It’s fair to assume a huge portion of the people who feel virtually no sympathy for the New York Rangers right now are either Los Angeles Kings backers or supporters of the New Jersey Devils. And that’s an interesting twist because if you remove archrival anger from the equation, no collection of fans should better relate to the hard-luck Rangers’ heartbreak than those who reside just across the Hudson River.
Two years ago, the Devils lost Games 1 and 2 of the Cup final to the Kings in overtime. In Game 3, New Jersey was dropped 4-0, while Champagne bottles across California prepared for popping. The 2014 final has played out in eerily similar fashion, with L.A. again winning the first two contests in extra time before seizing a stranglehold on the series with a 3-0 victory in Game 3.
This is not the part where we make some outlandish proclamation that the Blueshirts—victims of bad calls and bounces in this showdown—are about to go on some miracle run. But if they need a little help getting out of bed these days, look no further than what the Devils did once they were in a hole.
Down to its last life, New Jersey won Game 4 of the 2012 final in Los Angeles to extend the series. Then the Devils returned home, squeezed out a 2-1 victory and the Cup final was officially back on. With a possible Game 7 just a Jersey win away, the entire hockey world was keyed up again. Unfortunately, that included Devils grinder Steve Bernier, who was a little overanxious on the forecheck and ended up taking a blatant five-minute boarding penalty on Kings defenceman Rob Scuderi just over 10 minutes into a scoreless Game 6. Los Angeles pounced on the opportunity, blasting three power-play goals in just under four minutes.
Game, set, Cup.
Would Jersey have come all the way back if not for Bernier’s gaffe? Probably not, but you can also safely predict Game 6 wouldn’t have turned into a laugher, with the Kings winning 6-1. So, yeah, we’re saying there was a chance, at the very least for more drama as the Devils pushed for a winner-take-all showdown on home ice.
Inside the Rangers room right now, the subdued chatter will be all about just getting one win. Outside those walls, Blueshirts backers and anyone who wants to see a more compelling end to what’s been a fantastic playoffs should be saying, “Get us to Game 6.” Stretch this thing out a couple more contests, and everybody will suddenly be paying attention again.
Right now, there’s a sense of inevitability around this series because the Kings are so savvy and deep, and everything seems to be falling their way. But given all the talk of L.A. puck luck, can we definitively say there’s no way the Rangers win two in a row? Job 1 is to fight for their lives on home ice and not let a wonderful playoff run die in front of their own fans. We’re willing to give them that one. Then they have to go into a building where they nearly won the first two games of the series and find a way to be one goal better this time. Not unthinkable.
That would get us to Game 6, which is where we can all officially start caring again. And Devils fans can really start rooting for an L.A. team that ruined their own dreams just two years ago.