Devils team reminds Rangers of themselves as playoff series nears
New York Rangers' Adam Fox breaks up a shot by New Jersey Devils' Tomas Tatar on March 30, 2023, at the Prudential Center. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
Despite how the standings tightened up at the end of the season, creating the possibilities that things could turn out differently, it is, in fact, the Devils who will face the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs Tuesday night. And really, it is a matchup that comes as no surprise.
“We’ve been expecting to play them for a little bit now,’’ defenseman Adam Fox said after the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to Toronto in Thursday’s regular-season finale. “They’re a fast young team and I think we learned last year that it hits you pretty quick at the start. Take your foot off the gas [and] you’ll be down in a series really quickly. Obviously, it’s nice to get into some playoff hockey. I think we’ve been waiting for it for a little bit now.”
It will be the first playoff matchup between the teams since the 2012 Eastern Conference final, when Adam Henrique’s overtime shot beat Hendrik Lundqvist in Game 6 in Newark and propelled the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final. The excitement among the fans undoubtedly will lift the level of play to even greater heights than a normal first-round playoff series.
“I think the crowd and the history with the fans and everything . . . that adds to it,’’ center Mika Zibanejad said. “We had some tough games against them [in the regular season]. Yeah, it’s going to be exciting.’’
The Devils were one of the NHL’s surprise teams this season, exploding out of a decade-long rebuild to finish second in the Metropolitan Division and third overall in the NHL with a 52-22-8 record (112 points). They won three of four meetings against the Rangers (47-22-13), who finished with 107 points.
Led by former Rangers assistant coach Lindy Ruff and 21-year-old Jack Hughes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft — who broke the franchise record for points in a season with 99 (43 goals, 56 assists) — the Devils are one of the fastest teams in the league. They can be deadly in forcing turnovers and converting them into goals. Their 291 goals were third-most in the league behind Edmonton and Boston.
“They’re a talented team,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “They can score goals.’’
“They’re a fast team. They play fast,’’ Zibanejad said. “They punish you when you make mistakes in the neutral zone. I think we’ve talked about that after every single game we played against them . . . We’ve got to match that energy.”
The Devils are inexperienced as far as playoff hockey, though. Since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, they have played in only one playoff series, a five-game loss to the Lightning in 2018.
However, playoff inexperience didn’t prevent the Rangers from reaching the Eastern Conference final last season, as they emerged from their own rebuild. And Fox said in that way, the Rangers see plenty of similarities between the Devils and themselves a year ago.
“Definitely,’’ he said. “I think they’ve got some great young players [and] they added some veteran pieces, guys who have Stanley Cup pedigree. And they’re a fast team. They come at you in waves and . . . if you’re on your heels, they’ll make you pay. So yeah, they definitely remind us of us a little bit.”
RANGERS VS. DEVILS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE SO FAR
Tuesday, April 18: Rangers at Devils
Thursday, April 20: Rangers at Devils
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
