Facing Henrik Lundqvist was no fun for Ilya Kovalchuk

NEWARK -- Ilya Kovalchuk has spoken several times recently about how much he is enjoying himself, deep into the spring of his 10th NHL season.

The Devils' highly paid left wing never had been beyond the first round of the playoffs, and now he is in the Eastern Conference finals. "It's fun," he said Friday. "This is what you play hockey for.''

Twenty-six hours later, Kovlachuk did not seem to be having much fun after Game 3, and lamented an exhausting, exasperating afternoon. "It's frustrating,'' he said, "but we have to keep working."

This was after he had recorded six shots on goal, twice as many as any Ranger, but still managed to come up empty. Kovalchuk had several good chances, none more so than on a breakaway early in the second.

Henrik Lundqvist said later that the key to stopping a talented scorer such as Kovalchuk is getting him to make his move first. But the Rangers goaltender said he failed to do so a couple of times and was lucky to survive.

This was one of those times. Kovalchuk had him sprawled on the ice, but Lundqvist managed to stick out his left arm and stop a too-low shot. "I got a good chance,'' Kovalchuk said. "I just didn't lift the puck. He just put his arm there. I should have put it up. He made a great save . . . We have to score on those chances.''

There were several other dramatic Kovy moments in the second, during which the Devils mostly controlled the game. They included a play on which he moved in mostly alone on a power play but was unable to solve Lundqvist.

SEE PHOTOSTop 10 Rangers playoff moments

Kovalchuk finished with a team high 24:57 of ice time -- 9:54 of that on six failed power plays. But he finished in a tie with all of his teammates at zero goals.