NEWARK, NJ – As Tom Renney waited for reporters to ask him questions before the game, he looked up at the wall across from the Rangers’ locker room and saw “N/R” painted on the wall.

“For a minute, I thought it said ‘New York Rangers’,” the coach mused. “But I guess it needs an extra stick on it.”

The N/Rs are painted throughout the tunnels of the Prudential Center and while they mean something, they are not a mark to the Rangers.

Maybe they should be. After another dominating performance, the Blueshirts proved their superiority over the Devils, losing just once all season in their building and closing out the first round of the Stanley Cup finals with a 5-3 win.

“We took it over today,” said Ranger captain Jaromir Jagr, who had a goal and two assists in the win. “I knew we were going to win it. I knew from the first shift, we were going to win it. Even though they scored some lucky goals and got back in the game.”

Maybe it was the prospect of having the weekend off or maybe they just wanted to end all of New Jersey’s hopes, but from the drop of the puck, the Rangers seemed to be in control of this contest. Even when the Devils scored first at 4:40 with Brian Gionta getting his only tally of the playoffs, the Blueshirts came back.

Eighteen seconds later, Michal Rozsival tied it and then Jagr gave the Rangers the lead 1:40 after that, on a great individual effort. Although Jersey came back, with some fortunate scoring, the Rangers could have shaken hands right there.

Speaking of shaking hands, Sean Avery continued to torment Martin Brodeur and the Devils’ goalie refused to do the customary greeting with No. 16 at the end of the series.

“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.”

Avery referred to Brodeur as “Fatso” on the MSG Network, while the future Hall of Famer acknowledged the snub saying it was the first time he ever did that in his long career.

No matter, because the Rangers now move on and the Devils go home; mainly due to the heroics of Henrik Lundqvist. Stopping John Madden on a penalty shot at 12:52 of the third sealed the deal for Rangers who shut the Devils down in the third period.

“My confidence was pretty high,” Lundqvist said. “On the penalty shot, I was aggressive with my glove and my pads. I think the only chance he had was to go five-hole and I got my stick down.”

“To tell you the truth, I was happy it was a penalty shot and not a five-on-four,” Jagr said. “I was pretty confident Hank was going to stop it. I didn't even think about it. I didn't even look.”

The save was necessary, because the Devils fought back after the Rangers made it 4-1 on goals by Scott Gomes and Chris Drury.

First Bryce Salvador had a lucky bounce. Trying to clear the puck from the blue line, his shot tipped Brandon Dubinsky’s glove, which sent it to the right post. The rebound went off Lundqvist’s back for the score.

Then later in the second, with the Devils on the 5-on-3, Patrik Elias scored off Fedor Tyutin’s stick and Lundqvist’s skate to make it 4-3, which made the third period very tense.

But Dubinsky added an empty netter with 1:00 left, ending all of the Devils hopes.

And etching the Ranger name in history of the Prudential Center.

Notes: The Rangers will now sit back and wait for their next opponent. If Montreal and Philadelphia win, then the Rangers will play the Penguins. If Boston and Philly win, round 2 will open up at the Garden for a series against the Flyers. If the Capitals win and Montreal holds on, then the Rangers will visit the Bell Centre. And if the Caps and Bruins are victorious, the Rangers get Alex Ovechkin.

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