NEWARK Jeff Petry Jersey Kids , N.J. (AP) Talk about making the most of opportunities. Look at what New Jersey Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid has done the last 10 weeks.Not only did he take over in late January after starter Cory Schneider was injured, he carried the Devils over the final two-plus months and heads into their first playoffs since 2012 as the No. 1 goaltender.Coach John Hynes on Tuesday refused to name his starting goaltender for Thursday night’s opener of the best-of-7 series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.There is, however, little doubt – Kinkaid will be starting his first postseason game. The 28-year-old undrafted free agent posted a 19-6-1 record after Schneider went down with hip and groin injuries. He had a 10-1-1 run in the 12 games that led to the Devils clinching a playoff berth Thursday.From Feb 13 to Apr. 5, Kinkaid had a 16-3-1 mark, a 2.32 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. The win total was the most by an NHL goalie in the span.”He is a gamer,” veteran center Brian Boyle said. ”He competes. He never gives up on plays, especially down the stretch he has given us a real jolt and lifted us up. He’s been a huge part of our team.”Kinkaid is never too high, never too low. He lets in a goal, shrugs it off and gets ready for the next play.It’s not like when Marty Brodeur played and there were chants of ”Mar-tee, Mar-tee” after every big save. Or when Schneider was playing well and chants of ”CORE-EE” filled the Prudential Center. Kinkaid seems to go unnoticed.The 6-foot-3 goalie acknowledges that a few more fans recognize him lately, and he has been getting more texts.”I take it with a grain of salt,” he said. ”There is still a lot of work to do.”Kinkaid said his approach to the postseason won’t change.”You can’t take this any different from what we did at the end of the season when we had to win pretty much all our games to get in,” said Kinkaid, who got a rare night off in the regular-season finale Saturday. ”It’s no different here.”Devils captain Andy Greene said the toughest job for a backup – which Kinkaid handled for the past three seasons – is showing what you can do. It’s especially hard when the backup plays in the second game of a back-to-back and his team is tired.”This time, he knew going in he was going to have some time Jonathan Drouin Jersey ,” Greene said. ”He worked really hard in practice and you can see just how much more confident he is. Like I said 30 times. He is very square to the puck, confident, and when you are feeling that way, the puck seems to find you. He has been a rock back there and we are just feeding off him.”Center Travis Zajac, who along with Greene are the only leftovers from the Devils’ team that played in the Stanley Cup Finals, said this is the best he has seen Kinkaid play.”He has always made big plays, but now he is doing it more consistently,” Zajac said. ”He has given us a chance to win every night. I think that’s the main thing. You just see that consistency in his game, where he is not letting any weak goals in. He is confident now, and that’s a big part of it, too.”Hynes said Kinkaid has gotten better along the way.”That’s preparation, his mental focus, his ability to get to a high level, night in and night out,” Hynes said. ”That’s an improvement for him to go from a guy who didn’t play every night to that and perform real well. That has allowed him to take advantage of his opportunity.”— EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Patience paid off for the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.David Krejci broke a tie with 1:04 remaining and Boston rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.Noel Acciari and Matt Grzelcyk also scored for the Bruins (37-13-8) http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-karl-alzner-jersey , who have won seven of nine and are one point back of NHL-leading Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. Boston trailed 2-0 before scoring three times in the third period.Article continues below ...”We have a will to win,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”There are 82 of these and sometimes you just don’t have it, but I think our group is pretty good at pushing right to the end. It would have been easy for us to say it was our third game in four nights and we were playing back-to-back games, and maybe it is not our night after the frustration early on of not being able to finish and (Oilers goalie Cam Talbot) being really good, but we stuck with it.”Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin agreed the key was staying positive after falling behind a team they felt they were outplaying.”If you are thinking things aren’t going your way, then they are never going to go your way,” he said. ”You have to keep positive, keep playing and shooting and you are going to get rewarded. We were rewarded tonight.”Ryan Strome and Jujhar Khaira had the goals for the Oilers (24-31-4), who have lost seven of eight.”At the end of the day, you’re here for wins and losses and it’s tough to take moral victories out of the game,” Strome said. ”We know the position we’re in and that’s a disappointing result after 40 good minutes.”The Oilers scored the game’s first goal with 1:31 left in the opening period – despite being outshot 13-2 to that point – when Strome beat Khudobin on a 2-on-1 break for his ninth of the season.The Bruins came close five minutes into the second when David Pastrnak’s shot clanged off the post behind Talbot, but instead the Oilers extended their lead just more than six minutes later when a knuckler by Khaira beat Khudobin up high.The shots favored the Bruins 29-14 through 40 minutes.Boston got on the board 4:37 into the third when Acciari swung a puck in front of the Edmonton net and it bounced off Strome and in to make it 2-1.The Bruins tied it with eight minutes to play after a flurry in front led to Grzelcyk putting the puck past a diving Talbot.Boston completed the comeback with just 64 seconds to play in the third, after the Oilers lost control of the puck in their own end. Danton Heinen sent it out in front, allowing Krejci to score his 11th of the season.NOTES: It was the second and final meeting this season between the teams. The Oilers took the first game 4-2 in Boston on Nov. 26. … Oilers defenseman Kris Russell played his 700th NHL game. … The Bruins acquired D Nick Holden from the New York Rangers for minor league defenseman Rob O’Gara and their third-round pick in this year’s draft. Holden was not in Edmonton in time for the game.UP NEXTBruins: Saturday at Toronto.Oilers: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.—
