Devils force Game 6 in Stanley Cup Finals

NEWARK -- With a spirited 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings last night, the Devils, who once trailed 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, forced a Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Now the teams will head west with a shift in momentum.

Zach Parise and Bryce Salvador scored and Martin Brodeur made 25 saves, including nine in the third period for the Devils, who have won two straight. They dealt the Kings their first loss on the road in the postseason after 10 consecutive wins.

Devils coach Peter DeBoer said: "I've been singing the same tune. Even when we were down 3-0, I didn't feel it was lopsided."

Said Brodeur, "We could have packed it in two games ago, but you see we have a bunch of resilient guys that want to try to make history.''

With 96 seconds left and Alex Ponikarovsky and Dustin Penner in the box for scrapping in the crease, goaltender Jonathan Quick was pulled with a minute to play, but the Kings failed to score.

The teams will make another cross-country trek for Game 6, which will be played at Staples Center Monday night. Game 7, if necessary, would be Wednesday at Prudential Center.

The odds still favor the Kings: The last team to win the Cup after being down 3-0 was the Maple Leafs in 1942. But the Kings had been 2-0 in Game 5s and have not played a Game 6 yet this postseason. The Devils are 10-1 in Games 4 through 7 this postseason.

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DeBoer said of Brodeur: "His performance speaks for itself. That we're 10-1 in Games 4 to 7 is a testament to how he enjoys that type of pressure."

Parise said of the Kings, "They played a great game tonight. They put us on our heels quite a bit, but like I said, we won the game and now we're going back to L.A., which is what we wanted to do."

With the Kings trailing 2-1 entering the third period, defenseman Alex Martinez almost tied it with 14:24 left when his open shot from the left side hit the near post, then the crossbar. Dustin Brown was sent off 15 seconds later and Ilya Kovalchuk almost put it away at the seven-minute mark, but Quick stretched to glove his laser and leave Kovalchuk staring skyward.

The winner came in the second period. Salvador fired a waist-high shot from the left boards and David Clarkson, defended by Slava Voynov, screened Quick. Salvador's wrister hit the defenseman and flew past Quick's left side at 9:05 for a 2-1 lead. It was Salvador's fourth goal of the playoffs.

The Kings had tied the score at 1 at 3:26 of the period when Justin Williams, who hit the post with a wrister early in the first, scored from 19 feet, beating Brodeur on the stick side.

Quick had stopped Travis Zajac's try on a two-on-one with Parise at 5:12.

After a delay-of-game call on Mark Fayne, Jarret Stoll batted in a rebound from the left circle with 8:44 left, but it was waved off because Stoll's stick was above his shoulder. Quick prevented the Devils from going up 3-1 with 3:43 left when Ryan Carter's shot from between the circles bounced off his mask.

In the first, a gaffe by Quick proved costly.

With the Devils on the power play after defenseman Willie Mitchell was called for interference on Patrik Elias, Parise dumped the puck into the Kings' zone and Quick ventured behind the net to clear. But he slid it off the back of the net. Parise scooped it up and tucked inside the right post at 12:45.

It was Parise's first goal in six games and the Devils' first with the man-advantage in 16 opportunities against the Kings. The team scoring the first goal has won all five games in the Finals.