Devils win in season and Lemaire finale'

Jacques Lemaire told his team before the game that he would not returning as head coach and the media afterwards,but the New Jersey Devils sent Lemaire out with a victory as the Devils dropped the Boston Bruins 3-2 at the Rock.
New Jersey goals to Patrik Elias (21),Vladimir Zharkov (2) and Alexander Urbom (1).
The Devils are off until October in a game to be scheduled later...

Hell Raisers

1) The Devils brought defenseman Alexander Urbom and forward Adam Henrique up from Albany to play in the meaningless game.
Urbom,as noted above,scored what proved to be the game winner for his first NHL goal...

2) Johan Hedberg played the final game and allowed just two goals,the second with just seconds to go in the game.
Hedberg was an excellent addition,but will be a free agent in the off season.
The key question regarding Hedberg is whether or not the Devils are willing to spend a similar amount of money again for a backup goaltender..

3) The Nordique Nation showed up and rocked the Rock as over 1,000 fans from Quebec showed up in Blue.They cheered for an entire minute at the 16:00 mark of each period to mark the 16th year without NHL hockey in Quebec.
Some Devils fans didnt like them being there,but I think it was very cool to send the league a message.
Besides,it would not be the Devils they would be taking,they deserve a team back and toss one to Winnipeg while you are at it!!

4) Thanks a bunch to Jacques Lemaire for turning this season around in what could have been a franchise low disaster.
Lemaire got the team back on track and set things up to succeed for the next coach.
More on Lemaire over the next day or two.

5) The win came at a cost as the Devils win caused them to lose two draft spaces behind Atlanta and Columbus.
The NHL draft lottery only allows you to move up four spots,so the Devils will be picking most likely in the 8th spot.
A lottery win would move them to 4th and a lottery win by a team with a better record would slip them to 9th.
In any scenario,the Devils have a rare chance to add a top ten talent to their system.

6) The Dallas Stars loss last night cost the Devils as well.
The pick that the team will be getting from Dallas in the Jamie Langenbrunner swap would have been a 2,if the Stars had won a playoff round.
Their loss eliminated that hope,so instead it will be a third rounder unless Dallas re-signs Langenbrunner before the draft.
A signing such as that would give New Jersey a second rounder.

Photo Credits
Devils:AP Photo
Nords Fans:Bruce Bennett-Getty Images