In early November, the New Jersey Devils faced their Atlantic Division opponents in nine consecutive games.  They went 4-1 against Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but 0-3-1 against the New York Rangers and Islanders.  In fact, the Devils have yet to defeat their New York rivals thus far.  They are 0-3-1 vs. Islanders and 0-2-2 vs. Rangers this season.  The last time New Jersey went winless against the Rangers in the regular season was the 0-6 campaign in 1994, which included a memorable Eastern Conference Final series that went the distance (Rangers came back from 3-2 deficit, on 4-3, and then secured the Stanley Cup Finals over Vancouver in game seven).

Last season, Martin Brodeur was a combined 11-3-1 against the Rangers and Isles and 12-3-1 versus the Penguins and Flyers.  Of course, every team has added and lost players via free agency.  The Devils were eliminated in the second round by Ottawa, and then were hit with the injury bug in the offseason (White, Langenbrunner required offseason rehabilitation).  The Flyers hit rock bottom in 2006-7 finishing with a franchise-low 56 points, before rebuilding with several acquisitions, including goaltender Martin Biron from Buffalo and the signing of Buffalo’s co-captain Daniel Briere to an 8-year, $52 million contract, among other transactions. 

Free agent high-profiled centers Chris Drury and Scott Gomez departed the Sabres and Devils for the spotlight in New York City.  They signed with the Rangers, who easily outmatched competition with enormous contracts.  Gomez received a seven-year, $51.5 million contract and Drury, a five-year deal worth $32.25 million.

The Islanders were no strangers to the market as well.  They added six new players and let six former Isles exit Long Island with no hugs or kisses.  The most important of which was Bill Guerin’s two-year deal and their new captain.  These are just some of the points that have made all Atlantic Division organizations successful thus far.

Tri-state (Pennsylvania replaced Connecticut)

New Jersey: 6-7-3

NY Rangers: 10-4-0

Pittsburgh: 4-10-1

Philadelphia: 6-4-1

NY Islanders: 9-5-0

Although the Isles have succeeded against their division foes, they have been stumped by a poor road record (6-9-1) and an average defense in front of goaltender Rick DiPietro.  Yet, their 19-16-2 record places them in a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.  What you might now know is that they are the fifth and final Atlantic team that would qualify the playoffs, if it started today on New Year’s Eve.  Furthermore, all five teams have at least 19 wins, making the Atlantic the most balanced division in hockey from top to bottom.  They are the one of two divisions with three 20-win teams thus far, the other division being the Northwest.  If not for Edmonton, which has 37 points, the Northwest has four teams currently play-off bound.  Truthfully, the Oilers were amazing in the late 70s and 80s with Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, but have since fallen off the map, other than a rare trip to the finals in the 05-06 seasons, which ended with a game-seven loss.

The Devils, Rangers, and Islanders have relied on exceptional goaltending, while the Penguins have placed the reigns in 20-year-old Sidney Crosby and 21-year-old Evgeni Malkin.  Both have been nothing short of spectacular.  Crosby has already locked up Hart Trophy, Art Ross, and Lester B. Pearson Award, while Malkin earned the Calder Memorial Trophy award, following in the footsteps of Drury, Gomez, and Alexander Ovechkin.  Crosby leads the league with 36 assists and his 52 points is good for a three-way tie for third place.  In his sophomore year, Malkin continues to impress with 15 goals and 26 assists in 38 games.  An excellent skater, he has accounted for 17 points on the power play.

Whereas the Devils may win through strong defensive effort and Brodeur between the pipes, the Flyers will beat you with scoring.  They are the third most efficient team in the league on the man advantage. They have scored 42 power play goals en route to a 115 (5^th) on the season.  They co-own the league’s best shooting percentage with Dallas at 11.6 percent.  Ironically, they have only taken 991 shots on goal, the fifth-lowest amount.  Mike Richards and Briere are among their 11 North-American-born forwards and lead the team in scoring.  Briere is shooting a whopping 19 percent, 11^th among skaters with at least ten goals.  In his 21:51 of average ice time, Richards, who recently signed a lifetime pact with the Flyers at 12-year contract extension worth $69 million, leads the team with 43 points, four more than Briere.  The Devils, on the other hand, do not have a forward other than John Madden averaging more than 19:28 per game.  Briere, Richards, Crosby, Malkin all lead Devils, Rangers, and Islanders’ forwards with more offensive scoring.

However, the Devils do not allow many goals, especially with Brodeur in net.  They sit in sixth place behind the Rangers for goals allowed and goals allowed per game.  In terms of shooting average, the Devils have permitted on average 26.7 shots, whereas the Rangers have faced 26.2 on average, both numbers in the top 10.

When you have a 13-year veteran Hall-of-Fame-bound netminder like Martin Brodeur, the Devils players can make mistakes in front of their own net knowing that he is there to rescue them.  That is when they do error, which is highly unlikely with two of the best defensive forwards in the league.  John Madden and Jay Pandolfo, who has been out the last month with a groin injury, have slowed down high-powered offenses, turning them into Cecil Fielder speed around the base paths, for years now.  They have frustrated Jaromir Jagr, Crosby, Ovechkin, and everyone assigned to them.

Devils head coach Brent Sutter knows this, but is still worried about his inefficient offense, especially the power play units.  They have been unable to produce on the man advantage the entire season with consistency.  Ironically, when the Devils score at least one power play goal, they are 13-2. When they tally three goals or more, they are 19-0-1.  And who said defense wins championships?  Well, I still believe in the Jacque Lemaire “neutral zone trap” every day of the week.  It has certainly worked for the Devils, who have, not only, won the Cup with Lemaire at the helm, but have since danced with Lord Stanley’s most prized possession on two more occasions.

Then again, do not discredit their scoring abilities.  Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias, and Petr Sykora formed one of the most dominant and dynamic scoring lines.  We all remember Elias’ assist on Arnott’s cup-clinching goal over Dallas in the 1999-00 Stanley Cup Finals.

The following season, they combined to score 232 regular season points en route to another trip to the finals.  However, Colorado replicated the Rangers’ success in coming back from a 3-2 deficit to win in seven games.  That might have been the worst feeling I have experienced, other than watching the NY Mets tumble this past September, in one of the biggest collapses in sports history.

I will never forget play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne calling up Ray Bourque to receive the Cup after 22 years of playing.

Unfortunately, the A-line was short-lived; Arnott and Sykora were eventually traded to Dallas and Anaheim respectively.  Elias is the only member of that A-line to remain in New Jersey. 

Without his former linemates, the Devils managed to win yet their third Stanley Cup in 2003, behind the EGG line of Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta and the superb play of Brodeur.

This season, the Devils left Continental Airlines Arena for the Prudential Center.  They played their first game at the Rock on Oct. 27th, a 4-1 loss to Ottawa.

They have managed to remain in first place in the Atlantic and second behind Ottawa without Gomez, who left New Jersey for the archrival Rangers.  This had definitely led to decreased offensive production by both Elias and Gionta.

Nevertheless, they have Brodeur, the second winningest goalie in NHL history, through the 2011-12 season, essentially until he retires.  Brodeur, who earned win No. 500 earlier this season over Philadelphia, is on pace to break Patrick Roy’s career record for wins (551), Terry Sawchuk’s record for career shutouts (103), assuming he stays healthy.

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