Ranking Most Painful New Jersey Devils Moments Of Last Decade

2. 2019 Season Opener

This could easily be number one for me because of the emotional toll it took on me having been at the game.

The 2019 offseason could not have gone any better. The Devils acquired a former Norris trophy winner in P.K. Subban, a KHL MVP in Nikita Gusev, Wayne Simmonds, and first overall pick Jack Hughes. They were also going to have a healthy Cory Schneider and Taylor Hall. It just seemed like the Devils’ rebuild was finally over.

The game itself could not have been any better: the building was rocking as loud if not louder than Game 3 in 2018, the Devils jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and with 10 seconds left in the second, everything collapsed.

After surrendering an early third-period goal, Schneider would have to leave the game, and the downfall continued. The Devils would blow a 4-0 lead, lose in a shootout, continue to lose games, fire John Hynes, trade Taylor Hall, and finish with one of the worst records in the NHL.

With the hype surrounding the team from the offseason, and the picture-perfect start, that was no ordinary loss. The energy was sucked out of the building and the locker room. I could be a blind Devils fan refusing to acknowledge that the second half of that game was the real Devils. If they win that game, I firmly believe Taylor doesn’t get traded and that teams make the playoffs.