“It’s pretty amazing when you look at the number of years between the two series. A lot of things have changed since 1994. I think it’s going to be pretty chaotic at times. For the guys, I think they have to enjoy the moment. It’s a great time in their lives, and you never know when you’re going to get another chance. Playing against our biggest rival just puts the cherry on top of things. There’s a lot of excitement.”
—Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils (1991–)
Martin Brodeur was dead on during our interview on May 13, 2012, just as he has been throughout a 19-year career spent chaperoning a six-foot-wide, four-foot-high contraption of red steel. He had to be. His underrated, underappreciated group of New Jersey Devils had unceremoniously landed a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals, and all the talk—surprise, surprise—was about their opponent in that upcoming series.
Yep, you guessed it.
The New York Rangers.
“It’s different years, different teams, different results,” Brodeur said. “You can look at the matchups we’ve had in the past, but there aren’t many guys who have been here when we played them. It’s new, and it should be motivation for them. I think we can expect more of the same excitement.”
Indeed, as the 2011–12 Devils—seeded No. 6, without home-ice advantage, and not given much of a chance to accomplish anything beyond making a brief postseason appearance—dispatched the No. 3 Florida Panthers and No. 5 Philadelphia Flyers in 12 games to return to the third round for the first time since 2003, a buzz was building across the metropolitan area. A certain similarity, let’s say, to a postseason gone by, some 18 years ago, in which both the Devils and Rangers captured some hearts and broke some others.
It couldn’t happen again…could it? The Battle on the Hudson, Part II?
Sure, New York was the No. 1 seed in the East, a seemingly clutch collection of youth, experience, perseverance, and pride, anchored by superstar goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and gritty coach John Tortorella. But the Rangers struggled as the playoffs’ top dog. New York actually trailed the No. 8 Ottawa Senators 3–2 in the first round before the Rangers rallied and advanced. In the second round, the No. 7 Washington Capitals had them all but beat in Game 5 of their 2–2 series, but New York rescued itself with two power-play goals—one late in the third and the other early in overtime—to escape with a 3–2 win. They eventually took the series in seven games.
So, though there was no Mark Messier up front and no Brian Leetch on the back line, it still seemed destiny was on the Rangers’ side again.
“I know where you’re going with this, but it doesn’t matter to us,” New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus said as the driven Devils awaited their opponent in the semifinals. “We have to worry about the things we need to do, the things we can control.”
And so they did. New Jersey, which clinched the Philadelphia series with a 3–1 win in Game 5 on May 8, sat back, relaxed, waited, and watched as the desperate Rangers fought back and finally eliminated the Capitals with a 2–1 victory on May 12. Just as the calm, cool, collected, confident Rangers had been back in 1994, the Devils sat on their couches, waiting on their opponent. Eighteen years ago, the skate was on the other foot, as the Rangers advanced through two rounds by playing just one game over the minimum.
This time around? Different story. When the Rangers finally caught their breath from the Washington series, they had less than 48 hours to prepare for the rested Devils in Game 1. They didn’t have time to read about the hype, much less contribute to it.
But no matter. The media did plenty of that for them.
“You guys are going to make your stories about the Devils and the Rangers,” Tortorella said. “Go ahead, I know you will for the next two weeks. I get it. But don’t include me in it. I’ve got a series to coach.”
Tortorella, a fiery leader who wasn’t afraid to rush to the defense of his team, refused to play the media’s games. He didn’t care if he was facing the Devils. He didn’t care that more people were interested in his team because they were playing the Devils and not someone else. And he certainly didn’t care about 1994.
“We’re just going to go about our business and get ready for that team,” he said. “I can only speak for our team, but that’s how we’re going to approach that series.”
On May 14, 2012, with the ghosts of 1994 swirling around the newly refurbished Madison Square Garden, the new Rangers went to work and made their coach proud.
Defenseman Dan Girardi and forwards Chris Kreider and Artem Anisimov scored goals, and Lundqvist, seemingly on a mission to capture the Cup and add to a sterling career as New York’s backstop, made 21 saves en route to a clean 3–0 victory over the Devils. Maybe this wasn’t 1994, after all. Back then, New Jersey seized on a surprisingly nervous New York team in the same building, and the Devils escaped with a 4–3 Game 1 overtime victory. But in 2012, the Rangers meant business in the opener, blocking 26 shots and doling out 35 hits.
