The Devils have lost only once in Newark. No one owns a better home record.
For the first time, if the Devils don’t lose there again, they are guaranteed the Stanley Cup.
“You can tell how excited [Devils fans] are for where we’re at right now, and the first round and second round,” Devils captain Zach Parise said yesterday.
“They made the building as loud as I’ve ever heard it. That goes a long way. We need them to be even louder and get more involved in this round.”
Devils management has gone to unusual lengths to keep Rangers fans from infesting Prudential Center, trying to keep Battle of the Hudson tickets out of blue hands for Game 3 tomorrow afternoon or Game 4 on Monday.
The Devils wrested home-ice advantage from the top-seeded Rangers with their 3-2 Game 2 victory at Madison Square Garden. Whoever wins the Eastern Conference finals will own home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final against either the Kings or Coyotes.
This is something brand new for the Devils, winning in Newark in the playoffs. They stand a remarkable 126-65-14 at Lafayette and Mulberry during the regular season since leaving the Meadowlands to start the 2007-08 season. But they were a woeful 3-7 in the playoffs there before this spring, after going 21-7 in their final 28 home playoff games at Route 3.
It looked like more of the Curse of the Swamp when they blew a three-goal lead to lose their first home game in these playoffs, Game 3 against the Panthers, who took a 2-1 series lead that night. That left the Devils 3-8 in Newark, and owner Jeff Vanderbeek had just admitted regretting moving the team there.
But since that night of Devils despair, they haven’t lost again while wearing red. They’ve outscored opponents 15-7 in winning their last four in Newark. In this year of road warriors, the Kings had to win last night to match them as the playoffs’ top homers at 4-1. The Rangers? They’re 6-4 on 33rd, and 3-3 elsewhere.
The Devils hold the NHL record for most playoff victories in a year, 12-1 in 2003. They can’t match that, with seven games more max, but it proves they’ve done it, with a team that only managed six more points (108) than they did this season (102).
Devils coach Pete DeBoer, threatening to become a folk hero in Jersey, doesn’t do much tactically different with home ice advantage. But emotionally, he said the home fans matter.
“The trick is to make sure you give your crowd something to be involved in and make sure the other team doesn’t control the play or dictate the game,” DeBoer said.
“The crowd can always breathe some life into your team,” DeBoer said. “I thought [Garden fans] did with the Rangers in the third period [in Game 1]. I thought when they scored in the third period the crowd got them into it, and I thought really gave them an extra gear.”
Parise said the Newark patrons have spurred the Devils.
“Even our first game in the Florida series, despite losing that game, I think the atmosphere in there was great,” he said. “I think we played pretty well there all year.”
In the past, Devils home games against the Rangers, or Flyers, have had split personalities. The orange contingent was less visible and vocal than usual in the last round. It will be curious to see how well the brass is able to discriminate on the basis of color blue.
Parise said the Devils have tried to ignore being cheered against in their own building.
“That type of thing you tune out,” Parise said, whose team has won 12 of its last 15 home games dating back to the regular season. “During the regular season if we were to get scored on, then you see them all cheering, and I think they cheer extra loud when they’re in our building. That’s when you realize how many Ranger fans we have in our building.
“Hopefully there won’t be too many blue jerseys in the stands for these two home games.”
The Devils’ home record has already worked wonders. They enjoy winning at the Garden, partly, to shut up their most severe critics. But they can win at home to win it all.