The preliminaries are over for the New Jersey Devils. Now it's on to the team they couldn't handle during the regular season.
The Devils advanced to the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers with a 5-3 win Wednesday night over the Boston Bruins. New Jersey won the final four games of the best-of-7 series after losing the first two at home.John MacLean had two goals and two assists in Game 6 for the Devils, who open the conference finals Sunday at New York. The Rangers, winners of eight of nine playoff games, won all six of their regular-season meetings with the Devils.
"It's only fitting. I've felt all year the road to the Stanley Cup was through New York," said Devils forward Bernie Nicholls, a former Ranger. "I felt the whole year they were the best team. If you can't beat the best, you don't deserve to win."
The Western Conference final could be decided tonight as San Jose plays at Toronto with a 3-2 lead. The winner gets the Vancouver Canucks, who eliminated Dallas in five games.
The Devils-Rangers series matches the NHL's two best teams during the regular season. Only the Rangers had more than the Devils' 106 points, and that was largely because New York swept its games against New Jersey - outscoring the Devils 24-9 in those six games.
Other than the Los Angeles Kings, who won both their games against New Jersey this season, the Rangers were the only NHL team with a winning record against the Devils.
"I really don't think they've seen the best of us. I know we've seen the best of them," Nicholls said. "We really haven't figured out a way to beat this team yet, but the playoffs are a whole different game. The key for us is to play a real tight defensive game, try to keep the score 0-0, and when we get opportunities we've got to take advantage of them."