2012 Stanley Cup Finals: Devils Back Home, Not Done Just Yet

Well, maybe it's not time to stick a pitchfork in the New Jersey Devils just yet.

Patrik Elias, Adam Henrique, Martin Brodeur and the rest of the red and black made sure of that Wednesday night.

I wrote earlier that it was unlikely the Devils were coming back in the Stanley Cup Final after falling behind three games to none. They still face a huge uphill climb that could end Saturday night—but after a 3-1 win in Game 4 in Los Angeles, perhaps, it no longer looks as completely hopeless as it once did.

"You know, I think we wanted to make them jump on a plane and come to New Jersey," said Brodeur, who made 21 saves, at abclocal.com. "We had to go anyway. Might as well get a game over there."

Granted, they're getting set to host a Kings team that hasn't lost a road game during the postseason in 10 tries, including two overtime wins at the Prudential Center in Newark. Then again, the Devils weren't sure they could put a straight shot past LA goaltender Jonathan Quick until the fourth contest of this series and then only in the third period.

"As long as we keep winning, I don’t care if I score," said Elias, whose goal broke the ice in Game 4, at the Fire & Ice blog. "That goal was big for us just to know that we can put the puck in."

Then, there was the 22-year-old rookie Henrique, who scored yet another huge goal in these playoffs when he beat Quick high to the stick side with 4:29 remaining in regulation after the Kings had tied the game on a Drew Doughty power-play tally. Ilya Kovalchuk then hit an empty net after Quick was pulled for an extra attacker, and the Devils deficit was cut to 3-1.

The odds are still not great, but it's something the Devils have overcome before in team history. The roster is largely different now, for sure—with only Brodeur, Elias and the returned Petr Sykora remaining—but New Jersey rebounded 12 years ago from a 3-1 shortfall to oust the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2000 Eastern Conference final in seven games.

Ancient stuff, though, according to the Devils' kids.

“I don’t know anything about that series,” said Henrique at nj.com. “We can make our own history now.”