I remember where I was on the late afternoon/early evening of January 9th, 2011. I had two sporting events on. On my regular TV, I was watching the Philadelphia Eagles lose a playoff game to the Green Bay Packers, and on my iPad, for some reason, I had the Tampa Bay Lightning/NJ Devils Game.
It was an entertaining football game, but I remember tweeting out more about the hockey game...and I tweeted during the game a few tweets that felt silly at the time given where the Devils were. I had just watched the Devils drop two games to the Flyers, but show signs of the old Devils we all grew up with and and learned to hate...
Well in that game against the Lightning (who were a very hot team) the Devils fell down 1-0 early, but Clarkson simply willed the Devils back into that game and the Devils won. Maybe it's the fact that I have been trained to beware of the NJ Devils, but I tweated out:
I was rightfully mocked for that kind of optimism..seeing as even after that win, even if the Devils to DOUBLED their points from 24 to 48 they still would have been a point out of a playoff spot. The NJ Devils were 25 points back as of January 10, 2011.
But still, for whatever reason this win felt like a turning point, and oddly enough it was...because since that game, the NJ Devils are putting together a run of EPIC proportions.
They have gone 18-2-2 in that span and have gone from a team 18 games under .500 to a team that is 2 games under .500. The Devils have gone from being 25 points out of a playoff spot to being 9 points out of the 8th spot with 2 games in hand...
In fact if you were to have started the NHL season on 1-1-11 the following would be the Eastern Conference Standings...
Team W-L-OTL-PTS
#1 NJD 18-2-2-38
#2 Bos 17-7-0-34
#3 PHL 14-7-1-29
#4 Tor 13-7-5-31
#5 Mtl 12-7-4-28
#6 Buf 12-7-3-27
#7 Was 11-8-4-26
#8 Pit 11-8-4 -26
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#9 NYI 11-11-3-25
#10 Car 11-11-3-25
#11 TBL 11-7-2-24
#12 FLA 8-11-5-21
#13 NYR 9-14-1-19
#14 Ott 6-14-3-15
#15 Atl 4-12-4-12
I can never remember a team going 18-2-2 over ANY stretch of the season and NOT making the playoffs...say what you want about the Devils, but when you are the best team in hockey over the last 50 days, you deserve to be a playoff team.
What's the Buzz?
Will they make it?
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