Road to the Finals: Defeated Florida Panthers, 4-3; defeated Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1; defeated New York Rangers, 4-2. The Devils, after surviving a scare in the first round, got stronger as the playoffs progressed and more comfortable with their playing style. N.J. has averaged 2.83 goals per game and allowed 2.33 goals per game. The Devils are playing their best hockey of the season right now.

Leading Scorers: Ilya Kovalchuk (seven goals, 11 assists); Zach Parise (seven goals, seven assists); Travis Zajac (seven goals, five assists); Bryce Salvador (three goals, eight assists).

Why They Will Win: The Devils were better than their seed indicates — finishing as the ninth-best team in the league during the regular season and one of 10 teams to surpass the 100-point plateau. Their offense is balanced and deadly, their defense is stellar, and Brodeur has found the fountain of youth after a few sub-par seasons. They can match the Kings stride-for-stride, goal-for-goal, and give L.A. a challenge unlike anything they’ve faced from the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues or Phoenix Coyotes. The Devils need to force the Kings to rely on players who are not on their top two offensive lines for goal scoring. They need to get ahead of the Kings and do something that no L.A. opponent has been able to do thusfar in the playoffs: win game one. The Devils also need to take the advantage on the power play, where the Kings have been anemic (8.1 percent), while New Jersey has been successful 18.2 percent of the time.

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