Two years ago, the New Jersey Devils stared down a 2-0 series deficit in the opening round against the New York Rangers before coming back and eventually winning in seven. It was the biggest playoff moment for the Devils since they beat the Rangers in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals.
After losing the first two games of the current series against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Devils are seeking to replicate that same result. Here's a look at how New Jersey changed the fate of the series against the Rangers, and how to channel that energy into a potential comeback against the Canes.
More high-danger scoring chances
Through the first two games against the Hurricanes, the Devils have been steadily outplayed at times. That has resulted in a mismatch of scoring chances being created. Both times out, New Jersey was out-chanced in terms of high-danger opportunities at 5v5 by more than double: 17-8 in Game 1 and 15-7 in Game 2.
Looking back at the Rangers series in 2023, it was much more of an even match -- New York just barely had the edge in high-danger chances, 18-17, over the first two games combined. The key is how that number evolved as the Devils won the next three games in a row.
New Jersey produced more high-danger chances than the Rangers in four of the final five games in the series, with the fifth being a tie in that category. Starting in Game 3, the Devils came out with 15 high-danger opportunities, allowing just five against.
In contrast, take a look at the shot maps from Game 1 of this series, provided by Hockey Reference. It shows that the Hurricanes had significantly more chances in front of the net and in the slot, where the Devils' opportunities were far more spread out across the zone.
Carolina has been clearly able to keep the Devils' chances to lower-quality areas. It doesn't help that Freddie Andersen has practically been a brick wall. But in order to beat him, the Devils will need to find more ways to set up in the zone and get to the open areas of the ice, as they did successfully in the Rangers series.
Gaining and protecting the lead
The Devils have held a lead against the Hurricanes for less than a full period. While the team defended it well in the first period of Game 2, the real problem began in the second frame as Carolina scored two goals to take over the lead and created even more chances to extend it further.
Being able to score go-ahead goals and defend a lead was a big factor in the series win against the Rangers. The Devils scored first in three of the four victories, and the team exited the second period with a lead in all three of those games.
Back then, the Devils were able to score first and then protect it well the rest of the way. The only anomaly was Game 4 in which New York was able to tie the game early in the third, but the Devils rallied to break the tie later in the period for a 3-1 victory.
So far against Carolina, that has been an issue; the Devils have not been able to tie the game at any point after falling behind, effectively digging holes that are too hard to climb out of when chances are already being limited.
Moving the focus to coming out of the gates strong could swing the odds more in the Devils' favor. During the 2024-25 regular season, New Jersey ranked in the top 10 in the NHL when scoring first. The team posted a record of 29-8-3 when scoring first, for a win percentage of 0.725. But Carolina had even better numbers -- the Canes won .769% of games when scoring first for a record of 30-7-2.
The Devils will need to hone in on that strength in order to come back in the series like they did two years ago. The team has struggled maintaining positive momentum so far -- New Jersey simply could not match the energy put forth in the first period of Game 2 and it led to a second-period collapse.
Easier said than done, but the best proven method of winning games for the Devils has been scoring first and then tightening up to hang on to the lead. It's what made a big difference in the series against the Rangers, and what could turn the tide against the Hurricanes.
Providing assistance to the goaltender
It would be remiss not to mention the play of Akira Schmid against the Rangers two years ago. He stole the net from Vitek Vanecek and collected all four wins of the series, posting two shutouts along the way and allowing just seven goals across five games.
Jacob Markstrom has the potential to put up a similar performance, given how strong he has looked thus far. Although he's allowed six goals in the opening two games, the Devils also forced him to stop 41 shots in Game 1.
Many of the Hurricanes' opportunities are also coming from areas that are typically difficult for goaltenders to stop. Shayne Gostisbehere's goal in Game 2 is a perfect example of that, as he was able to walk in uncontested and lift up the rebound over a sprawling Markstrom. That shot could easily beat the majority of goalies in Markstrom's position at the time.
The Devils need to put Markstrom in a better position to actually do his job. He's certainly proven to be capable of carrying the team throughout his first season in New Jersey, but without defense helping to clear pucks and forcing Carolina to take lower-quality shots, there's only so much one goalie can do.
A big part of that comes down to blocking shots as well, something the Devils did well against the Rangers. In the Game 5 victory, Schmid held down the fort with a 23-save shutout, but the skaters in front of him blocked a whopping 24 shots. The team blocked 13 or more shots in every victory of that series.
The Devils did manage to record 13 blocks in the first game against Carolina but in Game 2, the team only managed to block nine shots -- and six of those came from Brett Pesce.
Across the NHL, this has proven to be a factor in winning games; the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs have the upper hand in each of their series, and have recorded 62 and 50 blocks respectively. Compare that to the Devils' 22 and it shows that putting your body on the line has the potential to make a difference against teams that generate a large number of chances.
Of course, that's not the only thing that qualifies a defense as being efficient and is not the sole element to winning games. But there's something to be said about effectively stopping pucks from getting through to the goaltender.
Markstrom has the skill to help New Jersey collect wins, and he could really benefit from getting more help in the defensive zone. Whether it's throwing bodies in front of shots or getting the puck out of high-danger areas, that's something that the Devils need to improve.