Even though the Devils’ 2013 season is over, we can still look back at some great moments in New Jersey’s playoff history.
On May 8…
1988- Officials boycott game 4 of the Wales Conference finals between the Devils and Boston Bruins, after the NHL did not suspend New Jersey coach Jim Schoenfeld for his postgame outburst at referee Don Koharski.
Schoenfeld subsequently was suspended, replacement officials were used and Lou Lamoriello coached New Jersey to a 3-1 win in game 4 at Brendan Byrne Arena. David Maley, Pat Verbeek and Tom Kurvers each scored goals, as the Devils even the best-of-seven series at 2.
1995- Just a day removed from his second-career playoff shutout, Martin Brodeur shuts out the Boston Bruins again, 3-0, in game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Boston Garden.
2000- Brodeur stops all six shots he faces– yes six, that’s not a typo– in New Jersey’s 3-0 Eastern Conference semifinal-clinching game 6 win at Continental Airlines Arena.
Petr Sykora and Jason Arnott each register a goal and an assist, as New Jersey wins the series 4-2.
2012- Ilya Kovalchuk records a goal and an assist, and David Clarkson scores the eventual game-winning goal, as the Devils polish off the Philadelphia Flyers with a 3-1 win in game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Wells Fargo Center.
The Devils claim the series 4-1 and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Even though the Devils’ 2013 season is over, we can still look back at some great moments in New Jersey’s playoff history.
On May 6…
1972- Denis and Mireille Brodeur welcomed a baby boy, Martin, into the world. That boy would grow into the Devils’ — and arguably the NHL’s — greatest goalie of all time.
1988- The Boston Bruins hammer the Devils, 6-1, in game 3 of the Wales Conference Finals at Brendan Byrne Arena, taking a 2-1 edge in the best-of-7 series.
Still, this game is widely remembered for the postgame verbal — and possible physical — assault by Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld on official Don Koharski.
2000- Scott Gomez registers two assists, and John Madden notches the game-winning goal, helping the Devils to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Air Canada Centre.
2012- After falling behind 2-0, the Devils storm back for four-unanswered goals, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifnals at Prudential Center.
Dainius Zubrus scores twice, and Petr Sykora registers a goal and an assist, as the Devils take a 3-1 series advantage.
Even though the Devils’ 2013 season is over, we can still look back at some great moments in New Jersey’s playoff history.
On May 3…
2001- New Jersey is soundly dismantled in game 4 by the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at Air Canada Centre, evening the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals at 2 games apiece.
Unfortunately– for both Leafs and Devils fans alike– the game is remembered more for this:
2012- Alexei Ponikarovsky scores at 17:19 of the first overtime, lifting the Devils to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The overtime win gives the Devils a 2-1 edge in the series.
Even though the Devils’ 2013 season is over, we can still look back at some great moments in New Jersey’s playoff history.
On May 1…
2000- Patrik Elias records a goal and two assists, and Scott Gomez and Claude Lemieux each post two-point games, leading the Devils to a 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Continental Airlines Arena.
2001- Brian Rafalski’s overtime goal lifts New Jersey to a 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs in game 3 of New Jersey’s Eastern Conference semifinals at Air Canada Centre.
2012- The Devils score four third-period goals– with David Clarkson’s proving as the game winner– as New Jersey knots up its Eastern Conference semifinal series with a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.
Unfortunately for them and their fans, that’s the only help they got.
New Jersey remains six back of eighth place now with only five games remaining. The Devils’ 3-0 win in Philadelphia kept them alive in the playoff hunt with five games left but did them no other good.
The New York Rangers pummeled Florida, 6-1. The Winnipeg Jets blew a two-goal third-period lead, beating the Carolina Hurricanes.
Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders each stayed hot, winning their games.
The Devils are in a catch-22 tonight too. New Jersey simply must root for the Buffalo Sabres, who will host the Rangers tonight.
New Jersey roots for Buffalo tonight, because a Sabres win will keep the Devils six points behind the No. 8 seed with five games left. New Jersey will have one game in hand on the Rangers with two head-to-head meetings next week.
Meanwhile, the Devils would have two games in hand on Buffalo. Assuming New Jersey wins those two– no small assumption, but the Devils need to win out anyway– it would leap frog the Sabres.
Based on what is happening in Boston, it is unknown whether the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins will meet tonight. However, they’re scheduled to go at 7. A Pittsburgh win would seal it the East’s top seed.
The Bruins and Penguins have been postponed due to the manhunt in Boston. That game’s been rescheduled for Tuesday.
Here’s the full slate of Eastern Conference games for tonight:
The full story behind New Jersey’s 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers– a victory that snaps the Devils’ 10-game losing streak (NorthJersey.com) (NJ.com) (AP) (NHL.com)
Rich Chere discusses how New Jersey endured physical punishment in virtually ending Philadelphia’s playoff hopes (NJ.com)
Tom Gulitti explores Peter Harrold’s key play that led to New Jersey’s first goal on Thursday (Fire & Ice)
Did the Devils play an A-plus game? No. I’d argue they played a couple better overall games during the 10-game winless streak. But the important thing is the streak is over and the Devils are back in the win column thanks to a few superlative efforts. It likely won’t get the Devils back in the playoff chase, but a couple wins over the last 10 days would be important for their confidence heading into the offseason. Some thoughts…
It’s over: Everyone can breathe a big sign of relief. The winless streak is finally over and it didn’t even take Ilya Kovalchuk returning to finally stop it. Of course, like I said above, this wasn’t a perfect game. They struggled to put pucks on net in the first and had difficulty finishing in the second before Ryan Carter snapped one of Ilya Bryzgalov’s shoulder. But the important thing was the Devils kept working in two very important areas: the neutral zone and below the Flyers’ goal line. The Devils did a good job in long stretches of stopping the Flyers at the blue line and both of the Devils even-strength goals came as a result of their work in the neutral zone. As for the forecheck, it was strong almost all night long. The Devils generated a ton of chances off their pressure below the goal line and it eventually wore down Philly’s defense. While the Devils aren’t talented enough to out-skill teams, they are dedicated and strong enough to out-work them. It’s a long shot, but wins like this are the kind of victories that send a team to length winning streaks. The Devils worked their way past an inferior opponent to a streak-busting victory and were rewarded after several games in which they played well but didn’t win.
