FAQ » give up or quit. We didn’t back down.”NOTES: Avalanch

NEWARK James Neal Jersey Womens , N.J. (AP) As five years of hockey frustration ended for the New Jersey Devils, players embraced, raised their sticks to salute their long-suffering fans and just imagined what the future held.The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012, knowing they have a shot at the Stanley Cup, like 15 other teams after clinching a postseason berth with a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.No tee times this year. No vacation. The real hockey starts next week.”There’s certain moments in your life and certain moments in a season that you want to be able to celebrate,” Devils coach John Hynes said. ”This is one of them. It’s a significant accomplishment for us to be able to get ourselves back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”What the Devils did this season was remarkable. They finished last in the Eastern Conference with 28 wins and 70 points.Their win over the Maple Leafs was their 44th of the season and gave them 97 points with a game to go in the regular season. Patrick Maroon did most of the important work against the Leafs, setting up second-period goals by Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood to provide the margin of victory.After that, it was just a matter of holding off the playoff-bound Maple Leafs, who pushed in the third period.Keith Kinkaid, the mainstay in goal since the end of January, made 31 saves as the Devils won their fourth straight and extended their points streak to eight games (7-0-1). He preserved the lead with a stop in close on Auston Matthews with just over seven minutes to playHe called the final 10 minutes stressful and exciting.”The fans were into it,” he said. ”That’s an unreal atmosphere out there. You hear how loud they were. Everyone is battling. Everyone is back-checking. Everyone is doing all the little things and we’re a really hard team to play against when we do that.”When the final horn sounded there was a sense of accomplishment. A cheer went up when the Stanley Cup logo and the Devils’ logo were shown on the overhead scoreboard.Center Travis Zajac skated behind defenseman and captain Andy Greene and hugged him. It’s been a long five years for the only two holdovers from the 2012 team that lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Kings.”We’re a group that doesn’t give up,” Greene said. ”We are relentless. We play for each other. We play hard for each other.”The Devils also earned this spot, going 10-2-1 in its past 13 games.William Nylander scored on a power play in the first period for Toronto to ice his second straight 20-goal season. Frederik Andersen was outstanding, making 37 saves, including saves on breakaways by Taylor Hall and Michael Grabner in the big second period.The loss was only the fourth in 13 games (9-4) for the Maple Leafs, who will face either Boston or Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs.”They are a good team T.J. Oshie Jersey ,” Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner said. ”That’s as close to playoff hockey as we are going to get right now. That was kind of us last year, fighting for a spot to get in. They played hard. They played well. They didn’t give us too much.”New Jersey, which is currently the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, will have to wait for its playoff opponent to be decided.While the Devils had the majority of shots for the first 27-plus minutes, they fell behind 1-0 when Nylander scored from the right circle 12 seconds after Nico Hischier was called for tripping.Zacha didn’t tie the game until 7:55 of the second period. He won a puck along the boards in center ice, worked a give-and-go with Maroon entering the Toronto zone and beat Andersen with a shot from the left circle just under the crossbar.Maroon, who was acquired in a trade deadline deal with Edmonton, did all the work on Wood’s 18th goal. He fended off Nazem Kadri carrying the puck from in front of his bench, all the way behind the net and then came out the other side and found Wood alone in front for a slam dunk.NOTES: Matthews extended his point-scoring streak to eight games with an assist on Nylander’s goal. … The Devils won the season series 2-0-1. … Hall’s nine-game points scoring streak and four-game goals run were snapped. …. There were four penalties in the game.UP NEXTMaple Leafs: Host Montreal on Saturday night in regular-season finale.Devils: End the regular season at Washington on Saturday night.— NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Colorado squandered a chance at victory on the start of its East Coast swing, and Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog wasn’t about to let it happen a second time.Landeskog scored three goals, the last of which put Colorado ahead with 3:22 remaining, and the Avalanche beat the previously unbeaten New Jersey Devils 5-3 on Thursday night.Landeskog completed his third career hat trick with a one-timer off a pass by Mikko Rantanen from behind the net. He also scored earlier in the third period on a deflection of a shot by Ian Cole.