“We know that’s happening,” Devils captain Zach Parise said. “That’s the way they play.”
And they did it well. Brodeur, who turned 40 years old during the previous series and was the only remaining player from the 1994 series on either team, made 25 saves. But he looked pedestrian in the third period, when he allowed two goals before Anisimov buried an empty-netter to seal the victory.
The Garden crowd, still supercharged from the Game 7 win over Washington, was in prime form, especially late in the third. The derogatory “Mar-ty, Mar-ty” chants grew in vim, vigor, and volume as the Rangers fans’ sense of seniority blossomed again. Though many of the fans were too young to remember the roller-coaster ride of 1994, they knew that their team was the Rangers, and the other guys weren’t. Same old story.
The team was confident, too. In fact, after New Jersey forward David Clarkson evened the series with the winner in a 3–2 Devils victory in Game 2 on May 16, the Rangers got right back to it in Newark, New Jersey—and in the new home of the Devils, the Prudential Center—by blanking New Jersey 3–0. In a vintage Lundqvist outing, the All-Star goaltender made 36 saves and allowed those boastful New York fans to raise their voices once again. Brodeur had to endure the “Mar-ty, Mar-ty” chants in his own building this time; the Rangers fans eventually gave him a break so that they could support their own netminder with a “Hen-rik, Hen-rik” serenade.
“Their goalie,” Devils coach Peter DeBoer said in the postgame press conference, “was the difference.”
He was right, of course. And despite the “here we go again” sentiment that was rampant in New Jersey, DeBoer, in his first year with the Devils, remained confident and calm. Those were the kind of traits he exhibited throughout the entire regular season. Given an unlikely opportunity to lead one of the league’s most successful organizations over the last 20 years, DeBoer, who failed to make the postseason with Florida the previous three seasons, brought an aggressive, attacking, forecheck-heavy approach to the Devils, who were desperate for a culture change. After all, New Jersey had been dreadful in 2010–11, going through two coaches and failing to make the postseason for the first time since 1996. The team finished with 81 points, good for fourth in the Atlantic Division, and anyone who knew longtime general manager Lou Lamoriello knew that wasn’t good enough.
Forget the neutral-zone trap. The Devils needed offense…and then some.
“A change was needed,” Lamoriello said. “And I felt that in the conversations we had—because of the questions that were asked—the answers that were given were open, down-to-earth, and honest.”
So, he hired DeBoer on July 19, 2011, to the surprise of many. But what does Lamoriello ever do that’s expected, right? He trusted DeBoer and his beliefs, and so did the players.
“We were honest with him,” forward Patrik Elias said. “When camp opened, he spoke to a few of us, and asked how we wanted to play. And we told him.”
Next thing you know, New Jersey posted 102 points and snagged the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference.
“Honored,” DeBoer said, reflecting on the job that was offered to him after a four-hour interview with Lamoriello across a hotel table. “I mean, I was out of work last June. And July, I got a call from a Hall of Fame general manager who recognized some of the work I had done in Florida, and gave me a chance to work with a group of guys that have a great blend of veteran presence. They know how to win, and they had a lot of great young players coming through. So, I’m fortunate to be sitting here. It could have been a number of different candidates that he talked to, and I’m thankful that I got the opportunity.”
The Devils posted 228 goals in the regular season, and attacked all comers. Three forwards—Ilya Kovalchuk (37), Parise (31), and Clarkson (30)—reached 30 goals along the way, and with Brodeur and backup Johan Hedberg on the other end of the ice, the Devils indeed were the Devils again.
“And they did so by flying under the radar, pretty much all season,” Devils radio voice Matt Laughlin said.
