Garden State of Hockey- Episode 42: May 26, 2000

In another historic and exceedingly important game in the legacy of the New Jersey Devils, Patrik Elias provided the heroics as he scored twice in this mistake-filled and tightly played Game 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers. This was a tentative game on both sides as fatigue overpowered focus and both times tried their best to avoid the killer mistake eventually made by future Devil Dan McGillis. Martin Brodeur continuously demonstrated his stickhandling prowess and positioning while the first period was rife with penalties and hits, including Scott Stevens’s takedown of Eric Lindros. This game was a reminder of just how close they came to not participating in that 2000 Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars and the resilience it took from the veterans and coaching staff to pull off the greatest comeback in conference final history up to that point.

The next one can be considered a game that announced the Devils’ arrival on the scene as a serious contender. This is Game 1 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings:

This is the moment where the Devils proved that they could hang with the heavily favored Red Wings and the call is brought to you by a younger and comfortably familiar Doc Emrick play-by-play. This is when they went from a plucky upstart franchise in the Eastern Conference learning how to contend to showing that they had a real chance to take it to Detroit and as we know, eventually lock down their first championship.

Let us know what you remember from either of these games and join us for this next one as the 1995 team featured some great names from Devils history.

Stay safe out there, everyone and Let’s Go Devils!