The Devils will be big fans of Tyler Seguin and the Stars tonight. They’ll also root for the Pens hoping to stay alive.
dfw.cbslocal.com
It’s come down to this. With three games remaining, the Devils need a lot of help to stay alive for the wild card. Off until tomorrow when they visit Ottawa, they’ll be scoreboard watching tonight. The Devils will become huge fans of Pittsburgh and Dallas. Without both preventing Detroit and Columbus from winning, they’ll be eliminated.
Such a dicey scenario became reality when they were shutout by Calgary on Monday. Karri Ramo broke New Jersey hearts with 31 saves. The difference was a Mark Giordano power play goal 23 seconds into the third period. With Cory Schneider on the bench for an extra attacker, they fell just short of tying it in the waning seconds. Jaromir Jagr’s wrap try missed the stick of Tuomo Ruutu.
That left them with 84 points praying for help. It didn’t come yesterday with the Blue Jackets and Red Wings each prevailing to pull closer to qualifying for the postseason. When Columbus visits Dallas, it will be the continuation of a game they led 1-0. Play was halted due to Rich Peverley’s medical condition. A scary situation that sent chills throughout the hockey world. Fortunately, his life was saved. When the game continues, the Blue Jackets will take a 1-0 lead into a full 60-minute contest which means plenty for both sides. The Stars are two points up on Phoenix for the last spot out West. Columbus has 89 points. Two more would seal the franchise’s second playoff berth.
The Red Wings will visit the Penguins on Rivalry Night. Pittsburgh got some great news. Defenseman Kris Letang will return after missing 10 weeks with a stroke. Another scary moment which left uncertainty surrounding his future. That he’s able to come back is miraculous. The Pens are getting healthier. With Paul Martin having recently returned, they’ll also have Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz back. Detroit enters off a 4-2 win over Buffalo. With 90 points, the Red Wings are locked into the first wild card a point up on Columbus. One point is all they need to guarantee a 23rd straight postseason. It would continue the longest active streak in the four major sports.
It will be easy rooting for the Devils Army. Once 8 EST hits, they’ll be forced to root for the Pens. I don’t think I could actually do that. It’s a good thing my team isn’t involved. I can only imagine how Hasan feels. At least when 8:30 hits, they’ll be able to cheer for the Stars. Dallas and Phoenix each have three games left. A Stars win would put them four up. They also own the first tiebreaker with five more regulation/overtime wins (ROW) totaling 35 to the Coyotes’ 30. Two more points would put a lot of pressure on Phoenix tomorrow in Nashville. Ironically, the two teams will face each other on the final day this weekend.
Regarding the Eastern wild card race, there is one other team who has a rooting interest. With a 4-1 win over St. Louis last night highlighted by Alex Ovechkin’s league-leading 50th, the Capitals kept alive their slim playoff hopes. With 85 points and only 26 ROW, their only chance is to run the table and get help. The Caps visit Carolina tomorrow and host Chicago and Tampa Friday and Sunday. Obviously, they need a Dallas win over Columbus. If the Blue Jackets lose, that would keep both the Caps and Devils alive for another day. Columbus finishes at Tampa and Florida this weekend.
We’ll know for sure around 11 tonight.
hasan4978
Derek
Battle Of Hudson 
Since Pittsburgh is already locked into the #2 seed anyway rooting for them doesn’t affect me at all at this point. I’ll probably do something later on the team awards, better than talking about the team’s faint chances at this point or Monday’s disaster of a game. It’s not so much about one game at a time for me – more like one day at a time. Stay alive through tomorrow (either CBJ or Detroit losing, obviously both would be preferable). Then it’s on us tomorrow, win and stay alive till Friday. Then at least Game #81 becomes meaningful and we’ll see what happens then…but yeah I don’t see it happening. Columbus is young and hungry and Detroit, god you can’t help but admire them. No Datsyuk/Zett/Franzen for long stretches this year and they still find a way in.
I’ll say this much…it took a more ridiculous scenario than this for me to make the fantasy football playoffs this year in NJDevs – at 4-7 I needed to run the table and have three teams lose their final two games (helped I was playing two of them but still). All lost out and I not only made the playoffs at 6-7 but won the whole thing 😛 Made up for my 10-3 years of getting bounced in the first round lol
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It didn’t happen. I kinda figured it wouldn’t. The Jackets were and are a very hungry team who proved me wrong. My worst pick was the Caps who I was foolish enough to take to the Cup Final. Thinking maybe it’d finally click. Instead, they went belly up and probably will get both McPhee and Oates axed. Between that and Ovechkin’s -3000 which will contribute to me finishing just outside the top 3 in my league, eek. I also banked on crappy goaltending. Jimmy Howard didn’t deliver and wasn’t even in for Detroit tonight. Josh Harding’s injury killed my team. And Sambone traded me Hiller who morphed into a sieve. Turned a once strength into a weakness. Maybe we should go to head to head over rotisserie. 😛
On Brodeur’s comments, he’s right. Granted. He played way too much and hurt the Devils chances. But they have settled for mediocrity. From the Devils twitter feed to the organization, it’s actually become more about positive spin and fan friendly atmosphere. While the latter can be praised, the diehard wants to win. What you’re seeing on njdevs is some of our old characters pinning the blame on one player. A guy who won 3 Cups. This isn’t much different from what happened with Messier his second stint here. Marty is part of the issue but it’s much bigger. The real blame goes to the organization which means Lamoriello. It’s been terribly mismanaged. The stuff with your draft picks/prospects has gone on for a while. At some point, you have to develop properly. Adam Henrique is the one kid they got and Merrill is solid but needs more time. What happened to Larsson never should have. I’m not sure he can be saved. Gelinas has great offensive instincts which will keep him around. Hopefully, he doesn’t turn into Del Zotto. Stefan Matteau is another question mark. I guess it all depends what they decide in the offseason. Jagr is UFA. Does he come back or leave? He can still play. I don’t buy what Msweet said about him being worn out. He was still their best player and had the same chances. Just didn’t bury them. Zajac picked it up too late.
I also don’t buy into Tri’s assertion that if Schneider started all 82, they would’ve had x amount of points. Cory has never been a full time starter. For better or worse, he finally will get that opportunity this Fall. You still will need a solid backup. Not sure if they think Kincaid is ready or bring in a vet.
As you know, it’s never easy missing the playoffs. It sucks. The best thing to do is just take advantage of the weather. You’re a great fan. Sorry it ended that way.
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