A Look Ahead To The NHL Eastern Conference Finals

The Rangers and Devils will forever be linked by the '94 ECFs, but will it happen again? Let's hope.

Madison Square Garden was teeming with anxiety last night. The type of anxiousness that causes panic attacks, heart attacks, strokes, and ultimately long lasting depressions. Despite the fact the Rangers were on the power play and had an extra attacker(a 6-4 man advantage) there was no way in the world the blueshirts were going to light the lamp. They're not clutch, they're an overrated #1 seed. But then as Ryan Callahan, the team's hero, and Brad Richards, the team's ugly contract, whacked away at the season, they finally found the twine and the rest was history. Marc Staal's goal was an afterthought, the Rangers had won the game with 6.6 seconds left in regulation and the OT goal was just happened to be a necessary formality. Stunningly New York was going to Washington on Wednesday with an opportunity to seal the deal on what has been a viciously intense and exciting playoff series. 

Across the river in Newark the night before, the Devils had continued their dominance of the surprisingly lethargic Philadelphia Flyers scoring 4 goals for the 3rd consecutive game and tightening their grip around the Flyers' throat. Yet the key play of the game happened well before Game 4 concluded. With frustration mounting and with the game and series slowly fading away from the Flyers, Claude Giroux threw an elbow to Dainius Zubrus's head earning him a suspension in Game 5. But it doesn't matter what the repercussions were. The Philadelphia Flyers were rattled. They were stunned and they were acting exactly how the Pittsburg Penguins were acting in the series before. All that maturity the Flyers had supposedly garnered in their first round matchup with the Penguins had gone out the window. Sore losers. That's the only way I can put it. When things are going good for the Flyers, they're veterans, when things go South, bitter school boys. I don't expect the Flyers to recover and win Game 5 because the Devils are in their heads. The experience and maturity New Jersey has is just too much for a Philadelphia comeback, especially when their best offensive threat is missing in action.

The prospects of a Devils, Rangers Eastern Conference Finals are growing immensely. While both team's have a bit of work to do, both have the necessary momentum to do their due diligence and make this series a reality.

1994. 1997. 2006. 2008. Rangers 3, Devils 1. Yet, the only series that really comes to memory is the '94 ECF finals which remains among the greatest playoff series of all-time. A series that will forever be remembered for a captain's guarantee, two overtime goals by a no-name third liner and a spine-tingling call by Howie Rose that I can confidently say will never be topped in pitch or fervor. It's a series that Rangers' fan cling to as their only great memory and a series that Marty Brodeur probably loses a ton of sleep over. The Rangers and Devils have met three more times since then and none of the series have come within the stratosphere of interesting. But then again none of those series were for the Prince of Wales trophy. 

The thought of a potential Rangers-Devils series makes me giddy. It is the New York rivalry since the Islanders haven't been relevant since the 80s. Brodeur vs. Lundqvist. Callahan vs. Parise. New York vs. Newark. I can see this series concluding in dramatic seven game fashion with several OT games throughout. 

While most of the players were still strapping on their first pair of skates when the '94 series happened, one player remains: Martin Brodeur. For Marty this is probably his last go around and it gives him a chance to exact some revenge on a franchise that stole away his fourth Stanley Cup. But will the nightmares of Matteau haunt him once again? Or will it be his time to seize back his reputation from the one team that has owned him? We can only hope that sometime next week these two teams will be hitting the ice in Madison Square Garden for what may just be a recreation of that epic spring of '94.