With Martin Brodeur nearing his 40th birthday and entering the final year of his contract, this season at first had the look of a last hurrah for the New Jersey Devils' goalie great.
Well, the hurrah part was right.
It's been one hurrah after another, reaching a high point Friday night. Brodeur made 33 saves to help the Devils defeat the rival New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime in Game 6 to advance to the Stanley Cup finals against the Los Angeles Kings. Game 1 will be Wednesday in New Jersey.
After the Devils missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 1996, no one might have been put under the microscope more than Brodeur. Longtime president and general manager Lou Lamoriello certainly had questions to answer after the early season stumble under new coach John MacLean, but Brodeur was the focal point after a so-so season nagged by injuries.
Now at 40, he's back after outdueling Henrik Lundqvist in the first Eastern Conference finals between the teams since their memorable showdown in 1994. New York won that one in seven games with Stephane Matteau scoring the series-clincher in double overtime.
Rookie Adam Henrique did the honors for New Jersey on Friday night with a shot from just about the same spot where Matteau scored, from the right edge of the crease.
"It's been a lot of fun this season, playing on a really good team, and I'm enjoying this ride," Brodeur said. "And I know what I can do, try to
compete as hard as I can every night and try to give these guys a chance to win hockey games. And they've been scoring a lot of goals for me in the playoffs so far, and it's been great."Kings: Justin Williams remembers every game of the Carolina Hurricanes' 25-game grind through the 2006 playoffs. He knows all about the blood, sweat and exhaustion necessary to raise the Stanley Cup.
That's why he realizes the NHL playoffs aren't usually as easy as the Kings have made them look so far. Although Williams and his teammates have prepared for lengthy series in every round of the postseason, but they haven't even had to play a Game 6 yet.
"If you told anybody, let alone us in the dressing room, that we'd have a place in the finals as an eight seed, I would have only told you that you were crazy if you said it took 14 games," Williams said.
"But we're here for a reason," he added. "We've battled our tails off here the whole season, and things have come together here. We go into every series thinking it's going to be seven (games). It's just so far, they haven't worked out that way."
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