As a Devils fan, I've become accustomed to great defense and goaltending, with some good offense here and there. This is the first season in a long, LONG time that it's been pretty much over by the 30th game of the season. By game 41, they were 10-29-2, only 22 points putting them dead last in the entire league. I mean, for fuck's sake, the ISLANDERS are ahead of them. The New York fucking Islanders I said.
Now we Devils fans aren't used to this at all. Not since the early years of the team did they do this bad. Since their first playoff appearance in 1988, they've only missed the playoffs twice. 1989 and 1996. They made it all the way to game 7 of the Conference Finals in 88, one win away from a date with the Oilers in the finals. In 1994, same thing. 1 win away from the Finals, until a bad defensive play by led to a seemingly harmless wraparound that still lives in infamy. The following season, redemption. A 2nd round exit to the Rangers again in 1997 led to 3 straight season of great regular seasons with disappointing post season exits. 2000 was the start of some phenomenal post seasons. The 3-1 come from behind ECF win over the Flyers followed by the Double OT Cup Winner in Dallas. The return trip vs Colorado in 2001, a first round exit in 2002, and another Stanley Cup win in 2003. 2004 was a first round exit, lockout in 2005. 2006 saw the Devils ride an 11 game winning streak into the post season where they then SWEPT Lundqvist and the Rangers out of the first round. They got their ass handed to them by Carolina (again) in the 2nd round. Came back in 2007 to beat Montreal in the first round, only to lose to Ottawa in the 2nd. 2008 was their first season in Newark, where they have yet to win a playoff series. 5 games and out to the Rangers in 2008, a 7th game shocker loss to the Canes (Again with the fucking Hurricanes) in 2009 and an EMBARRASSING loss to the Flyers in 2010.
Now we stand at the half-way point of the season They've actually been on a pretty good run going 6-1-1 in that span. Marty added another shutout to his record total and both he and Johan Hedberg have played well. They're 22 points behind Atlanta for 8th with 3 games in hand. In their next 10 games, they play 9 times against teams ahead of them. (NYR-2, CAR-3,FLA,OTT,MTL,TOR) and one against San Jose. Their is pretty much no way in hell they'll make the playoffs this season. It would take a run of monumental proportions. They need at least 90 points which leaves them with only about 5 or 6 losses to spare.
The first 10 (11) game span of the 2nd half is off to a good start. 6-1-1. If we break down the 2nd half into 4 10-game stretches, and look for records of let's say, 7-2-1, 8-1-1, 8-2-0 and maybe that last 10 games gives them a shot. They have to beat all the teams ahead of them to get there, and would need help along the way. I was actually hoping the Rangers would beat Florida last week, but nope.
So, I'm not getting my hopes up, but it will be interesting to watch. If anything, the least they could do is make things harder for the Rangers.
And to the Ranger fans out there who like to dig the knife in a little deeper, don't bother. I've already made my peace with this season. only the 3rd missed playoffs in 23 years. As opposed to the Rangers missing half of the last 20-something post seasons and our 3 Stanley Cups in that time to their 1.
This is hardly a season to remember, but not one to forget because the team needs to learn from their mistakes.
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