New Jersey Devils: Best Game 7 Wins In Franchise History
The playoffs are in full swing, and the excitement is off the charts. There is nothing in sports like a great Game 7 in the game of hockey. The winner-take-all premise is just unlike anything else. Yes, there are Game 7s in other sports, and football’s playoffs are always winner take all, but there’s something about Game 7 in hockey that seems better than anything else.
There have only been two Game 7s this year so far. Montreal ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season in the first round and the Minnesota Wild’s bid to upset the Vegas Golden Knights ended in Game 7. After the New York Islanders beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime on Wednesday night, we are heading to another Game 7 on Friday. They aren’t a constant occurrence, but when they do happen, it’s must-see TV.
The New Jersey Devils haven’t been in many Game 7s in franchise history. Since moving to New Jersey in 1982, the Devils have been in 14 Game 7s. For how often they’ve been in the playoffs, they’ve avoided the dreaded must-win game often.
There are some Game 7 appearances that are absolutely epic. These are the moments that end up in the history books. Fans will tell the story of these games for generations. And if they are in the building? It’s ten times better. The energy that’s in a crowd for Game 7 is unlike anything. If the team is down, fans think there’s a will or a way to come back. There’s no other explanation since it’s do or die.
The Devils have their share of greatness and their share of anguish when it comes to Game 7. Let’s ignore those moments that broke our hearts. Let’s feel happy on a Wednesday. Here are the greatest moments in a Game 7 in New Jersey Devils’ history.
5. 1988 VS. Washington Capitals
The first time the Devils made a run in the playoffs was the first time they made the playoffs. The team wasn’t very good in Kansas City and Colorado, so there was a losing history for the franchise overall. That didn’t change when the team first came to the Garden State. They went the first five seasons without making the playoffs at all despite only having 21 teams in the league. The Devils finally made the playoffs in 1988, and they went on an amazing run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
After beating the New York Islanders in the Patrick Division Semi-Finals, the Devils had the Washington Capitals on the schedule. The Caps just went through one of the most exciting seven-game series’ against the Philadelphia Flyers. They were ready to make a run. That is until this high-powered Devils team got a hold of them.
The series was wild. There was a game where the Devils scored 10 goals. The Capitals scored six goals in Game 6 when they were facing elimination. The away team won five of the seven games. In Game 7, it was an epic matchup with each team trading chances to win.
Devils star Kirk Muller started the scoring just 14 seconds into the game. He set the tone early, and Claude Loiselle made it 2-0 12 minutes later. The Devils finished the period up two, but the Capitals would respond. They scored two goals in the second period thanks to the unlikely tandem of Grant Ledyard and Garry Galley.
The game went into the third period tied 2-2. It stayed that way for 13 minutes before a 23-year-old John MacLean puts the Devils up for good. It was the first great Game 7 moment in Devils history, and it kicked off a series of great playoff runs.
4. 2012 VS. Florida Panthers
The Devils made a miraculous run to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, but if just one bounce did not go their way, then it would have ended in the first round. The Devils were favored against the division-winning Florida Panthers, but they put up a massive fight as Martin Brodeur was looking older than he ever did. It eventually led to a 3-2 series lead after Jose Theodore shut the Devils out in Game 5, but two amazing overtime victories led to the good guys moving on.
The first came on the stick of Travis Zajac. After missing most of the regular season, Zajac was finally healthy in time for the playoffs. The Devils blew a 2-0 lead and didn’t score again until overtime. There, the Panthers came so close off the stick of Dmitry Kulikov and a scramble in front of the Devils net led to a break the other way. There, Ilya Kovalchuk gave the puck to Zajac, and he found a hole to send this to Game 7.
That Game 7 was very stressful. Again, the Devils went out to a 2-0 lead, and again, the Devils blew that lead. Only this time, the Devils blew that lead in the third period. Marcel Goc scored with just four minutes left in the game to tie things up. It eventually went to overtime.
There, a future legend would play hero for the first time. Well, it did take second overtime for that to happen. After veterans Brodeur and Theodore kept it scoreless, rookie Adam Henrique put the game on his stick. Standing at the top of the zone, he threw a seeing-eye puck through traffic and into the back of the net. The Devils would beat the Flyers and the Rangers before losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the Final. However, if something goes wrong in Game 7, the Devils season ends early.
