Devils grab late-night win

New Jersey gets first postseason series victory since 2007.

Jose Theodore thought Adam Henrique was going high. The rookie went low.

And with that, the New Jersey Devils went to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Henrique scored his second goal of the game at 3:47 of the second overtime to give the Devils a 32 victory over the Florida Panthers early Friday, sending New Jersey into a second-round series starting Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“Got a pretty good bounce,” Henrique said. “Found myself alone and tried to get it on net.”

He did a lot better than that. Theodore said afterward he didn’t have a great look at the final shot.

“I kind of lost it,” Theodore said. “I thought he was going high. I didn’t really see it through. And he beat me with a good ol’ five-hole shot.”

Just like that, the Devils were winners of a postseason series for the first time since 2007. It also marked the 20th anniversary of Martin Brodeur’s first postseason appearance in goal for New Jersey. Brodeur stopped 43 shots against the Panthers.

Stephen Gionta also scored in regulation for New Jersey, which wasted a 2-0 lead in the third period.

Stephen Weiss and Marcel Goc scored third-period goals for the Panthers, and Theodore made 33 saves. The Panthers made a surprising run to the Southeast Division title this season, earning their first postseason berth in 12 years.

Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, center Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and center Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the finalists for the Hart Trophy for the NHL’S most valuable player in the regular season.

The winner will be announced June 20 at the NHL awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

Lundqvist, also a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for top goalie, helped the Rangers to their best regular-season record since the Stanley Cup season of 1993-94.

Malkin won his second Art Ross Trophy by leading the NHL with 109 points (50 goals, 59 assists). He became the first player since 1995-96 to get five or more points at least four times in one season. Malkin also finished second in the NHL with a career-high 50 goals.

Stamkos led the NHL with 60 goals. He got No. 60 in Tampa Bay’s finale at Winnipeg, becoming the first player to reach the milestone since 200708 when Alex Ovechkin scored 65.