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Adam Henrique sent the Devils to the Stanley Cup finals last May, with an overtime goal eliminated the Rangers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

(Photo by Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

Adam Henrique has seen the goal on the video screen in Prudential Center a few times. It never fails to bring him back to the moment that made him a folk hero in the eyes of most Devils fans.



It was the goal that sent the Devils to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals and, more importantly to some, it was the goal that eliminated the Rangers from the playoffs.



"I've seen the clips on the Jumbotron. Seeing the fans' reaction is pretty cool. It still puts a smile on my face. It's still exciting to watch. I still get chills," Henrique said today.



"I've met a few Rangers fans and they told me they hate me. It's cool that people come up to me and bring up that goal. They tell me where they were at the time."

Nothing would have been more special to the Devils and their fans last spring than a fourth Stanley Cup championship. But beating the Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals came awfully close.



"Sure. I think I got a lot of that through the summer," coach Pete DeBoer said. "There were a lot of people who felt that was as nice for them as a Stanley Cup win because of who they were and the history of the two teams. I didn't appreciate what it was until I lived through it. It was a great experience."



As good as winning the Cup?



"No, not for me," DeBoer said. "For some fans. Definitely not for the guys in the room or the coaches."



The two rivals will square off tomorrow night in Newark for the first time since the Devils' 3-2 victory on May 25. While this meeting can't compare, it won't lack for emotion.

“When you go through some of the adversity we’ve had to face against the Rangers, always being second fiddle to them to a certain extent, when they’re the top team and you take them down I think personally it’s satisfying,” goalie Martin Brodeur suggested.

"But I think for our fans it's even better for them. These people spend their money and come to the game. They live with the people around them and it means so much more. We had to move on and play the Finals (after eliminating the Rangers). But the fans felt:

'We got our Finals.' "

Defenseman Bryce Salvador understood what it meant.

“Oh, definitely. I had people putting signs on my lawn where I was living in New Jersey,” he recalled. “People would stop and introduce their families to me out of the blue. They were pretty excited about it. You could tell that was their Stanley Cup.”

The series was tied, 2-2, when Ryan Carter scored the winning goal late in Game 5 at the Garden.

“All I remember is the momentum had shifted. They came back and tied it up and were sitting back a little bit,” Carter said. “Kovy made a good play on the forecheck and allowed the puck to bounce out to Gio. He made a great pass across the crease, I saw the opportunity and jumped in the hole and it ended up in the back of the net. That’s something our line takes a little bit of pride in, those momentum shifts.”

Carter also had the tying goal in Game 2 at the Garden and the first goal in Game 6.

“I never had a series like that before in the playoffs with pressure-filled situations against a team that is a rival… It kind of sets a little deeper inside of you when you win and when you lose. You don’t forget those feelings,” Carter said.

"I can anticipate tomorrow's game being a little bit more emotion-filled than perhaps some of the games we've played recently."



Bet on it.

“Even though we don’t need anything extra to build that rivalry, it’s always something that is in the back of your mind if you play a team and beat them or play them and get beaten,” Brodeur said. “I’m sure our fans are looking forward to it. I’m sure their fans, with their new look of having (Rick) Nash in the lineup, want to see how it’s going to go.”

Salvador said: "Obviously I think it heightens it a bit whenever you have a playoff series like that. It was a classic, great for the local fans and the market. It's one a lot of the fans around here are going to remember. It was good for the area."



For the Devils, that series exorcised some demons of early playoff exits as well as providing some payback to the Rangers.



"It was critical on a bunch of different levels," DeBoer pointed out. "For us last year, recalling that playoff run, we were trying to exorcise a lot of different demons. One was getting past the first round. Then to face arguably our two biggest rivals in Philadelphia and the Rangers in the next two series and being able to win those two, I think it was great for the confidence of our group. Both last year and going forward. I also think that we can compete with these teams despite what a lot of people say."



For Henrique, it was the shortest goal he's ever scored but one with a long lifespan.



"I'd say so. A couple inches. I was standing right in the middle of the crease," he said.

"Right after it was crazy. You're not really thinking, you're just celebrating. We were going to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was a huge moment for the team. It's something I will never forget."



Nor will Devils fans.

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com; twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils