The New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers took to the ice last night in a game which had tons of significance for one team and essentially zero for the other. The Devils are in the midst of a tight playoff race with the Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers and were searching for a critical two points, while the Rangers have already been eliminated from playoff contention. The Devils prevailed in the Metropolitan Division matchup with a crucial 5-2 victory to catapult them five points ahead of Florida and one point in front of Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference’s first Wild-Card spot.
Devils forward Taylor Hall added to his case for the Hart Trophy with a four point performance in the win. With the playoffs in sight, the Devils’ Twitter team couldn’t hold back their excitement and roasted Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for allowing five goals.
At this time of the year, the Devils and Rangers have more recently been in opposite positions. New York has missed the playoffs just once since the lockout (2010) while the Devils haven’t been back to the postseason since making a Stanley Cup run in 2012.
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You can’t help but feel bad for Lundqvist, who has done so much for the organization and has had to play through a rebuilding year in New York. In 60 games played this season, the Swede is 26-25-7 with a 2.95 goals against average.
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It’s looking as though the Devils will be playing April hockey, but they’ve still got some work to do. Fans can only hope that karma doesn’t find a way to bite them down the stretch.
(H/T r/Hockey)
