RANGERS 3, DEVILS 0: Vezina Trophy finalist Henrik Lundqvist turned aside all 21 shots he faced and rookie Chris Kreider collected a power-play goal and an assist as host New York scored three times in the third period en route to a win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Defenseman Dan Girardi and Artem Anisimov also scored and set up a goal for the top-seeded Rangers, who had little time to rest after dispatching Washington for their second Game 7 triumph of the postseason. Game 2 of the conference finals is on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

Lundqvist preserved his fifth career postseason shutout - and second of 2012 - by stopping all 11 shots in the second period.

After the Atlantic Division rivals put forth matching stingy defensive efforts in the first 40 minutes, New York finally broke through just 53 seconds into the third period.

Kreider chased down the puck before putting on the brakes and wristing a soft feed to Girardi, who came off the bench on a late line change. The All-Star defenseman wired a shot from just inside the blue line which sailed past future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, who was screened by a leaping Derek Stepan. The tally was Girardi's second of the playoffs.

Lundqvist made the slim advantage hold up shortly thereafter as he absorbed Ilya Kovalchuk's point-blank shot from the left faceoff circle.

With Steve Bernier serving a boarding penalty, Kreider doubled the advantage with exactly eight minutes remaining. Anisimov reeled in Girardi's lead pass and deftly backhanded the puck over to Kreider, who wristed a shot from the slot past Brodeur for his third goal of the playoffs.

Anisimov capped the scoring with an empty-net tally with 1:27 left to seal the win.

Captain Zach Parise saw a brilliant opportunity to open the scoring go by the boards late in the second period. The captain had all three shots thwarted by Lundqvist while the sixth-seeded Devils were shorthanded.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Brodeur finished with 25 saves. ... A pair of strong backchecking efforts by Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh negated two New Jersey breakaways in the first period.