Devils win, stave off elimination

Adam Henrique scored the game winner with 4:31 left in the third period as the New Jersey Devils avoided a sweep by beating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday.

Henrique took a pass off his skate and kicked it up to his stick all in one motion for the shot, beating Kings' goalie, Jonathan Quick, as the Devils staved off elimination and cut the Kings series lead to 3-1.

"There is no margin for error for us," said Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. "It is tough but we live to fight another day, so now it is fun."

Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias also scored for the Devils who will host Game 5 Saturday at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.

"We wanted to have one more game for our fans and hopefully we can win and come back to Los Angeles," Brodeur said.

Elias opened the scoring 7:56 into the third period from the side of the net, getting a rebound in close and beating Quick who was out at the top of his crease and couldn't recover to make the save. It was the fifth goal of the postseason and first of this series for Elias.

"We were really patient and we played solid hockey," Brodeur said. "We killed penalties, stuck with it and we were able to score some goals."

The Devils have won three Stanley Cups in their franchise history, but they'll have to engineer an improbable playoff rally to earn their fourth.

Only three teams in NHL history have rebounded from 3-0 deficits to win a series and the only club to do it in the NHL championship series was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who came from behind to beat Detroit.