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(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur (30) and New York Rangers' Sean Avery skate past each other as their teammates shake hands after the Rangers beat the Devils 5-3 in Game 5 of a first-round NHL playoff hockey series Friday night, April 18, 2008 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The Rangers eliminated the Devils 4-1 in the best-of-seven games series.

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Filed under: NEWARK, N.J. , TOM CANAVAN , HKN NHL Rdp

NEWARK, N.J. (Map, News) - The New Jersey Devils' reign in the metropolitan area may be over. The New York Rangers are now the top team.

Two years after being swept out of the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers showed their regular-season domination of the Devils was not a fluke by eliminating New Jersey in five games in the opening round of the playoffs.

Michal Rozsival and Jaromir Jagr scored in a 1:40 span in the first period to wipe out an early lead and Henrik Lundqvist stopped John Madden on a potential game-tying penalty shot with 7:08 to play to lead the Rangers to a 5-3 win in the series decider on Friday night.

"It is poetic justice to a degree," Rangers coach Tom Renney said.

In other NHL playoff games Friday night, the Anaheim Ducks kept their season alive with a 5-2 win against Dallas, while Detroit took a 3-2 series lead on Nashville with a 2-1 win in overtime.

The Rangers won seven of the eight regular-season games against New Jersey, and they took this series by making all the big plays with the game on the line.

New York outscored New Jersey 9-2 in the third period during the series. Brandon Dubinsky iced the series with an empty-net goal with 59.1 seconds to play.

There were two crucial moments in Game 5.

The first came just 18 seconds after Brian Gionta gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead. Jagr collected a loose puck behind the net and found Rozsival in front for a game-tying goal.

Jagr gave New York the lead with a power-play goal less than two minutes later. Gomez scored later in the period for a 3-1 lead.

"The turning point of the game was the shift right after we scored," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We had the momentum for 20 seconds or something like that ... bang bang and you're down 3-1."

Chris Drury pushed the margin to 4-1 early in the second period, before the Devils got back in the game on a fluke goal by defenseman Bryce Salvador and Patrik Elias' goal off Rangers' defenseman Fedor Tyutin with New Jersey holding a two-man edge.

Madden had a great chance to tie the game with a penalty shot, but Lundqvist stopped him.

"I missed it," Madden said. "I missed the opportunity between his legs. He stopped it. There isn't much to say."

Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr didn't even bother to watch it, so sure was he that Lundqvist would keep New York in front.

"That's what makes him special," Jagr said. "In the key situations he comes up big. That was a pressure moment, and he did it."

It was the first time that New Jersey lost three home games in a playoff series. The only game the Devils won was Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on a shot that went in off the skate of Rangers defenseman Marc Staal.

The series result was not surprising. Not only did New York dominate the regular season, the Devils struggled down the stretch, posting a 4-5-1 record. None of the wins were in regulation.

"You don't want to limp into the playoffs, and we did," forward Jay Pandolfo said. "We had a tough last couple weeks of the regular season and we stayed the same way through the playoffs. We couldn't find a way to win at home."

The series ended with a little controversy.

Devils goalie Martin Brodeur refused to shake hands with pesky Rangers forward Sean Avery at the end of the series.

Avery, who crashed into Brodeur several times in the series and tried to distract him by waving his stick in the goalie's face in Game 3, was the only player Brodeur didn't extend his hand to.

"I shook everybody's hand but one," Brodeur said.

Avery criticized Brodeur in the locker room.

"Everyone talks about how much class I don't have, well it's the end of the series and men go to war against each other," Avery said. "I guess he forgot to shake my hand. I don't know if anyone saw that. Of course I was going to shake his hand."

New York will have to wait for other Eastern matchups to end to find out its next opponent.

The Devils will have to wait to see what president Lou Lamoriello does to shake up the team.

Gomez, who signed with the Rangers in the offseason after winning two Cups with the Devils, felt for his former teammates. He didn't say much on the handshake line.

"When it's over it's over," he said. "We're not going to talk about future plans. I knew what they are going through. It's not the time to strike up conversations."

Ducks 5, Stars 2

Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf and Sean O'Donnell each had a goal and an assist at home to trim the Stars' lead in the first-round series to 3-2.

Game 6 is Sunday in Dallas. A seventh game would be in Anaheim on Tuesday.

The defending Stanley Cup champions, on the brink of elimination, scored three times in the third period to break open a tight, physical game.

After Mike Ribeiro pulled the Stars within 3-2 at 4:41 of the third, defenseman O'Donnell built the lead back to two when he scored at 12:05. Todd Marchant added an empty-net goal with 1:24 remaining.

Red Wings 2, Predators 1, OT

After Detroit goalie Chris Osgood allowed a tying goal in the final minute, Johan Franzen scored 1:48 into overtime, lifting the Red Wings to a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.

Valtteri Filppula, who scored Detroit's first goal, poked the puck away and Franzen ended up with it and beat Dan Ellis with a backhander.

Nashville's Radek Bonk slipped through the defense to get off a one-timer that got past Chris Osgood with 44 seconds left.

In the end, Osgood validated Detroit coach Mike Babcock's decision to start him over Dominik Hasek. Game 6 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Nashville.

Ellis kept the Predators in the game, making 52 saves before he was pulled for an extra skater.