http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-IkWpm7TS0

In a topsy-turvy Eastern Conference, the Devils found themselves in the same position they began the weekend after their hair-raising 3-2 win over the Leafs tonight – five points behind the last wild card spot, only with two fewer games to make up the deficit.  Derek already recapped yesterday’s 2-0 loss to the Rangers, which I thought would both be crushing to the team’s playoff hopes and their collective psyche.  Especially with how little offensive spark they showed until the third period, aside from Jaromir Jagr – who the Rangers really should have quadruple-teamed since he was the only one getting chances.  Still, the Rangers shut us out giving us our ninth shutout of the season.  Ironically Martin Brodeur played one of his best games of the season in defeat, much better than he’s played in many of his victories this season…but it still wasn’t enough.  Though I do agree with Pete DeBoer‘s whining assessment after the game that the NHL doesn’t call nearly enough diving penalties, it was still a bit unseemly for him to be complaining about penalty calls when they couldn’t manage a single goal and were thoroughly outplayed in the game’s first forty minutes.

With four games in six days at the Prudential Center, I’d already sold off my tickets for tonight well before it seemed like we were in a world of hurt after yesterday’s game.  However, Toronto’s recent collapse has provided a glimmer of hope of at least catching them in the ever-changing playoff race.  Despite recent struggles from goalie James Reimer, coach Randy Carlyle stubbornly ran him out there again tonight (akin to how we ran out Johan Hedberg time after time last year despite poor play).  Surprisingly, even our popgun offense was able to make Carlyle pay for his goaltending choice and the Leafs’ usual shoddy defense with three goals in the game’s first twenty-two minutes, including two during the opening moments of the second period.  After being scratched for two games, Damien Brunner scored the game’s opening goal on a simple wrister stick-side, finishing off a two-on-one with Adam Henrique for his eleventh goal of the season at 14:38 of the first.

Early in the second, the Devils threatened to blow the game open when defenseman Jon Merrill sprung Patrik Elias with a beauty of a pass, and Elias’s deke toward the middle to beat Reimer was just as pretty, putting home his seventeenth goal of the season just a minute and eighteen seconds after the period started.  Just thirty-two seconds later Merrill finished a dandy of a shift with a goal of his own, firing a slapper through traffic that squirted through Reimer and over the goalline for a 3-0 lead.  Finally Carlyle replaced the embattled Reimer with journeyman Drew McIntyre.  Predictably, the Devils would not score another goal against the backup’s backup, though to his credit McIntyre responded well and made some spectacular saves.  It would have been nice if we hit the net more though, like Ryane Clowe missing on a one-timer from just a few feet in front during the third period.

Just as predictably, the Devils big lead once again turned into a hairy finish which started when Tyler Bozak tipped in a goal on a Leafs power play at 5:26.  Things could have gotten really disasterous with back-to-back penalties by Andy Greene and Mark Fayne later in the period, giving Toronto a 77-second 5-on-3 without two of our best defensemen available to kill it.  However the undermanned units and goaltender Cory Schnieder were up to the task in a momentum-changing kill that elicited cheers from the 15,000 plus in attendance.  Through most of the third period, the Devils actually played well against a high-flying Leafs team desperately trying to cut into the deficit.  However, we couldn’t quite put up the fourth goal which would have really made the game safe and finally the game reached its climactic moments when the Leafs pulled the goalie for an extra skater with just over two minutes left.

Still up two, it should have been an easy finale but then Marek Zidlicky for reasons known only to him decides to make a risky play trying to intercept a Leafs pass, and when he missed he left Phil Kessel of all people alone on a partial breakaway.  Of course Kessel beat Schnieder with a sick move in front and put the Devils on high alert again with just ninety-one seconds left.  Most of the next seventy seconds, the Leafs spent in our zone as blood pressures rose all over the state and inside the arena.  However a couple of big saves by Schnieder and a diving clear by Elias with just over twenty seconds left helped make sure tonight wasn’t going to be one of those blown leads of infamy.

So now with the Devils beating the Leafs and the Red Wings’ OT loss to the Wild, we’re back to five points out of a spot.  Yes, I know I said a loss to the Rangers would effectively kill off our chances and it certainly didn’t help matters but as Al Pacino says in his famous Godfather clip above…’just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in’.  Plus hey, we’re all fans…we want to find some way, any realistic way to make the postseason.  Essentially the standings look like this for us:

• Rangers 82 points, 10 GL
• Wings 80 points, 11 GL
• Leafs 80 points, 9 GL
• Caps 79 points, 10 GL
• Jackets 78 points, 11 GL
• Devils 75 points, 10 GL

All the bolded currently have playoff spots.  To keep it simple, the path of least resistance for us to make the playoffs is to pass the Leafs, Washington and Columbus (and we do have one game at home against the Caps in two weeks which could become vitally important).  Detroit has two more games in hand than the Leafs and the Rangers have another two points in the bank.  Of course the picture could change more by Thursday, since the Devils have three days off before the final push.  And out-of-town help only is going to do so much, the Devils themselves have to go on a massive streak starting now.  Minimum they need to win eight of their final ten and even that might not be enough, but the Devils only play two playoff teams in that stretch so it’s still there for them if they can just maintain some consistency.