"He's a character guy," linemate Brian Gionta said. "He's the glue to this team. A lot of the stuff he does we get lifts from. I think he's so underrated." In the 2003 Playoffs, Madden had one game-winning goal and he also registered an assist on the series-clinching goal in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Ottawa.

"Madden is unbelievable," teammate Jay Pandolfo said. "We've been playing together now for a long time, so we kind of just read off each other well. He's a tough kid. He's such a competitor."

Friesen, somewhat ironically, came to the Devils from the Mighty Ducks in an off-season deal last summer that sent Petr Sykora to the Ducks and brought Friesen and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky to the Devils. Friesen immediately upgraded New Jersey's speed up front, and while he struggled with his scoring touch at times during the regular season, he found the mark when it counted most -- in the Playoffs.

Friesen scored 10 goals and four assists in the Playoffs, and he tied Langenbrunner for the League-lead in postseason game-winning goals with four. "I was pretty quiet for the first couple of series, but when you play on such a good team like this you're put in a position to play in big games -- Conference Finals, Stanley Cup Finals -- I just wanted to pull my weight and I'm glad I was able to do that," Friesen said.

But the "real" reason Friesen was able to contribute so mightily was all due to a certain lucky green suit, according to Rheaume.

"Jeff was really, really good tonight," Rheaume said after the Cup clincher. "He had his green suit on and it's his lucky green suit. He proved to us tonight just how lucky it was. Every time he got his suit back from the cleaners he always scores. So I told him 'why not score two goals tonight. Ten goals will look better than nine goals."

Rookie Mike Rupp recorded four points in four games for the Devils in the Finals, including the game-winner in Game 7.

Another young player who may be a fixture in the Devils' lineup for years to come is rookie Mike Rupp. He made his Playoff debut in Game 4 of the Finals in place of an injured Nieuwendyk and made the most of his chance in the spotlight. Rupp recorded four points in four games for the Devils in the Finals, including the game-winner in Game 7.

"I don't know what to say," Rupp said. "I'm caught up in everything going on. It's just been great. Two weeks ago, I never would have thought this could happen, so Coach Burns put me in this situation and showed he believed in me and I've been blessed with that situation. It worked out great."

"We know that this guy has talent," Burns said. "It's just to try and get him, to make him -- force him to be able to get all of those attributes on the ice; not just one game, not just two games, but every single night. I kept on telling him; 'You know what you have right now. You know the opportunity that you have right now.' I kept on reminding him and he definitely took it."

The same way Langenbrunner, Madden and Friesen did for New Jersey.