Devils season ends in Overtime

   Jesper Fast's goal seven minutes into overtime gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 overtime win in game five of the Eastern Conference semi-finals and as the puck entered the net, the season ended for the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils led twice in the game, 1-0 after Dawson Mercer scored in the first period, and again at 2-1 when Timo Meier scored on a power play goal in the second.

New Jersey couldn't hold the lead and with the lost lead, went the end of the Devils season.

Hell Raisers

1) After the putrid game-four loss at home in Newark, I thought the Devils gave an excellent accounting in a game-five road tilt.

Lindy Ruff commented that the Devils gave all that they had and I'd agree.

Season-ending losses are never easy to take but a valiant effort such as this makes a loss easier to take than a loss such as game four.

2) Timo Meier scored the Devils second goal but the play that he will ponder for the off-season was a miss into an open net in the second period.

Nine times out of ten, Meier slams that puck home, and the Devils would have increased their lead to 3-1.

3) The Devils returned to Akira Schmid for the game and I thought the young goalie played well despite the defeat.

It was the only time in the five games against Carolina that New Jersey received competent goaltending and the Devils have some serious thinking to do about that situation for next season.

4) The killer was the penalty that would result in a power play that Carolina would score the winning goal as Jonas Siegenthaler lifted the puck out of play in the Devils zone for a delay of game penalty.

It was obvious and not worth complaining about because it clearly was a penalty.

5) Jack Hughes was questionable to play and the young star did play close to fifteen minutes but you could clearly see that he was hampered by an injury.

Give him credit for not begging off and doing whatever he could do and that bodes well for future Devil postseason appearances.

6) I hope to be back in a few days or so to look back at the Devils (and Cavaliers) seasons and while I'm disappointed in the Devils play against Carolina, I'm certainly not disappointed in their season.

Over one hundred points, a playoff return, and a series win over the rival Rangers are accomplishments that I would have been happy to accept before the season.

I'll expect continued improvement for the following year but I'm more than pleased for the Devils and what they accomplished this season.