Going into Friday night’s NHL game, the New Jersey Devils were up 3-2 in their series against the number one team in the East, the New York Rangers. The pressure was on New York just as it had been throughout the entire playoffs, but this time they just weren’t up to the task.
The Rangers have been looking tired ever since beating Ottawa in seven games during round one. Until Friday night, they were the only team left that had played a full seven games in each of their two prior rounds – something that takes an exhausting and excruciating toll on players, and with little rest in between each. The Devils on the other hand, had been waiting (and resting) after beating Philadelphia out in just five games during Round 2. With this in mind, the online betting against the Rangers was increasing.
That weariness on the part of the Rangers was obvious just over the one-minute mark during overtime, as Adam Henrique was able to get one past Rangers goaltender Henriq Lundqvist and stamp his team’s ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was the second huge goal of the game for Henrique and had it not been OT, there’s a good chance the rookie could have gotten a hat trick.
“This kid’s just at the right place, right time, all the time,” New Jersey Devils coach said about Henrique after the game. “The two biggest goals of the playoffs come off his stick, and that’s not accidental.”
But will Henrique’s magic be enough for the Devils to defeat the Los Angeles Kings? Probably not if you look at what the Kings have done in the playoffs thus far.
The Kings defeated the top-seeded team in the first round in just five games, only to move onto Round 2 and sweep the St. Louis Blues in four. Taking on the Coyotes in Round 3, they also only needed five games to move onto the Finals. All of that adds up to a lot of downtime between series – downtime that the Devils simply haven’t had.
Looking at the stats, the Devils should win the Finals. They made it into the playoffs well before the Los Angeles Kings, and they were two spots up in their division when compared to the Kings. But the Kings have truly worked magic this season and proven that sometimes, stats are just stats.
The Finals start on Wednesday night and the Devils will have had a bit of a chance to recuperate after their win last Friday. They’ll also need to step up their game and find a little magic of their own to bring to the ice. The high from beating their most rivaled opponent is definitely going to last for a little while. But now facing their most unlikely opponent, the Kings may also prove to be their toughest.