“We were starting a road trip and wanted to get off well,” Landeskog said of the Avalanche’s 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers. “We got the point at MSG (Madison Square Garden). I said, ‘Just give me the puck and I hope I can bang it in for you.’ No, seriously, you can’t over think it too much. It’s good for our team bonding.”Landeskog has five goals in the young season.“No question Authentic Blake Wheeler Jersey , we obviously felt confident playing anyone, but this is a very tough team,” Landeskog said. “They’re a good defensive team and we scored five goals on them.”Cole praised his captain.“He’s very strong and very capable to accept contact and stay with the play,” Cole said. “You can see how well he can carry a team. They’re a very good hockey team. They’re very well coached. They play hard. They’re good defensively. You could see they were pushed hard by us and then they pushed back. Luckily, we kept coming back. We were able to stick to our game plan and get the win. It’s a great sign for us. This was as complete as we’ve been this season.”Mikko Rantanen had an empty net goal with 12.1 seconds left and added three assists, giving him 11 for the season, good for the lead in the NHL.“When Mikko’s skating that well, he’s a lot to handle,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “He was holding guys off. He’ll eventually find you open. He made some nice plays and that’s what he can do.”Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots for his first win of the season, including a glove save on Kyle Palmieri with just 44 seconds left to preserve the win.“I think the guys made it easy for me,” Grubauer said. “I felt good about getting the start. It’s always different when you step out onto the ice. They really didn’t have too many chances or odd man rushes on me. Everything was pretty much in front of me.”Bednar was impressed with his goalie’s performance.“He made some really big saves when we needed them,” Bednar said. “He hadn’t been on the ice in a while, but he was sharp.”Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves in net for the Devils.The Devils got on the board first in the first period, when Nico Hischier scored his first goal of the season with 2:18 remaining in the period. While on the power play, Hischier received a great pass from Travis Zajac and fired a wrist shot past Grubauer for a 1-0 lead.The Avalanche scored twice to start the second period.The first goal, scored by Sven Andrighetto, came just two minutes into the second. It appeared that Devils goalie Kinkaid made a spectacular glove save http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-bryan-little-jersey , but after league replay review, it was determined that Kinkaid’s glove was over the goal line, so Andrighetto, playing in his first game of the season, tied the game at 1-1.The Avalanche then took a 2-1 lead when Landeskog made a brilliant burst of speed past the Devils’ defense and lifted a wrist shot past Kinkaid.The Devils then tied the game at 2-2 on Taylor Hall’s first goal of the season. On a delayed penalty, Hall took a fine pass from Andy Greene and fired a shot past Grubauer. Hischier got the second assist on the goal.The Devils took a 3-2 lead when Brian Boyle was credited with his second goal of the season, when Palmieri’s shot went off Boyle’s leg with 13:38 left.Less than two minutes left, when Landeskog scored his second goal of the game off a deflection of a Cole shot with 11:52 remaining.“They had a game plan and went out and executed it,” said Palmieri, who saw his goals streak snap at four games. “We weren’t ready to push it back.”“We weren’t clean enough in our plays tonight,” said Devils captain Andy Greene. “We don’t give up or quit. We didn’t back down.”NOTES: Avalanche goalie Grubauer made only his second appearance of the young season. . Andrighetto was not expected to play and was on the injured reserve list to start the season, but was activated in time for Thursday’s game. . The game ended a five-game home streak to start the season for New Jersey, although the first game was technically played in Bern, Switzerland. . G Cory Schneider is still rehabbing after hip surgery, but has begun skating with the team. His return date is not known. . Kinkaid had a scoreless streak of 105 minutes snapped by Andrighetto’s goal. . Devils C Travis Zajac suffered a left leg injury and was helped off the ice in the second period and did not return. Devils coach John Hynes did not comment after the game about Zajac’s injury.UP NEXTColorado: At Carolina on Saturday afternoon.New Jersey: At Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.