YES!
Adam Henrique celebrates after beating Jonathan Quick for the go-ahead goal in the Devils’ 3-1 victory over the Kings in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night. (AP)
LOS ANGELES — The Devils can do more than dream now.
They ‘Can Do.’ And did.
They live, thanks to more Adam Henrique heroics. The Devils’ ultra-clutch rookie, with two series-winning overtime goals already in his bag, scored the tie-breaking winner with 4:29 left in their 3-1 do-or-die victory in Game 4 over the Kings Wednesday night.
They’re coming home to New Jersey, and if they shatter the Kings’ record road perfection Saturday in Newark, they would turn the Stanley Cup finals on its ear.
Henrique also was bold enough to say: Yes, We Can.
“We know we can do it. We know we can put four together and come back,” said Henrique, the finalist Calder Trophy for the league’s top rookie.
Martin Brodeur, still alive in the race for his first Conn Smythe Trophy at age 40, said the Devils wanted to rain on the Kings’ parade plans, and make them disappointed tourists bound for Newark again.
“We wanted to make them jump on a plane and come to New Jersey. We had to go anyway, so we might as well get a game over there,” Brodeur said. “It’s a tough situation for us to be in, and we pulled it off, one game.
“I’m sure they’re not happy to make that trip. We’ll try to make it miserable for them again.We’ll play them well and play them hard and see what results end up.”
The first order of business was to avoid becoming the first Devils team ever swept. Now their 9-1 record in Games 4-7 of these playoffs could be reason for the Kings to sweat as it collides Saturday with L.A.’s 10-0 road mark. Should the Devils end that road perfection, they would come back here where the Kings are only 5-3. The Devils stand 7-5 away from Newark. Jersey lost the opening pair in Newark.
“We’ve got to win a home game,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’re a good home team in front of our crowd. I’m confident that we’ll be ready to play and we’ll get the job done.”
Brodeur said the victory increased the Devils’ belief they can pull off the first 0-3 comeback in the finals since the 1942 Leafs 70 years ago. After all, they have won from the same 1-3 hole (2000 Flyers) they occupy today.
“More [belief] than yesterday,” Brodeur said. “We’re definitely looking forward to the next game and some of the momentum.
“We finally were able to score some goals on [Jonathan] Quick. Not many, but enough to win. That’s going to a good thing for the boys coming home, that we’re usually a little better offensively on home ice.”
They will try to convince the Kings that they are taking aim at a fourth, and biggest comeback victim. They can point to triumphs from 2-3, 0-1 and 1-2 holes in their previous rounds this spring.
Brodeur did his finest work 4:17 into the third, when Gagne took off 2-on-1 with Bryce Salvador’s errant point pass. Gagne sent in Trevor Lewis, and Brodeur reached out to poke the puck, sending Lewis’ chip wide.
The Devils’ drought ended at 138:17 when Patrik Elias rebounded Bryce Salvador’s left point shot at 7:56 of the third. It gave the Devils their first lead of the series.
That lead lasted only 1:02 before Kings defenseman Drew Doughty scored the first power-play goal of the series, six seconds into David Clarkson’s boarding penalty. Anton Volchenkov cut across Brodeur’s sight to take screener Dustin Brown, and Doughty’s slap went in from a deflection by New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus.
With the end of their Cup run on the line, Henrique’s left wing winner came from a cross-ice pass from Clarkson, catching Quick moving across his crease and finding room over Quick’s stick on the short side.
“It was a goal-scorer’s play,” DeBoer said.
And they needed one.
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DeBoer returned defenseman Henrik Tallinder to the lineup after he missed 58 games from a blood clot ailment in his lower left leg. He played 19:21.
He also used Petr Sykora, who scored 21 goals this season after making the team as a tryout. Sykora, who played 12:19 and had a plus-one rating, won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2000, though he was in a Dallas hospital when linemates Patrik Elias and Jason Arnott combined for the OT Cup-winner. He had scored 32 career playoff goals and also won the Cup with the 2009 Penguins.