The New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings were heading into sudden-death overtime after they finished the third period tied at 1-1 in Saturday's Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Drew Doughty scored for the Kings in the first period then Ryan Carter equalized for the Devils three minutes into the third.
Carter got the puck past Kings' netminder Jonathan Quick on a deflection of a blast from the point by Marek Zidlicky to keep the Devils alive.
The visiting Kings had maintained a 1-0 lead over the Devils after a scoreless second period at the Prudential Center.
Both teams had their chances in the second period, with each side getting one power play opportunity apiece, but goalies n Quick and Martin Brodeur of the Devils denied every shot.
Quick smothered several threatening shots sent his way, avoiding costly rebounds, but nearly gave up an equalizer when a rebound on a power play blast came off the skate of one of the Kings' players and nearly got past the Los Angeles goalie.
Brodeur made two dazzling glove saves on blasts from Justin Williams and Colin Fraser to keep the Devils close.
Both teams had nine shots on goal in the lively second period, with New Jersey having 20 on target shots in the game versus 15 for Los Angeles.
The Kings, trying to seize a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven after winning Game One, took their 1-0 lead eight minutes into the first period when defenseman Doughty skated in on Brodeur and fired a wrist shot over his right shoulder for his third goal of the playoffs.
The Devils had two power play opportunities due to a pair of cross-checking penalties on the Kings, but failed to capitalize.
The home team failed to get a shot on goal in the first power play, but had a good scoring chance during the second man-advantage, but David Clarkson's shot was stopped by Quick.
(Reporting By Larry Fine; Editing by Julian Linden)
