Ed Mulholland-USA Today Sports
Leave it to the New York Rangers to suck all of the fun out of a lost season finale for the New Jersey Devils. After being eliminated by the Rangers last weekend in an embarrassing 4-1 defeat in front of the Madison Square Garden faithful, the Devils were hoping to serve an ice cold dish of revenge one week later when the teams met again.
The Rangers have been holding onto the eighth playoff spot on a wing and a prayer. A loss last night against the Carolina Hurricanes would have made Saturday’s matchup with the Devils a do or die. There isn’t anything the Devils would have enjoyed more than sending their Hudson River rivals home to an early vacation.
“Absolutely,” coach Pete DeBoer said in an interview on Tom Gulitti’s Fire and Ice Blog. “We would love for that game to be meaningful. You always want to play for something and obviously for the spot we’re in it’s the role of spoiler.”
Thus, is the path of the Devils’ season this year. They don’t even get to do that. The Rangers’ win last night means that they have clinched the last available spot in the Eastern Conference.
For the Devils, they conducted their last practice for the year this morning at their facility at the Prudential Center. The team will play one final game at the Garden — Saturday at 3 p.m. ET — and they better bring their ear plugs because they will be hearing it from the boo birds.
After that, it will be time to clean out lockers and say goodbye, which for some players may be the final one in red and black.
Dawn Miller is a New Jersey Devils writer for Rant Sports. Follow her on Twitter, “Like” her on Facebook or add her to your network on Google.
