New Jersey Devils First Round Preview…

New Jersey Devils (51-27-4) — 3rd seed.. won Atlantic!

If someone had told me, the Devils would have been without Martin Brodeur for most of the season and yet win the Atlantic….I would have said you were cuckoo! Even during our preview show in August, I felt the Devils would finish second behind the Flyers. The Devils do not listen to us apparently. They went on despite all odds to win the division by 7 points over the Philadelphia Flyers. Zach Parise had a career high 45 goals and 94 points this year. Even Patrik Elias had a better year and though he did get a bit nicked up…he still had 78 points. The Devils scored more (finally figuring out that Martin Brodeur could not save them)….scoring 244 goals (nearly 3 a game). They did slump a bit at the end before winning 4 of 5 but the bottom line is the fact that there was one man that saved this team’s season.

Scott Clemmensen found a way to become a goalie this year. When Martin Brodeur went down for almost 4 months (elbow)…this ultimately became Clemmensen’s team. The turning point was a November 15th 6-5 SO win over the Washington Capitals where Clemmensen stopped Ovechkin, Semin, and company in succession. From there, the Devils went on a run that saw them go (27-8-1) in a 36 game span. The team scored over 3 goals a game while Clemmensen was in net. Granted, they did have to play a bit more helter skelter but to Clemmensen’s credit…he did have an extremely solid .917 save percentage along with 25 wins. Without this effort, the Devils are a low seed playing either Boston or Washington.

The ZZ Pop line was reenergized. Parise with 94 points, Travis Zajac was a +33 and Jamie Langenbrunner had 69 points on the season. Add in Elias and his 78 points and you had the makings of a whale of a team. Basically all you needed was a little goaltending and the Devils could win the 4-3 and 5-4 games that previously they never could. In their 4 of 5 stretch at the end of the year….they found a way to beat their first round opponent 3-2 and sure Cam Ward was not in net….but you have to think it was a confidence boost to say the least.

Preview time…..

Now we have bulletin board material already. Eric Staal basically all but guaranteed a series win by the Hurricanes after Saturday’s game against New Jersey. That probably was not smart. Sure you may have beat this team a few times this year but face it….two games were while Don Koharski was a ref….enough said! Koharski cannot save the Hurricanes now. Rod Brind’amour had 6 points in the season series against New Jersey and Cam Ward was stupendous for Carolina in net against the Devils. That is not a secret. Guys like Cole, Brindamour, Whitney, and Staal, etc. are very fast and need to be neutralized.

The Devils D must step up…they must kill penalties better. That 79.9% PK rate is abysmal for the Devils team that prides itself on defense. The forwards are going to also have to do a better job of getting back on defense. The Hurricanes got a generous amount of Power Play chances throughout the season. The only other team to get that many chances was the Montreal Canadiens (374). Staying out of the box considering the Devils get nearly 1 less Power Play per game will be of immense importance.

What is going to happen in this series? This will be a back and forth dogfight. The Hurricanes and Devils will go toe to toe. Expect a lot of twists and turns and some outrageous calls. The Canes have a reputation and the Devils may or may not have to play their game at some point. If they play the series more 5 on 5….the Devils have a clear advantage with their forward depth. The x-factor is Patrik Elias. If he can stay healthy and play at 100%….the Hurricanes are in some serious trouble. He makes the PP go and when he was out….you noticed it on the Devils’ special teams. Bottom line is this series will not be easy but at the end of the day…New Jersey has more tools at its disposal than it did last year against the Rangers. This is a different and more improved team.

Outcome: Devils in 6.