Goaltender Richter Bedevils New Jersey

Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier are the marquee names for the New York Rangers, but goalie Mike Richter proved to be the team’s biggest star against the New Jersey Devils.

Adam Graves provided the winning goal, scoring on a wraparound with 5:52 left in overtime as the Rangers eliminated the Devils from the playoffs for the third time in six seasons and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a 2-1 win at East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday.

All the Devils could talk about was Richter’s performance during the series.

Richter gave up only four goals in leading the Rangers to a 4-1 upset of the Devils, the regular-season Eastern Conference champions. And one of those goals was an empty-netter.

“Every game Mike Richter plays against us, he’s fantastic,” Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko said. “He’s been like that against us for the last five or six years.”

On Sunday, Richter was especially good, stopping 46 shots.

“It all comes down to one player,” Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said. “I guess that’s what you call having our number. Mike Richter has it.”

The Rangers will face Philadelphia for the conference title. The Flyers beat Buffalo, 6-3, on Sunday to win that series, 4-1.

John MacLean, who had the Devils’ empty-net goal in Game 1--the only win for New Jersey--said that his team was not as disciplined as the Rangers.

“We didn’t get any second shots on Richter,” MacLean said. “We got away from our game plan. It came down that they were more disciplined than we were.”

Philadelphia 6, Buffalo 3--Eric Lindros scored two goals--one on a penalty shot--within 41 seconds at Buffalo.

The Flyers won the series in five games and earned their second trip to the conference finals in three years.

“We have a lot of hockey left,” Lindros said. “Our goal isn’t to be in the third series, but to win the third series. When we complete that, we’ll look further.”

Lindros, held in check much of the first five games, took control in the second period when he scored on a breakaway and the penalty shot for a 3-0 lead.

Dainius Zubrus also had two goals, the second an empty-netter with 12 seconds left. John LeClair and Shjon Podein also scored, and Rod Brind’Amour had three assists for Philadelphia.

Ron Hextall, making his first postseason appearance, stopped 21 shots. The Flyers started Hextall instead of Garth Snow, who is 7-2 with a 2.53 goals-against average in the playoffs.

Steve Shields played again for injured star Dominik Hasek and made 34 saves.