Devils fight off Rangers’ comeback

Ryan Carter snapped a tie with 4:24 left, and the New Jersey Devils posted a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers after blowing a three-goal lead in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.

The Devils, who led 30 before the first period was half over, have a 32 edge in the series and can advance to face the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup finals with a win at home on Friday night. If the Rangers can stay alive then, Game 7 would be back in Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

The visiting Devils seemed primed for an easy win when Stephen Gionta and Patrik Elias scored within the first 4: 13 of the game. Travis Za- jac made it 3-0 before the Rangers woke up and began chipping away.

Brandon Prust brought New York within 3-1 before the first period was over, and Ryan Callahan made it a one-goal game in the first minute of the second. Marian Gaborik tied it at 3 just 17 seconds into the third with his first goal of the series.

But the comeback was all for naught. Carter put the Devils back in front, and Zach Parise sealed it with an empty-net goal in the closing seconds of the game.

Few NHL teams have ever peaked in the postseason more perfectly than the Los Angeles Kings.

After a regular season rocked by struggles, false starts and big changes, the eighth-seeded Kings have turned into the powerhouse they expected to be all season.

Los Angeles needed only a record-tying 14 playoff games to reach its first Stanley Cup final since 1993, culminating in a 4-3 overtime victory Tuesday night over Phoenix in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Although captain Dustin Brown superstitiously didn’t touch the Campbell Bowl, the Kings earned just the second conference title banner for their rather empty wall at Staples Center.

After replacing coach Terry Murray with Darryl Sutter near midseason, struggling to score all year long, and not clinching a playoff berth until the day of their 81st game, the Kings will play for the franchise’s first NHL championship.

The Kings knocked off No. 1 Vancouver, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, No. 2 St. Louis and rounded it out with a win over the No. 3 Coyotes in the conference finals to become the second No. 8 seed — along with Edmonton in 2006 — to reach the Stanley Cup finals.

After losing Game 4 at home, Los Angeles closed out Phoenix in the desert for its Nhl-record eighth straight road victory of the playoffs. The Kings became the first team to go undefeated on the road en route to the Stanley Cup finals.

Anze Kopitar scored Los Angeles’ fifth shorthanded goal of the playoffs, Drew Doughty had a goal an assist, and Mike Richards also scored for Los Angeles.

Jonathan Quick had some big saves in the third period and overtime, and Dustin Penner capped it by gathering a bouncing puck and beating Mike Smith for his third goal of the playoffs.