The view from Newark

The Kings are the freshly minted Stanley Cup champions, but years from now, when this series and these playoffs are discussed, Martin Brodeur’s name should always be mentioned. What an effort Brodeur gave. At age 40, with his name already on the Stanley Cup three times, Brodeur had nothing left to prove. His place in the Hall of Fame is secure, as is his place on the list of the all-time top goalies in NHL history. Brodeur, though, gave it all. The series quite possibly could have ended in Game 4 or Game 5 if not for his brilliance. Never mind that, though. More importantly, Brodeur is a gentleman. The New Jersey Devils, and the NHL, couldn’t ask for a better representative, and Brodeur showed his class when he stopped Jonathan Quick in the handshake line and pulled him in close. What words the goalies exchanged will most likely stay between them, but clearly a high level of shared respect exists. Congratulations to the New Jersey Devils, a team with extraordinary work ethic and spirit and a team that played a clean, hard-fought series. Here’s how The Star-Ledger and The Record covered last night’s game, followed by some additional quotes from the Devils’ locker room…

The Star-Ledger’s Devils coverage

The Record’s Devils coverage

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COACH PETER DEBOER

(on his feeling…) “I’m proud of our group. You know, you put some men together and you play 110 games, I think we played, on the ice every day. I couldn’t be prouder of them as a group.’’

(on the penalty call on Steve Bernier…) “You know what, tonight’s about L.A. and letting them celebrate. If you want to ask me about that in about a week, I’ll give you my honest opinion on it.’’

(on whether he feels bad for Bernier…) “Yeah. You know, it’s a bad spot for him to be in. Everybody knows Bernie’s heart’s in the right place. He’s not at fault.’’

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ZACH PARISE

(on trying to kill the five-minute penalty…) “It’s tough. It’s hard. When you spend basically half of the first period killing penalties, it’s hard. We just weren’t able to recover.’’

(on the disappointment…) “Of course. We played our (butts) off. We could have quit when it was three-nothing, but we fought back and we tried to get ourselves back into this thing. It’s disappointing when it’s over. It sucks.’’

(on the hit that Stoll threw, just before Bernier’s penalized hit…) “Yeah, we were aware of that. Trust me, I’d love to sound off on that right now, but I’m not going to.’’

(on the Devils wanting Bernier to play with that edge…) “Absolutely, and that’s what he got called up for earlier, and that’s what he’s been doing great, all playoffs. He’s been doing a great job of getting in on the forecheck and finishing checks. That’s why he’s here. That’s what we want from him. It’s unfortunate that that happened.’’

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ILYA KOVALCHUK

(on the loss…) “There’s frustration, but we have to learn from that and be better next year.’’

(on Bernier’s penalty, after Stoll’s hit a few moments earlier…) “I didn’t see even what happened with Bernie. You’re just into the game and there’s a lot of different things. They got a couple of chances and the first five, 10 minutes, and we had the puck in their zone, but that penalty changed the game. But, like I said, they deserved to win and it’s a great season for them, but I think we had a great year, too. We won the conference. We had a lot of guys who had never been in this situation before and, like I said, we learned a lot and we will be better next year.’’

(on whether he was playing hurt…) “I don’t think anybody was healthy, 100 percent, because it’s 100-something games you’re playing and everybody is a little banged up, but you try to find a way to go through it.’’

(on trying to rally from the big deficit…) “All year long, we showed a lot of character. We played well on the road. We tried to make it interesting, but it wasn’t enough. So, like I said, those losses are going to make us stronger and we’re going to learn a lot from this year.’’