Last night the New Jersey Devils took another huge step forward towards achieving their ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup against the Los Angeles Kings, and making history while doing so. They still have to win two games, which won't be easy, but 72 hours ago nobody would give the thought of a Devils come back the light of day. Now it's anyone's series. Here are some notes on last night's game.

- What can I say about Martin Brodeur? People always like to blame Devils losses on him and rarely give him credit when he plays large roles in Devils victories, but the fact is he's as valuable to the Devils now as he ever has been. There's no Scott Neidermayer, Ken Daneyko or Scott Stevens on this team and the Devils aren't near as defensively sound as they were 10 years ago, yet Brodeur continues to pile up the wins. He came up with big save after big save yesterday night to keep the Devils' season alive and while he had some luck go his way with the Kings hitting a few posts, he out played Jonathan Quick. He's went toe-to-toe with him in net all series long, and I don't think there's another 40-year old goaltender out there that could do the same thing.

- Zach Parise was outstanding last night. He scored the Devils opening goal on a heads up and hustle play, and he never looked back. Parise had a few chances himself, created quite a few for his teammates and was very good in his own zone, as per usual. He blocked shots, benched Mike Richards and did everything under his power to force a Game 6. Luckily for him, and the Devils, it worked.

- Though the Devils still trail in this series, there's no doubt that the pressure is all on the Kings now. They have had one of the best playoff runs in the history of the NHL, and if they don't close this out Monday night at home there's a pretty good chance they'll lose the series. Imagine losing after going 12-2 in the first three rounds of the playoffs and jumping out to a 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final? That's something the Kings don't want to imagine, because if it becomes reality this Kings team will go down in history, but for all the wrong reasons.

- With the Devils win last night, they are now 10-1 in games 4-7 in the playoffs this year. The Devils and their fan base want nothing more than their 10-1 record in games 4-7 to move to 12-1.

Thanks to that same win, the Kings lost their first road game of the playoffs and are now 10-1.

- Bryce Salvador had a goal, a plus-1 rating, 3 shots, 3 blocked shots and two hits last night in over 20 minutes of work. Whether he re-signs with the Devils or goes to free agency, he probably earned himself a little raise from the 2.9 million dollar salary he makes now.

- Anton Volchenkov was in fine form last night. He was plus-1, had four hits and four blocked shots. He also took a stick in the face and had to get nine stitches to seal up his cut. Just another night at the office for him.

- The Devils need to put more pucks on net if they want to complete this come back. Sure they're winning so it is fine right now, but they're not dominating the Kings by any means. Several Devils passed up Grade A scoring chances last night in order to force a pass that didn't even result in a chance in almost every case. They need to stop forcing things and just take what the Kings give them.

- Interesting statistic: The Devils out hit the Kings by 11 last night, and 10 the game before. They've actually out hit the Kings in four out of the five games in this series. That's pretty impressive for a team that many said would get dominated physically by Los Angeles.

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