But in the end, would they be the same old Devils again? That was the big question once the Rangers showed up on the docket. Stanley Cups aside, New Jersey still needed to defeat its nemesis in a meaningful series to ever rid itself of the nightmare that was 1994. The 2012 series was the sixth time these two teams had faced off in a postseason across New Jersey’s 30-year history—and the Rangers had won four of the first five meetings. Even the one the Devils did win—a first-round sweep in 2006—ended up hollow, as they were eliminated in the next round by the faceless Carolina Hurricanes.
Another opportunity was right in front of them, though, and DeBoer knew it. The Devils only trailed 2–1, and they were playing well within their system. They needed more shots, they needed more traffic in front of Lundqvist, and they needed to keep their composure. But he knew they could it.
And in Game 4, they began to prove him right.
On May 21, Parise scored twice and the gates finally opened on Lundqvist. A 4–1 New Jersey win tied the series at 2–2 and infuriated the Rangers, who were outplayed in every aspect. Brodeur made 28 saves and defenseman Bryce Salvador had two points, but the focus after this one was on the rattled Rangers. The East’s top team did not like getting pushed around and lost its composure. In fact, forward Mike Rupp, a former Devil, threw a left hand at Brodeur after a whistle that landed around the goaltender’s neck and set off total chaos. Arguments broke out on the ice, and a few more were evident in the stands. But the biggest one was between the benches.
DeBoer, incensed that someone would go after his Hall of Fame goaltender after play was stopped, called out to Tortorella and eventually walked down to the end of the New Jersey bench. Tortorella and DeBoer, some six feet away from each other and separated only by the broadcasters’ box, pointed and screamed at each other for a whole nation to see.
It was classic, old-time hockey, and a moment befit of this rivalry. In fact, as the melees ensued, Mark Everson, the veteran hockey writer for the New York Post, turned to me in the Prudential Center press box and asked, “You’ll be putting this in your book, eh?”
Eh.
“This isn’t about John and I,” DeBoer said in the postgame interview. “This is about the guys on the ice. So, I don’t have anything to say about that.”
He didn’t need to. His team had played with fire and passion. A corner, indeed, was turned in Game 4, whether he wanted to talk about it or not.
The Devils never looked back, and though the media tried to resurrect the ghosts of Messier, Mike Richter, and Stephane Matteau, none of that mattered to New Jersey. The only similarity that remained once the round was knotted at 2–2 was that an extra off day in the series allowed the ensuing games to be played on the exact same days as those games were in 1994. For example, Game 5—a 5–3 road win for the Devils that pushed the inconsistent Rangers to the brink of elimination for the fourth time this postseason—was played on May 23, exactly 18 years after Devils forward Bernie Nicholls scored twice in a 4–1 New Jersey victory at the Garden in that Game 5.
Which meant, of course, that May 24 was the 18-year anniversary of The Guarantee—do you think that was played up a bit in New York? But the new Rangers captain wouldn’t bite this time. In fact, forward Ryan Callahan shook his head and laughed at his locker stall when asked if he’d offer up any assurances of a win in Game 6, as Messier once did.
That was a good thing for Callahan, because he would have been wrong. Though the Rangers battled back from a two-goal deficit and controlled play for a portion of the third period in Newark, they could not stop the Devils train that started rolling back in Game 4. New Jersey won the battles in the corners, Brodeur made 33 saves, Kovalchuk scored his seventh of the postseason, and Adam Henrique, a rookie forward who was four years old when Matteau etched his name in hockey history, did the same:
And Kovalchuk, a shot that’s carefully played by Lundqvist. Now, [Alexei] Ponikarovsky with it, threw one in front that’s blocked there. Scramble in front, they poke away at it. Still it’s loose. Poked at by Kovalchuk…they score! Henrique! It’s over!
Those were the frantic, furious words of Mike Emrick, a former Devils television play-by-play man who left the team to take a shorter, national schedule with NBC Sports in 2011. A man the Devils honored with his own ceremonious night prior to a 2–1 loss to Vancouver on February 24 was able to call perhaps his former franchise’s most important victory against its most hated rival.
