New Jersey Devils

It wasn’t easy in the first two rounds.  Only the No. 8 seed next to the Ottawa Senators’ name in the playoff bracket would make you think they weren’t capable of giving the Rangers a series.  The Sens came hard, and the Rangers skated away with a gritty seventh game win at the Garden.  The second round was a matchup with the seventh-seeded Washington Capitals, a new look team with a defensive mindset that didn’t exactly match up with their personnel.  Still, the Capitals brought the Rangers to another decisive seventh game, which the Blueshirts would skate away with on their home ice.  No, it certainly wasn’t a breeze getting through the first two rounds.

Alex Smith and Mack Rosenberg were joined by Doc Emrick, play by play man for NHL on NBC and Versus, to talk about the 2nd round of the playoffs.

The Florida Panthers just ended a ten-year playoff drought, a NHL record. The team they will be facing in the first round, the New Jersey Devils, are trying to break a slide of their own.

The trade deadline has long passed. Rick Nash is still on a last place team, Brandon Dubinsky can finally sleep at night, and NHL teams everywhere know exactly which horses they will be riding down the stretch. 70 games down, 12 to go, it’s a good time to check up on the New York Area’s teams as they gear up for some spring hockey.