STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Devils Get Their Due and Rangers

Now that they have gotten the Boston Bruins out of the way, the New Jersey Devils can focus on the team they have battled all season for NHL supremacy--the New York Rangers.

John MacLean had two goals and two assists Wednesday night in a 5-3 victory over the Bruins as the Devils advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. The Devils won the final four games of the best-of-seven series against Boston after losing the first two at home.

“The road to the Stanley Cup is through New York,” New Jersey forward Bernie Nicholls said. “We are now in a situation where we want to be. We have an opportunity to play against the Rangers, the best team in the NHL in the regular season.”

Devil goalie Chris Terreri stopped 38 shots to win his third straight game at Boston Garden, where the Bruins lost five of seven during the playoffs.

The Devils open the conference finals Sunday at New York. The Rangers have won eight of nine playoff games.

The Western Conference final could be decided tonight as San Jose plays at Toronto with a 3-2 lead. The winner gets the Vancouver Canucks, a winner over Dallas in five games.

The Devil-Ranger series matches the NHL’s two best teams during the regular season. Only the Rangers had more than the Devils’ 106 points, and that was largely because New York won all six of its games against New Jersey during the season.

“We just really want to savor this one,” MacLean said. “We know who we play next. We’ll talk about that later on. We just want to savor the win.”

MacLean’s second goal was the game-winner. He scored with 4:37 gone in the third period to give New Jersey a 4-3 lead and stop a Boston rally that had wiped out a three-goal deficit.

Nicholls stole the puck from Boston defenseman Al Iafrate at the Bruins’ blue line and passed to Claude Lemieux, whose shot ricocheted off the post and right to MacLean on the other side of the ice for New Jersey’s fourth goal.

“It’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made,” Iafrate said. “This game was our best game of the series, but we still didn’t win.”

The Bruins rallied from a 3-0 deficit with a goal late in the second period and two more in the first 2:08 of the third. The three goals, in a span of 3:37, broke a scoreless span of 122:19 for Boston.

Scott Niedermayer, Lemieux and Tom Chorske also scored for the Devils, with Chorske’s goal coming in the final minute. Mariusz Czerkawski, Glen Wesley and Bryan Smolinski scored for Boston.

New Jersey, which won, 2-0, in Game 5 for the only home victory of the series, excelled throughout at shutting down Boston’s forwards and held Adam Oates without a goal in the six games.