1. Two Goals In One Minute In Game 7
95 percent of Devils fans couldn’t tell you what happened in the first 425 minutes of the 2009 series against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was probably an exciting series overall. Zach Parise scored six points in seven games. 10 different players scored goals in the series. There was a good mixture of the old guard (Jay Pandolfo, Patrik Elias, Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik, and Brendan Shanahan were all on the team) and the young guns (Parise, Travis Zajac, and David Clarkson all played a pretty big role). This had a chance to be a really fun team in the playoffs.
It appeared like the Devils were on their way to round two against the Washington Capitals. They were up in Game 7 3-2 with two minutes left in the game. Things were going well. Then, Jussi Jokinen scored to tie the game with 1:20 left. Well, that stinks. Now we have to prepare for overtime. The Hurricanes have all the momentum, and the Devils need to simmer down before something bad happ…
Uh oh.
Eric Staal scored 48 seconds later, and most Devils fans were still shocked by the tying goal. Now, they were losing and there were only 30 seconds left in the game. Sure, this wasn’t a Stanley Cup, but it hurt more than anything that happened before or after it. Losing a Game 7 against a lower-seeded team in this fashion is unfathomable. It would have been better to lose in overtime. This is like your significant other breaking up with you after someone crashed their car into your living room.
Devils fans hate the Hurricanes to this day. There is nobody from this game that is still on the Hurricanes, well except head coach Rod Brind’Amour. The hate for this team comes directly from this game and Brodeur letting two past him when the game was on the line.