Devils beat Flyers to go up 3-1

Dainius Zubrus scored two goals and the Devils rallied from an early two-goal deficit to push the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink of elimination with a 4-2 victory last night in Newark in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Zubrus put the Devils ahead 3-2 late in the second period and iced it with an empty-net goal in the final minute. Minutes after his first goal, he took a questionable hit to the head from Claude Giroux, a hit that Devils coach Peter DeBoer thinks the NHL should examine before Game 5 tomorrow night in Philadelphia. "For me, it looks like the textbook hit that they're trying to take out of the game," DeBoer said.

"It was a great effort from the guys," said Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who picked up an assist on his 40th birthday and became the first goalie to appear in an NHL playoff game as a teenager and a 40-year-old. "We started not the way we wanted to start the game. We get bang-bang -- a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal -- but we beared down afterward and we dominated the game."

Petr Sykora and Marek Zidlicky also scored for the Devils, who haven't played in a conference final since 2003 but have never lost a playoff series after taking a 3-1 lead. They outshot Philadelphia 43-22.

Scott Hartnell and Giroux scored first-period goals for the Flyers. "We just have to play better," Giroux said. "We should know by now what we're supposed to do at all times. And there's not one guy out there that's going to quit."

-- AP