How can one argue with history? For the past two years, the Devils have had the East's top seed only to be ousted in the first round -- last year to Pittsburgh, the season before to Ottawa.

This time around, New Jersey entered as a No. 4 seed. And tumbling all the way to No.4 didn't mean the Devils would continue their two-year plummet in the first round. What a difference three notches have made. The Devils beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 in Game 4 to sweep the best-of-7 series as New Jersey reached the second round for the first time since 1997.

"It's nice to get that first series out of the way. This is the game that probably scared me the most of all," New Jersey coach Larry Robinson said. "I had nightmares about this one. The fourth one's always the hardest to win."

From the jump it appeared as if Robinson's nightmare would become reality in the early moments. At 5:17 of the first period, the Russian Rocket finally lifted off. Pavel Bure did something he couldn't do in the prior three games. He scored. Bure, who has been stifled the entire series by goalie Martin Brodeur and denied open ice by ace defenseman Scott Stevens, scored the game's first goal off a power play.

But as they've done for most of this series, the Devils kept their poise and came up with a critical performance in the second period.

Less than five minutes into the second period, Patrik Elias tied it at 1. Ten minutes later, the man who earlier this season served a 10-game suspension for a stick shot to Florida mauler Peter Worrell's skull, delivered the knockout blow to the Panthers' season. Scott Niedermayer's goal off a 2-on-1 breakaway with Randy McKay turned out to be the winner.

"We're going to enjoy this right now, but there's still a ways to go," Niedermayer said. "We didn't want to go back to New Jersey (for Game 5) We wanted to come in and play our best game tonight and move on."

Considering the Panthers didn't score a third-period goal in series, the Devils' advancement was as good as guaranteed with one of the league's best netminders in Brodeur. Brodeur continued his marvelous play in the series with 35 saves.

"I don't know how he stopped about three or four of those ones near the end," Robinson said. "He was simply fantastic."

Said New Jersey's Alexander Mogilny: "Martin proved why he's one of the best goalies in the NHL. He's on his game right now and it couldn't come at a better time for us."

Martin Brodeur consoles fellow netminder Mike Vernon after the Devils' victory.(AP)

Reaching the second round for the first time in three years also served as redemption for Brodeur, who personally took the blame for last season's first-round flop against Pittsburgh, in which he yielded an average of nearly three goals a game.

"It's a very good feeling," Brodeur said. "I'm happy for all the guys. We've been on the other side of this the last couple of years and it feels good to finally get over that hump. I'm just happy for the whole organization to get past the fist round. We have to keep it in perspective and focus on the coming series ahead."

One-goal games were the calling card of the first three games of this series. But the Devils took away any drama -- and hope of a Florida comeback. In the final four minutes, Sergei Nemchinov scored twice to ensure a Devils victory and put a bitter end to Florida's season.

"It never even crossed my mind at the start of the series that this would be the scenario. It is disappointing," said coach Terry Murray, who guided the Panthers to their first playoff appearance in three seasons. "It's frustrating, we are a much better team than what we showed throughout the series. We just didn't get it to the level we had to."

In four games against the Panthers, the Devils have managed to sweep past playoff failures under the rug. The losses to Pittsburgh and Ottawa seemed like a distant memory as players and coaches alike could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I don't know if we got the monkey off our back," Niedermayer said. "We're still nowhere we want to be."

Maybe not, but it sure beats where they have been the past two years.