In one of the biggest comebacks the NHL has seen in the post-lockout era, the New Jersey Devils have rebounded from virtual irrelevance and clawed (a) back within shouting distance of a playoff berth; and (b) further up the THN.com Power Rankings.
After opening the season 10-29-2, the Devils are 20-2-2 in their past 24 games, have lost just once in regulation in their past 13 games and sat eight points behind Buffalo with 17 remaining regular season games. Much of their current success can be attributed to the firing of former coach John MacLean and the return of veteran Jacques Lemaire, but without stellar contributions from star winger Ilya Kovalchuk, goalie Johan Hedberg and others, New Jersey would be languishing at the bottom of the league standings.
The Devils off-loaded veteran center Jason Arnott at the Feb. 28 trade deadline, yet don’t seem to miss him in the least. As well, the schedule-maker appears to have been more than kind to their delicate playoff hopes, at least in the short term: New Jersey has five straight games against non-playoff teams (two games against Ottawa and Atlanta and one against the Islanders) before five straight games against playoff contenders (Washington, Columbus, Boston, Pittsburgh and Buffalo).
Lemaire’s charges will have to take advantage of those first five games to make the next five worth watching.
Power Rankings will return March 15.
The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.
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