EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Carolina Hurricanes ended 16 years of playoff frustration with the help of a player from the franchise's days in Hartford.
Former Whalers center Ron Francis scored on a second-period power play and Kevin Weekes made 32 saves as the Hurricanes eliminated the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils with a 1-0 victory on Saturday.
The Hurricanes won the first-round series 4-2.
The series win was only the second in franchise history, and it snapped a streak of nine straight series losses. The only other series the franchise won was a three-game sweep of Quebec in 1986, as the Hartford Whalers.
"I was a lot younger then," said the 39-year-old Francis, whose career has also included seven-plus seasons in Pittsburgh. "It was something we've been carrying around on our backs. Many of the guys had to hear about it and they weren't around for a lot of that. It's nice to finally clinch a series."
In the Carolina locker room, there was more a sense of relief than celebration.
"It's very satisfying to go from where we were in Hartford to where we are right now," said defenseman Glen Wesley, one of about a half dozen players who played in Hartford before the team moved to Carolina for the 1997-98 season.
"It's taken a long time through a rebuilding process, the move, the Greensboro (N.C.) situation to get where we are right now," he added.
The victory also avenged a first-round loss last season to the Devils, who also won that series in six games.
This was an embarrassing exit for New Jersey, which won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and came within a game of repeating last season, losing in Game 7 to Colorado.
"I'm in shock right now," said Devils center John Madden, who had a great chance to win Game 5 in overtime only to be stopped by a phenomenal glove save by Weekes. "I never thought we would lose in the first round. That was not even in my head at any point.
"I wasn't saying we were a better hockey team because that's obviously not true," Madden added. "They beat us."
Weekes and fellow goaltenders Arturs Irbe were the difference in the series.
Irbe stopped 64 of 66 shots in posting 2-1 wins in the opening two games of the series.
After Irbe faltered in Games 3 and 4 in New Jersey, Carolina coach Paul Maurice made the gutsy decision to go to Weekes, a 27-year-old who had never started an NHL playoff game.
"There have been points where it has been challenging and frustrating," said Weekes, who was acquired on March 5 in a deal with Tampa Bay. "A lot of it has been unjust. You have to deal with the cards you are dealt. I never really stopped believing in myself."
Weekes stopped 72 of 74 shots in the final two games. He was spectacular in the last two periods of Game 6, stopping 27 shots, including a four-shot barrage by Brian Rafalski, Bobby Holik, Sergei Brylin and Brian Gionta on a third-period power play.
RED WINGS 6, CANUCKS 4: The Detroit Red Wings let the Vancouver Canucks back into Game 6.
They didn't let them back into the series.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Brett Hull scored short-handed goals 30 seconds apart in the second period as the Red Wings eliminated the Canucks with a 6-4 victory Saturday.
"They're such a good team that you don't want to give them a chance to beat you," said Hull, who added two more goals as the Red Wings completed their comeback from a 2-0 series deficit and avoided a Game 7 in Detroit on Monday. "If you go into Game 7, anything can happen, so I'm very glad it's over."
CANADIENS 2, BRUINS 1: Montreal paid back Boston the best way possible.
Bill Lindsay scored his first playoff goal in almost six years, and Jose Theodore stopped 43 shots as the Canadiens took a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Montreal moved within a game of advancing to the second round on the day that Canadiens forward Richard Zednik was released from the hospital — and Bruins defenseman Kyle McLaren had a disciplinary hearing with the NHL for the hit that put him there.
Oleg Petrov also scored for the Canadiens, who took a 2-0 lead in the first period and guarded it for the rest of the game.
Sergei Samsonov scored for Boston.