Henrique’s winner just 1:03 into overtime gave New Jersey a 3–2 win in Game 6, a series win over its more glamorous opponent, and its fifth conference title. A heartbreak 18 years running—a black cloud that hovered over this proud organization for 6,568 days—blew away on this Friday night, just 10.2 miles away from the Meadowlands Arena, where Messier delivered on his guarantee, scored a hat trick, and kept the Rangers alive in The NHL’s Greatest Series Ever.
On this night, though, the Devils exacted their revenge, and it will never seem too late to the loyal fans in that building. Those who stomached the taunts from Rangers fans at the water cooler, at the bus stop, at recess. Those who would walk into rooms sometimes, only to be greeted by chants of “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” Those who faced the taunts from the bullies on Broadway who never seemed that impressed with New Jersey’s three Cups, because when it counted, the Devils couldn’t beat the Rangers.
Until now.
Brodeur, just 22 when his team lost in 1994, diluted perhaps the blackest mark on his stellar career—the Matteau wraparound winner—by winning three straight in this rematch. Of course, he was on the other end of the ice when the Henrique goal went in, so it took the veteran a while to reach his teammates. But what an enjoyable skate it must have been, as he pumped his stick, looked straight into the stands, and held up his arms.
“I don’t think you can put into words just how much this win means to this organization,” said longtime New Jersey analyst Glenn “Chico” Resch, an original Devil and the franchise’s first goaltender.
The Rangers were left dumbfounded. As the Devils’ celebration gathered to Lundqvist’s left, all he could do was look up at the scoreboard, as his defenseman laid on the ice in disappointment.
“It is shocking,” Lundqvist would say later at his locker.
There may well be better days ahead for these Rangers. Loaded with young talent that general manager Glen Sather has acquired and Tortorella has cultivated, the optimism in New York after the series ended was not unlike the feeling Brodeur and the Devils had in 1994. In the NHL, sometimes you have to lose before you can win.
“I think I grew from that [1994] series. Sure, it hurt, no question. It affected me and changed me,” Brodeur said. “But if I didn’t have that loss, I might not have been the same goalie. Not just me, the whole organization.”
The Rangers and Lundqvist may be saying that soon enough. But without question, the stunning loss resonated within this proud Original Six organization.
“It’s tough enough to go to bed at night and get up the next morning. You’ve got to adjust,” Sather said at the NHL’s general managers meetings a week after the elimination. “It’s like having a death in the family.”
Well, if it was a death on one side, it was clearly a birth on the other. Make no mistake: the 2012 chapter in this never-ending story belonged to the Devils, who advanced to face the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals.
“There is only one man in this world who wants to beat the Rangers more than Martin Brodeur,” DeBoer said, “and that’s Lou Lamoriello.”
And as the handshake line reached its end and the Prince of Wales Trophy was awarded to Parise, a fitting song reverberated throughout the five-year-old facility in the center of New Jersey’s largest city. “Glory Days,” the 1984 hit from Garden State rocker Bruce Springsteen, soundtracked the evening as Devils fans danced up and down the aisles dressed in red and black, celebrating this new arena’s proudest night.
One such fan, who inched his way down to ice level wearing a Parise jersey, received some quality camera time when he pulled out a handmade sign he probably scratched together on the train ride to Newark. The sign was blunt, to the point, and perhaps summed up a glorious 12-day span in the life of this tremendous rivalry like none other could. In this case, simplicity ruled the day:
“This is not 1994.”
He was absolutely right, in so many different ways.
Postscript: In the Stanley Cup Finals, the well-rested Los Angeles Kings were eager to show the world that a No. 8 seed can indeed win it all. They were a collection of upstart forwards and stingy defensemen in front of a new-world goaltender, Jonathan Quick, who had the flexibility of a gymnast and the glove of a shortstop. Los Angeles defeated New Jersey in six games, and along the way proved just how much the Rangers had accomplished in 1994. After all, the Devils losing to the Kings after eliminating the Rangers continued a trend in the New York–New Jersey rivalry: in the six postseason meetings between the Devils and the Rangers, the fatigued winners were eliminated in the very next round five times. The only exception? 1994.
Which is why, the defeat to Los Angeles notwithstanding, the Devils went into the off-season with their heads held high. They didn’t win the Cup…but at least they beat the Rangers.