(Best E Casino) - It shouldn't come as a surprise that the
New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs again, after all this is their 11th straight trip to the postseason.
Surprisingly, the Devils have had quite a few coaches in their postseason streak and this year Jersey had another new face behind the bench as Brent Sutter took his first NHL head coaching job.
Sutter and the Devils survived a 7-10-2 start to the season and fought for the Atlantic Division title for quite some time before falling short in the final weeks of the season.
While the coaches may come and go in New Jersey, goaltender Martin Brodeur is as reliable as the tide.
Brodeur extended his NHL record by notching 30 wins for the 12th straight year and his 43 victories this season allowed him to pass that plateau for the seventh time in his Hall-of-Fame career. He also posted a sparkling 2.18 goals-against average and .920 save percentage while playing in 76 games. Brodeur could be in line for his fourth Vezina Trophy, which is awarded annually to the league's best goaltender.
The 35-year-old's presence on New Jersey's roster seems to be enough to get the Devils into the postseason every year. In addition to securing their 11th straight trip to the playoffs, the Devils have actually made the postseason in 13 of Brodeur's 14 years as the team's primary goaltender.
Brodeur obviously brings a great deal of experience come playoff time. He has three Stanley Cup titles to his credit and is the active leader in playoff wins (94) and games played (164). Brodeur has 22 career shutouts in the postseason and needs just one more to tie Patrick Roy for the all-time playoff mark.
The Devils rely on a balanced scoring attack, but young winger Zach Parise is the team's primary offensive weapon. The 23-year-old Minnesotan has notched back-to-back 30-goal campaigns and set career-highs this year in goals (32) and assists (33).
In 20 career playoff contests, Parise has notched eight goals and five assists.
New Jersey has four players with 20 goals or more and eight skaters with 10 or more tallies. Brian Gionta was second on the team with 22 goals, while Patrik Elias was second to Parise in points with 55 (20 goals, 35 assists).
Centerman John Madden, former winner of the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward, is an excellent two-way performer and had 20 goals and 23 assists this season.
The Devils lost their top defenseman in the offseason as Brian Rafalski signed with Detroit, but Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya have done a solid job of replacing the departed blueliner. Martin led all Jersey defensemen with 32 points (5g, 27a) and Oduya is next with six goals and 20 assists.
However, the Devils' power play has suffered in the year following Rafalski's exit. Jersey was 15th in the league and scored on 17.7-percent of its opportunities with the man advantage in 2006-07. This year, the Devils scored on 15.6-percent of their power plays and were ranked 25th in the NHL.
NEW YORK RANGERS (5th seed, East)
REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 42-27-13
2007 PLAYOFFS: Defeated Atlanta 4-0 in conference quarterfinals; lost 4-2 to Buffalo in conference semifinals
(Best E Casino) - The New York Rangers went out this past offseason with a plan to improve their team and wound up landing some top-notch, and high- priced, talent.
The idea was to gear up for a run at the Stanley Cup and we are about to find out just how well the moves will pay off in this year's postseason.
The Rangers were the sixth seed and had 94 points a year ago and this year New York is the fifth seed with 97 points. Not a great deal of improvement there, but the Blueshirts did play much better in the second half of the season than in the first.
New York landed their prized free-agent acquisitions on July 1, as the club signed Chris Drury away from Buffalo and pried Scott Gomez away from the rival Devils. Drury was signed to a five-year, $35 million deal, while Gomez inked a seven-year, $51 million contract.
Both centermen started the season slowly, but gradually picked up the pace. Gomez finished first on the team in assists (54) and second in points, while Drury was tied for the club with 25 goals and third with 58 points.
Between the two of them, Gomez and Drury have won three Stanley Cup titles and played in 211 playoff games.
Jaromir Jagr also had a slow start to the season, but wound up as the Rangers leading scorer with 71 points (25g, 46a). Jagr reached the 20-goal plateau for the 17th straight season and notched 70 points for the 15th year in a row.
Jagr is tied for second among active players with 166 playoff points in 159 games. The Czech superstar also has two Stanley Cup titles, but hasn't won a championship since 1992 while playing with the Penguins.
In addition to Jagr, the Rangers have another future Hall-of-Famer on their roster in power forward Brendan Shanahan. The 39-year-old notched 23 goals and 23 assists in 73 games this year and has 650 tallies over his 19-year career.
One of New York's biggest assets, especially in the postseason format, is goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The 26-year-old Swede was a workhorse for the Rangers this year, playing in 72 games and posting a 37-24-10 record. He had a 2.23 GAA, .912 save percentage and led the league with 10 shutouts.
Lundqvist has a 6-7 record in just 13 career playoff games, but did backstop Sweden to a Gold Medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Michal Rozsival was the top defenseman for the Rangers this season, as he quarterbacked the power play and led all New York rearguards with 38 points (13g, 25a). Daniel Girardi and Fedor Tyutin added 28 and 20 points, respectively, from the blueline.
Any summary of the Rangers' strengths would be lacking if forward Sean Avery wasn't mentioned. Avery, who had 33 points (15g, 18a) in 57 games, is a jack of all trades for New York, as he brings energy, physical play and the odd clutch goal to the ice.
MATCHUP
The season series between the Rangers and Devils this year went heavily in New York's favor, as the Blueshirts went 7-0-1 against New Jersey. The lone setback came on the final day of the season when the Devils posted a shootout victory.
Yet, every game the Devils and Rangers played this year was a close affair. In fact, five of the eight meetings were decided by just one goal and none of New York's victories were by more than two goals.
This should feature more of those tightly-played contests as both teams were more adept at stopping pucks than putting them in the net this season. The Rangers were 25th in the league with 2.50 goals scored per game and fourth with an average of 2.32 goals surrendered. Likewise, New Jersey was fifth with 2.35 goals allowed per contest and 27th with an average of 2.42 goals per game.
The Rangers have won three of the four all-time playoff series against New Jersey, but the Devils swept New York in four games during the last meeting two years ago in the conference quarterfinals.
The defensive nature of both of these teams give New Jersey the advantage in this series, as the Devils have been playing stingy hockey better than any team in the NHL during the Brodeur era.
Best E Casino predicted outcome: Devils in 7
