Relieved Martin Brodeur closes door on ’94 as NJ Devils earn revenge over NY Rangers 18 years later

For Martin Brodeur, 1994 is over. After having to relive that epic Eastern Conference finals loss of that year to the Rangers for nearly two weeks, the Devils' goaltender put an end to the talk about his ancient history.

The 40-year-old Brodeur anchored the sixth-seeded Devils to a 3-2 overtime victory over the top-seeded Rangers Friday night, the Devils getting back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2003.

ADAM HENRIQUE'S OT GOAL SENDS DEVILS TO CUP FINALS

"It's fun. When you're a kid, you are dreaming of winning Stanley Cups and now this gives us the opportunity to compete for it," said Brodeur, who has won three. "And we beat a big rival, especially for me, with all the talk about 18 years ago, but now, we're 1-1 (against the Rangers in conference finals)."

They got to the Finals with a standout third period by Brodeur — who turned away 33 of 35 shots overall on the night, eight saves in the third, many of the spectacular variety — and an overtime winner from Adam Henrique.

The rookie center batted a loose rebound past goaltender Henrik Lundqvist 1:03 into the overtime.

"I was just Johnny on the spot on that one," said Henrique, a Calder Trophy finalist. "It was just sitting there. I couldn't see the puck, I knew it was down there, I was just praying it was going to come under his pad.

"That's a big one, that's one you dream about."

How it came down to that, however, was hair-raising for the Devils. They had gone up 2-0 on goals by Ryan Carter and Ilya Kovalchuk in the first period, but for the fifth time in 18 playoff games the Devils blew the lead. Within four minutes in the second period, with goals by Ruslan Fedotenko and Ryan Callahan, the Rangers had tied the game at 2-2.

After a tight third period, the Devils were ready to move on.

"There was no talk about the past or about not going back to the Garden (for a Game 7)," Carter said of the intermission between regulation and overtime. "We just said, ‘Let's get a goal and move on.'

"And we did."

They got it by battering Lundqvist. Kovalchuk took two shots from point-blank range before the puck finally popped onto Henrique's stick.

Down ice, Brodeur watched anxiously, waiting for the red light to go on behind the goal. He finally raced down ice and was the last Devil to leap on top of the pile of players congratulating Henrique.

It was a celebration 18 years in the making.

"You know, we've won three Stanley Cups since then, but winning against them, on a big stage, is pretty good," Brodeur admitted. "Not just me, for the fans of New Jersey, the people supporting us, who always take a second seat to (the Rangers) for whatever reason. They've got to be pretty happy ... I know from some of the messages I got throughout this playoff series we made a lot of people real happy right now."

Not as happy as the Devil who turned the tables 18 years later.