NHL Playoffs 2012: Is Devils Rookie Adam Henrique a Rising Clutch Artist?

Last year, it was Nathan Horton for the Boston Bruins. This year, it is Adam Henrique for the New Jersey Devils.

They now share at least one more common thread other than each having played for Peter DeBoer.

In both cases, the player in question had never previously partaken in a Stanley Cup playoff game. Yet by the end of three rounds, all within one season, they had ended a Game 7 overtime thriller in the Eastern Conference finals and clinched the Prince of Wales Trophy for their respective teams.

The rookie Henrique has but three goals in 18 career NHL playoff games. But all three, along with two of his eight assists, have come in games where the Devils have a chance to close out a series.

Thanks in large part to his input, they have not lost one of those matches.

Henrique inserted a pair of goals to bookend the scoring in a 3-2, double-overtime triumph over the Florida Panthers in the deciding game of the first round. He set up Bryce Salvador’s equalizer and Ilya Kovalchuk’s dose of power-play insurance to seal up a 3-1 victory on New Jersey’s first attempt to put away the Philadelphia Flyers.

And on Friday, after his team spilled an initial 2-0 deficit and faced the specter of going back to Madison Square Garden for a rubber match with the New York Rangers, Henrique stepped up again.

With his linemates Kovalchuk and Alexei Ponikarovsky both forking away at Vezina Trophy nominee Henrik Lundqvist, Henrique made his way to the gaping portion of the net and swept in a rebound at the 63-second mark of overtime.

The goal was Henrique’s first playoff strike at the Prudential Center, and his first overall since, well, he knocked out the Panthers. And this one sends the Devils to their first Stanley Cup Final since their previous championship in 2003.

For Henrique, this spells an opportunity to win his third hockey championship of any kind in four years. Prior to spending the bulk of his first professional campaign with AHL Albany, he helped the Windsor Spitfires with back-to-back Memorial Cups.

In 35 OHL playoff games over those two banner seasons, Henrique inserted three game-winners, including a conference semifinal clincher against the Plymouth Whalers in 2009.

Later that season, Henrique scored in overtime of the Memorial Cup semifinal, then opened the scoring in the championship game en route to Windsor’s 4-1 triumph over the Kelowna Rockets.

He broke the ice in the national title game the following year as well, later tacking on a second goal as part of Windsor’s 9-1 rout of the Brandon Wheat Kings.

He has yet to translate his major-junior productivity rate of 38 goals and 26 assists in 54 postseason games. Nor should he be expected to replenish that exact radiance.

But to date, in the effort to build upon a not-so-shabby regular-season log of 16-35-51, Henrique has made his contributions to the Devils count with a hand in five out of nine goals during potential series clinchers.