hurricanes prevail over the Canadiens, that will be the Devils' next opponent. However, if Montreal pulls the upset, New Jersey would then meet the winner of Buffalo-Philadelphia. Both remaining Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series are deadlocked two apiece.
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