The Flyers and Devils face off in a matchup of two teams playing out the string.
Who: New Jersey Devils at Philadelphia Flyers When: 7:30 p.m. ET; Pregame show at 7:00 p.m. ET Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA Media:TV - MSG+ (Channel listings); Radio – Bloomberg (1130 AM) Twitter:@cgriffin415 | @SNYDevils
Stats & Notes (via Devils PR)
New Jersey is looking to end a season-high ten-game (0-6-4) winless streak. A loss tonight would tie the second-longest winless streak in team history (11, accomplished twice, most recently 0-7-4, December 27, 1990-January 22, 1991)
Monday at Toronto the Devils were shutout for the third time in six games/this season. New Jersey was shutout in back-to-back games for the sixth time in club history and the first time since March 13-15, 2012.
Also Monday, New Jersey fell to 3-16-6 on the year when allowing the first goal. The Devils are 12-1-4 when scoring the first goal this season.
The Devils out shot the Maple Leafs Monday, 32-13, and have now out shot their opponent in 21 of the past 23 games.
New Jersey has allowed just 24 shots over the past two games combined, which ties the mark for the fewest in back-to-back games in team history (also March 19-21, 2001). -credit Elias Sports Bureau
The Devils have allowed just 46 shots over the past 3 games, which is a team record for a three-game stretch (previously 46, December 4-10, 2003).-credit Elias Sports Bureau
Toronto’s 2 shots in the second period Monday tied for a season-low for an opponent (also, April 12 vs. Ottawa, 3rd period).
The Devils are 3-0-1 vs. the Flyers this season and, including the playoffs, have won nine of the last 12 meetings between the teams.
Martin Brodeur (11 saves) took the loss in goal Monday. He has started 12 consecutive games and is 2-6-4 since returning to the lineup on March 21 at Carolina.
Down six points with just six games left, it’s time for the Devils to start helping themselves.
We can go over the scenarios every day, but without New Jersey wins it doesn’t matter. The Devils are 0-6-4 in their last 10 yet are still mathematically alive.
New Jersey has a game in hand on both the Philadelphia Flyers and Winnipeg Jets– and two in hand on the Buffalo Sabres. The Devils also will meet the eighth-placed New York Rangers twice in their final six games, leaving a slim chance of postseason still alive.
But the Devils have to start winning games.
They can do that tonight in Philadelphia. If New Jersey beats the Flyers, it’ll hop them for 11th.
The Devils then must root for the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers. The Canes will play in Winnipeg tonight and the, the Panthers trek to Madison Square Garden to meet the Rangers.
Should all that go New Jersey’s way, it’ll trail Winnipeg and New York by four points with a game in hand on the Jets and a crucial meeting with the Rangers Sunday.
That’s about all you can hope for as a Devils fan these days.
Should Winnipeg win, it’ll be rooting for its division-rival Florida, as well as the Ottawa Senators. The Senators will host the Washington Capitals tonight. Washington leads Winnipeg by four points for the Southeast Division lead, and the teams have both played 43 games.
The Senators still can catch the fifth-placed Toronto Maple Leafs, but they can still also be caught by the seventh-placed New York Islanders. The Isles and Leafs will meet tonight in Toronto.
A Toronto win, coupled with a Montreal Canadiens loss to Tampa Bay, will leave the Leafs two back of their divisional rival with just four games left.
The 10th-placed Sabres helped their cause last night with an enormous shootout win over the Boston Bruins. Buffalo is idle tonight but will root for Florida and Carolina.
The full slate of Eastern Conference games with playoff implications. As always, all times are eastern and p.m.
Yesterday, we talked about the Devils had to stop worrying about what other teams were doing and just win a game. Well, that didn’t happen. They didn’t even get an overtime point and now likely have to go 6-1 the rest of the way to make the playoffs, which includes a two-game sweep of the Rangers in the final week.
So tonight, the Devils have no choice but to sit back and root for the other teams. The Senators are off tonight, but they’re completely out of reach. The Islanders are not “untouchable” but they’re a pretty difficult team to catch.
That leaves the Rangers and Jets as the two teams the Devils need to keep both eyes on. Well, no Jets hockey tonight, which means there’s only one game Devils fans should be focused on tonight — Rangers-Islanders. The Devils NEED the Isles to win that game in regulation. Yes, if the Rangers win the Devils would be closer (ideally speaking) to catching the Islanders, but as we said above — it ain’t happening. The Rangers are the target. So, for tonight only, Devils fans need to pull on their orange and blue and hope Evgeni Nabokov continues taking whatever “supplements” he’s currently cycling.
The full slate of games today/tonight that affect the Devils’ playoff picture:
