5 Most Heartbreaking Playoff Series Losses in New Jersey Devils History

4. 2018 First Round: Tampa Bay Lightning win series 4-1

This one stings a lot because of how recent it is. A lot of fans felt that this team was the little engine that could. A majority of experts and pundits pegged the Devils for another basement finish for the 2017-18 season. Taylor Hall had other ideas. His MVP season bolstered the Devils into the postseason for the first time since 2011-12 and brought fans a twinkle of hope for the future. Since getting the last wildcard spot to get into the playoffs, the Devils were dealt a hand that no one thought it would be possible to overcome. That hand was the Tampa Bay Lightning. Once again, everyone doubted the Devils and predicted them to lose. The team used that fuel to inspire themselves to see if they can pull off the miracle.

Well, that didn’t work out, did it? The flaws in the Devils roster were glaring during this series. Those flaws were goaltending, the penalty kill, and depth. First, the goaltending of Keith Kinkaid before the series is another reason as to why the Devils even made it to the playoffs. He played lights out down the stretch and everyone will remember his time in Newark for that. But he was terrible in the first couple of games. The Devils lost games one and two by a score of five to two and five to three. The only goal Kinkaid did not allow in the first two games was an empty netter by Nikita Kucherov in game one. Kinkaid finished with a save percentage of .804 and never played again the rest of the series. Cory Schneider played his heart out for the following three games and gave the fans hope he was back to his old ways. Spoiler: nope.

Killing penalties were a huge problem for the Devils against the Lightning. The sloppy and undisciplined play kept feeding the dangerous Lightning powerplay opportunities throughout the series. Seven different Lightning found the score sheet on the powerplay during the series and the Devils could not stop either unit. They did show flashes of being able to, but the depth was just too much for the Lightning. Blake Coleman did Blake Coleman things and scored one shorthanded goal, but that was the lone bright spot for the Devils special teams unit. The Devils’ powerplay, however, was pretty decent.

The other problem is depth. The Lightning only had five of their nineteen players that suited up not record a point throughout the series. One of those held off the scoresheet was surprisingly Victor Hedman. Kucherov had 10 points in 5 games. If you managed to keep him in check for a shift, you had Steven Stamkos, Alex Killorn, Brayden Point, and many others waiting to step onto the ice. In the regular season, the Devils were able to handle the Lightning, but the playoffs are a different beast. That lesson was learned the hard way.

The most heartbreaking part about all of this is that this happened only two years ago and almost all of the players and staff from this team are gone.

Ray Shero was fired. John Hynes was fired. Taylor Hall, Blake Coleman, Andy Greene, Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Marcus Johansson, Sami Vatanen, and Kinkaid have all been traded. Pat Maroon, John Moore, Stefan Noesen, Brian Gibbons, Drew Stafford, and Michael Grabner all left in free agency or just weren’t re-signed.

So who is left? Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Damon Severson, and Will Butcher look to be here for a while. Travis Zajac and Schneider have one foot out the door due to age and contract status. Pavel Zacha and Mirco Mueller are still around but are incredibly inconsistent. While Kyle Palmieri and Miles Wood constantly find themselves in trade rumors. Roster turnover will happen in professional sports. However, when over half of a roster that went to the playoffs just two years ago is gone, somewhere something went wrong.