Travis Zajac News

After rolling through Philadelphia and the New York Rangers in the previous two rounds by winning eight of 10 to reach the Stanley Cup finals, the Devils are quickly understanding what it is like to be ambushed by the Los Angeles Kings, who have won 10 straight away from home.

New Jersey Devils' Ilya Kovalchuk, of Russia, talks to the press during NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final media day, Tuesday, May 29, 2012, in Newark, N.J. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Julio Cortez NEWARK, N.J. - Ilya Kovalchuk isn't sure what happened in the early minutes of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final.

The Los Angeles Kings lived up to their Flyers West nickname in the opener of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday night.

When New Jersey acquired Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010, he presented an interesting challenge.

Julio Cortez / the associated press The New Jersey Devils have the one and only Martin Brodeur, but he alone was not enough to stop the Kings in Game One.

It's never fun to lose in overtime in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final but the New Jersey Devils can take some positives from the loss.

The 2012 Stanley Cup Finals began tonight at the Prudential Center, with the New Jersey Devils and the Los Angeles Kings .

All they have done in the playoffs is win and the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils became their latest victim.

As hockey players will use anything for motivation, Salvador labelled his water bottle with the message 'No Name-D' as opposed to his number 24 and shared it with his fellow defensemen.

With so many similarities, it's likely to depend on goaltending, as usual. If the Devils win their fourth Stanley Cup, Martin Brodeur could win his first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, the one he was denied so unjustly with three shutouts as the Cup winner to J.S. Giguere's one, in 2003.

A little less than two years after battling for the services of high-scoring free agent forward Ilya Kovalchuk, the New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings are going after a bigger prize -- the Stanley Cup.

The guy who tends to get lost in all the talk is Travis Zajac. This was almost a lost season for the Devils' No.

Most of the talk about the New Jersey Devils and their run to the Stanley Cup finals against the Los Angeles Kings has focused on Martin Brodeur, Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Peter DeBoer.

The No. 8 seed steamrolled through the Western Conference and will be entering the Stanley Cup Finals against the sixth-seeded New Jersey Devils incredibly rested.

Those words signaled the end of the Eastern Conference Finals. As Calder finalist Adam Henrique slammed the puck into the back of the net, the goal horn sounded and Mike 'Doc' Emrick made a call that will live on for many years.

The New Jersey Devils are in the Stanley Cup finals. After nine seasons, their first playoff-miss since '96 and a veritable revolving door of coaches, the Devils are back and are just four wins away from the promised land.

Every year, the playoffs provide small sample sizes that delight fans - particularly those who love surprises - and antagonize stat nerds.

Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils is presented with the Prince of Wales Trophy by NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly after in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals.

A year after missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996, the New Jersey Devils are going back to the Stanley Cup finals, thanks to a rookie, a 40-year-old goaltender and a coach who'd never been to the postseason in the NHL.

Both the Eastern Conference's top seed New York Rangers or the sixth-seeded New Jersey Devils have the advantage on the Western Conference's last seed Los Angeles Kings .