2012 Stanley Cup - Devils Beat Panthers in Game 7 - NYTimes.com SUNRISE, Fla. - Put away the streamers and the cake. Martin Brodeur's retirement party is on hold. Barely. Brodeur may turn 40 next month and he does not have a contract past this season, but he will be busy the next few weeks leading the Devils into a second-round matchup against the Philadephia Flyers. Brodeur stopped 43 shots Thursday night and the rookie Adam Henrique scored his second goal of the game 3 minutes 47 seconds into the second overtime to lead the Devils to a 3-2 Game 7 victory against the Florida Panthers before 19,313 at BankAtlantic Center. Henrique pounced on a loose puck and beat goalie Jose Theodore for the game-winner in his first Game 7 in the N.H.L., helping the Devils win their first playoff series since 2007. Someone had to be a hero, right? Henrique said. Why not me? But it was almost a total collapse for the Devils, who blew a 2-0 lead with 15 minutes left after allowing power-play goals to Stephen Weiss and Marcel Goc. Goc's goal came with 3:28 left in regulation, not long after Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky was called for a delay-of-game penalty when his attempted clear sailed into the stands without hitting the glass. But Henrique saved the day - and the season - when he scored after a Panthers turnover. The Devils had taken a 2-0 lead on even-strength goals by Henrique and his fellow rookie Stephen Gionta. "After the third period, we got back to our game plan of fore-checking and creating turnovers," Henrique said. That's what won it for us. Henrique would not have had a chance to shine without the stellar play of Brodeur. He was at his best late in the third period and in the first overtime. "Martin was our best player on the ice, and he needed to be," Devils Coach Peter DeBoer said. It was a fitting end to a hard-fought series. Brodeur improved to 6-4 in Game 7s - only Patrick Roy, with 13, has played in more - to help the Devils to their first playoff series victory since 2007. Brodeur had been pulled after allowing three goals early in Game 3, but returned with a shutout and won three of his next four starts while allowing only six goals. "We made our own bed in the third period by taking penalties," Brodeur said. I was kind of glad to get to overtime. While the Devils improved to 7-7 in Game 7s, the Panthers lost a Game 7 for the first time in their brief playoff history that now stretches 16 years since a series win. They had been 1-0 in Game 7s, winning at Pittsburgh in 1996 when they advanced to the Stanley Cup finals for the only time. Proving home-ice is no guarantee in the postseason, all four of the Panthers" playoff appearances have ended at home. The Panthers seemed to have taken control of the series with a 3-0 victory in Game 5 but could not close it out. Yet they made a valiant comeback attempt. "We knew we were going to come back," Weiss said. We did it all year. The Panthers were boosted before the game with the return of Theodore - who missed Game 6 with an unspecified injury - and defenseman Jason Garrison, who missed the last three games with a lower-body injury. Theodore made 32 saves. But it was the Devils who came out firing early. It took only 89 seconds before Henrique deflected Anton Volchenkov's shot from the left point past Theodore. The Devils had the game's first four shots before Brodeur stopped Weiss's point-blank shot almost six minutes in. Henrique almost made it 2-0 when he drove to the net after a Florida turnover, drawing a hooking penalty on Dmitry Kulikov. But the Panthers killed off the power play and that seemed to settle them down. They eventually outshot the Devils, 12-9, in the first period. Play bogged down in the second period as the teams combined for only five shots in the first 10 minutes. But the Devils converted a rare scoring chance when Gionta outbattled Brian Campbell for a rebound and backhanded it past Theodore at 9:15 to give the Devils a 2-0 lead. The Panthers got only two shots on goal in the second period and exited the ice to boos from the fans. Florida had outscored the Devils, 9-2, in the second period during the series. The Panthers appeared to cut the lead to 2-1 when Tomas Fleischmann backhanded a shot past Brodeur 1:50 in the third period, but referee Dan O'Rourke immediately waived the goal off and called a penalty on Florida's Shawn Matthias for goalie interference. Undaunted, the Panthers stormed back, with Weiss scoring a power-play goal at 5:02, only 18 seconds after Devils defenseman Peter Harrold was called for holding. After Zidlicky's penalty, it took only 20 seconds for Goc to score off a rebound of Sean Bergenheim's shot into an open net. The Panthers had to kill off a penalty in the first overtime when Kris Versteeg was called for slashing.