When the New Jersey Devils beat the New York Rangers in embarrassing fashion in December, the other side of the Hudson River Rivalry was in a bad way. The Rangers fans were watching as their team's season was slipping away. The team captain, Jacob Trouba, was just traded for salary cap space. That loss was their seventh in their last 10, knocking them under hockey .500 for the first time this season.
When the Devils won the game, it pushed them to 23-11-3, making them one of the best teams in the league. The team and its fanbase were feeling themselves, and the Devils had a habit of sending out edited GIFs with the letter "L" edited onto it.
This practice angered some opposing fans, but most fans usually call it for what it is: a team's social media team having a little fun during the season. However, one tweet by the Devils made national news. They put a Rangers' crest on a flaming dumpster, which the GIF itself is already quite popular.
Safe travels across the Hudson. pic.twitter.com/0zgZbQ47E1
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 23, 2024
That tweet has 2.3 million views and 347 bookmarks. We imagine most of the bookmarks were from Rangers fans looking to reference it every time something bad happens to the Devils. Which, honestly, is totally fine. That's basically the only fun thing about Twitter at this point. The sports conversations are still fun when they don't go over the line.
Unfortunately, Rangers fans felt this went over the line. It was so bad, it ruined their Christmas. Seriously, they could not get over the tweet and the reaction was pretty crazy.
After beating the Rangers on Saturday, the Devils sent out another tweet, but this one was funny because it referenced current events.
carefuL on the way out. pic.twitter.com/VInmMLpPfg
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 5, 2025
No, this is not a reference to New York City having more than 5,000 buses in rotation. This is referencing the rumor that the Rangers' team bus actually hit Macklin Celebrini's car after the Rangers routed the San Jose Sharks earlier in the week.
It's clear that Rangers fans were once again unhappy with the trolling. There were some accounts that said some things that aren't safe for this blog, but we found some that showed the Rangers' fan sentiment.
I don’t really care when a team does stuff like this but the Devils are so cringey and terribly unfunny at it https://t.co/ahCtvz0w4e
— Kevo (@KevoCavo59) April 5, 2025
Biggest piece of 💩organization in society https://t.co/RQqnC5wPUQ
— Roll Tide Teacher (@tlapierre3) April 5, 2025
This is funny but for a professional hockey team account it’s so embarrassing and corny lmao https://t.co/2eva8UK8oe
— Nick 🇺🇸🗽 (@nicknyr8) April 5, 2025
Most accounts from media personalities either found it funny or just commented on its existence being interesting. However, one former Rangers media member didn't find it funny.
All class, as always https://t.co/bNwp6mPxzW
— Rick Carpiniello (@RickCarpiniello) April 5, 2025
Of course, we didn't see much of this from the Rangers social media team last season because they don't invest a lot in their social media team. Getting mad at the Devils for a tweet that is not offensive and a simple joke is just not what we should be bothered by in this day and age.