3. 2001 VS. Toronto Maple Leafs
We see contentious series all the time, but some of the hate we saw on the ice in the late 90s and early 2000s isn’t like what we see today. Once again, the Devils fell in the series 3-2, but they won Game 6 on the road to force Game 7 at home. This made this Game 7 slightly better than the last one.
Earlier in the series, Tie Domi checked Scott Niedermeyer and caused him to get stretchered off the ice. That brought extra juice to each game. The Devils wanted to eliminate this team in the worst way after what they did to one of their top players. They wanted revenge, and they got it by sending Domi and the Leafs home in Game 7.
It wasn’t necessarily an exciting Game 7, but it was a breath of fresh air. It started off stressful, as the Leafs went into the first intermission with the lead, but a monster second period spelled the end for the Maple Leafs. Patrik Elias scored two goals and Scott Stevens made it 4-1 for his first goal of the postseason.
The crowd started chanting “67”, which marks the last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. This series had everything. A controversial goal (Martin Brodeur was knocked over before the Maple Leafs scored the Game 5 game-winner), an illegal hit that set the tone for the series, overtime wins and heartbreaking losses. In the end, it was the Devils who blew out Toronto to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
2. 2003 VS. Anaheim Ducks
The Devils won one of their three Stanley Cup Finals in a Game 7. It was an epic series with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Paul Kariya and Jean-Sebastien Giguere were carrying this Ducks team through three series, but Martin Brodeur at his absolute best and the Devils pushing for one more championship out of this dynasty was too much to match.
It was an interesting series where the home crowd played a huge role. The home team actually won each game of the series. It was good then that the Devils held home-ice advantage so that Game 7 would be at the Continental Airlines Arena.
Brodeur stood on his head, shutting out the Ducks for the third time. He actually got to the end of regulation with a shutout four times, but in one the Devils failed to score, too and the Ducks won in overtime. The Devils defense only allowed 24 shots, but it took Brodeur to make sure nothing got past him.
Mike Rupp scored the game-winning goal in the second period, and Jeff Friesen scored his ninth and 10th goals of the postseason to put the dagger in the Ducks chances. Rupp actually got a point on every goal for one of the best performances of his career. The Devils lifted the Cup in a winner-take-all fashion.
Brodeur should have won the Conn Smythe, but we’ll get to that in a later piece.
1. 2000 VS. Philadelphia Flyers
So, how can a Stanley Cup-winning victory in Game 7 not be the number one Game 7 performance? When there’s a performance against an arch-rival that saw one of the greatest series comebacks in franchise history. The Devils went down 3-1 in the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers. This was a stacked Flyers team that was looking to cash in on Eric Lindros’s prime. Unfortunately for them, this Devils team was a team of destiny.
Everyone knows the story of the 2000 Devils. It was a stacked roster that had some flaws that needed to be addressed before the playoffs. Lou Lamoriello demoted Robbie Ftorek just weeks before the playoffs started and promoted the great Larry Robinson. The Devils felt like they had new life, and they brought that to the postseason.
They didn’t see an elimination game until the third round. There, they saw three of them. After losing both Games 3 and 4 at home, it looked bleak for Jersey’s Team, but alas there was magic surrounding this team.
The Devils won Game 5 pretty handily. Game 6 was scoreless through two periods before the Devils and Flyers scored a combined three goals in the third. Luckily, the Devils potted two early and held on to force Game 7.
There, a relatively new face who would become a franchise legend really cemented his legacy. Patrik Elias scored the first goal of the game about six minutes into the first period. Keith Jones took a roughing penalty in what would become an out-of-control period. There were a total of five power plays in the first period alone, but only Elias was able to capitalize.
In the second period, a Colin White penalty led to Rick Tocchet tying the game. John LeClair was able to get Tocchet the puck, and both teams went into the third period with a strategy to win the game. Once the two teams came out, the Devils relied on their “A” line. Jason Arnott passed the puck to Elias, and he scored.
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Of course, Game 7 also had the famous hit from Scott Stevens on Lindros. Lindros was just coming off a concussion, and he had head injuries all season long. The Flyers were actually fined for withholding information on his head injury. Stevens said it “felt a little tough” playing after seeing Lindros get injured. Still, for the comeback, the rivalry, and the excitement of this game, it’s the best Game 7 experience in New Jersey Devils history.