During his 20-year Hall of Fame playing career, Devils coach Larry Robinson skated in plenty of playoff games. To be exact, the mild-mannered Robinson laced up his blades for 227 postseason tilts. With that kind of experience, he has seen just about every type of game plan. Robinson is particularly familiar with the strategy that has been employed by Pat Quinn's underdog Leafs in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Simply put, Quinn wants his guys to get under the skin of the more-talented Devils. The idea is to get them to lose their cool, to retailate. Basically, Quinn wants the Devs to take dumb penalties.

During the first five games of the series, Robinson repeatly advised his troops to beware of such traps. He told them to take their lumps and go forward. In other words, don't take the bait.

So as his team faced elimination at the Air Canada Centre in Game 6 on Monday night, Robinson did a slow burn behind the bench. The Devils were littering an otherwise strong performance with dumb penalty after dumb penalty. First Turner Stevenson, for an offensive zone trip (really a slash on Toronto D Bryan McCabe). Then Bobby Holik for another O-zone trip. Alexander Mogilny took an O-zone hold. Ken Sutton got into the retaliatory act by roughing Shayne Corson.

By the end of the second period, the Devils had gift-wrapped four power-play opportunities for the Leafs, who connected on one of them and created good scoring chances on the others. With his face red with rage, Robinson offered one last warning. And he followed it up with this promise: next guy who takes a dumb penalty sits!

It didn't take long for someone to test the coach's resolve. Just 1:47 into the third period, defenseman Colin White took a retaliatory roughing penalty. Now, in White's defense, he had reacted to a blatant and uncalled charge by Toronto's Darcy Tucker, who left his feet to level White. Still, in the playoffs, you have to pick your spots for revenge. White didn't wait, crossing-checking the quick-to-dive Tucker to the ice. Immediately, the referee blew the whistle.

No. 5, New Jersey, two minutes for roughing.

Just 30 seconds into the penalty, Mats Sundin wired a bullet past Devs goalie Martin Brodeur from the left wing circle. Suddenly, it was 3-2 and the Toronto crowd was roaring.

When White returned to the Devils bench, Robinson was waiting for him. The message was straightforward: you're through.

It was a bold move by Robinson, who was already missing star defenseman Scott Niedermayer due to injury. By benching White, he was willing to play the final period of a life-and-death game without a valuable blueliner. The message, though, had to be sent. It had to be hammered home. And, if it meant defeat, so be it.

Robinson's experience told him to make the move. And the Devils responded by adding an insurance goal to ice a 4-2 win. Now the defending champs get to host Game 7. Robinson knows there can be no retaliation in a Game 7. Not if you want to win. He's been around long enough to know. If the Devs listen to their savvy coach, they'lll be playing hockey next week. If not, they might be playing golf ... and wishing they'd been a bit smarter.

E.J. Hradek covers hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.