Top 10 Devils Goals

For the 1st time in 6 years, the New Jersey Devils are in the Playoffs. They open tonight in Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, away to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This is as good a time as any to do this post.

Top 10 New Jersey Devils Goals

Honorable Mention. December 23, 1992, Stéphane Richer, Madison Square Garden, New York. Despite being already 23 years old, this was my 1st live hockey game. Although I loved the Devils, it had only been a year or so, since the publicity blitz the NHL put on for its 75th Anniversary season (1991-92), that I got into the game at the kind of level where I just had to go to games.

The Rangers led 4-1 in the 3rd period, and their 18,000 maniacs were giving me a hard time. (I'm assuming my fellow Devils fans numbered about 200 that night.) But Richer scored, and suddenly it was on. The Devils tied it up in the last 2 minutes. In English soccer parlance, "Four-one, and you fucked it up!"

In overtime, Richer struck again, firing a laser beam that John Vanbiesbrouck still hasn't seen. I got out of The Garden real fast. But happy. This game may have been forgotten by just about everybody except me – and Richer, and the Beezer – but I'll cherish it forever. After all, unlike the Yankees and Rutgers football (but like East Brunswick football and, strangely, the usually woeful Nets), the Devils won the first live game in which I saw them.

Honorable Mention. May 11, 1995, Stéphane Richer, Madison Square Garden, New York. Sort of. Richer hated the Rangers so much, he even scored against them on Seinfeld. If you listen to the radio broadcast in the car on George and Siena's date, you can hear the announcer mention the scorer. Although he pronounces it "STEFF-in Rih-SHAY," instead of the correct "Ste-FAHN Ree-SHAY."

10. May 16, 2012, David Clarkson, Madison Square Garden. The Rangers shut the Devils out in Game 1, but Clarkson scored early in Game 2 to give the Devils a win. But the Rangers would take Game 3 in Newark, before the Devils took Game 4 at home and Game 5 at The Garden, setting up Game 6.

9. May 3, 2012, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Prudential Center, Newark. It was Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals, against that other team we Devils fans are known to hate: The Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers had won Game 1 in overtime, but the Devils took Game 2 to get a split in Philly.

Game 3 went nearly an entire OT period, before Poni scored at 17:21. The Flyers never recovered, and the Devils took the next 2 to set up a Conference Final against the Ranger Scum.

8. April 17, 1997, Martin Brodeur, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey. Sure, it was an empty-netter, and the Devils already had a 2-goal lead. But it was only the 5th goal ever scored by a goaltender (his 2nd), and only the 2nd ever in the Playoffs. It was in Game 1 of a series against his boyhood team, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Devils won the series.

7. April 26, 2012, Adam Henrique, BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, Florida. The Devils needed to win Game 6 at home and Game 7 on the road to get out of the 1st round against the Florida Panthers. Travis Zajac scored in overtime to win Game 6.

In Game 7, Adam Henrique scored in regulation, then again at 3:47 of double overtime to win, 3-2. It was the biggest goal of his life. It would not remain so for long.

6. June 20, 1995, Jim Dowd, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit. This one would be ranked higher if the Devils hadn't already won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit. Vyacheslav Kozlov scored to give the Red Wings an early lead, but John MacLean, perhaps still the greatest clutch player in Devils history, tied it up, and then Scott Stevens leveled Kozlov.

The teams traded goals, Sergei Fedorov for Detroit and Scott Niedermayer for New Jersey. Late in regulation, Dowd backhanded a rebounded Shawn Chambers shot past Mike Vernon, and the Devils had a 2-0 lead to take back to the Meadowlands.

Dowd remains the only New Jerseyan ever to play for the Devils, and the only New Jerseyan ever to get his name on the Stanley Cup.

5. April 3, 1988, John MacLean, Chicago Stadium. The Devils needed to win, away to the Chicago Blackhawks, a decent team in a loud, intimidating old arena, on the last day of the regular season, in order to make the Playoffs for the 1st time in their 6-season history -- and also, as a nice bonus, to keep the Rangers out of the Playoffs. A tie wouldn't have helped.

MacLean scored on Darren Pang (like Chico Resch and John Davidson, a goalie who became a broadcaster) 2:21 into the overtime -- and, given the rules of the NHL at the time, 2:39 before it would have been too late -- to give the Devils the 4-3 win.

I wish I could rank this one higher. Maybe if the Devils had made the Finals (they fell 1 game short), or if they'd been able to follow it up with another long Playoff run (which took another 7 years).

4. June 9, 2003, Mike Rupp, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford. Now, we tend to remember Rupp for the annoyance he gave us later, as a Ranger. But he scored what turned out to be the only goal we needed in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, past Jean-Sebastien Giguere -- and it was an absolute crime that he, rather than Marty, got the Conn Smythe Trophy -- to start the Devils off to a 3-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

3. June 10, 2000, Jason Arnott, Reunion Arena, Dallas. After losing Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Dallas Stars, in triple overtime at home, the Devils did not want to lose Game 6 and force a Game 7. But this one went to double overtime, as Brodeur and the Stars' Ed Belfour wouldn't crack.

Finally, Patrik Elias sent a beautiful backhanded pass to Arnott. who shoveled it past Eddie the Eagle to end it.

It was the 15th time (there have now been 17) that a Stanley Cup Finals was ended with an overtime goal, the 6th time that it had been in Game 6 or later, and the 4th time by a player on a New York Tri-State Area team (after Bill Cook of the Rangers in Game 4 in 1933, Bryan Hextall of the Rangers in Game 6 in 1940, and Bobby Nystrom of the Islanders in Game 6 in 1980).

2. June 11, 1995, Claude Lemieux, The Spectrum, Philadelphia. The Eastern Conference Finals with the Philadelphia Flyers was tied 2-2, and so was Game 5. With 44 seconds left in regulation, Claudie, already putting together one of the greatest postseason performances in any sport, fired a wobbly 65-foot shot at Flyer goalie Ron Hextall. The red light went on.

I saw this on TV at Ruby Tuesday at the Brunswick Square Mall in East Brunswick, and I think I hit the roof. I know I yelled, "Yessss!" And nobody looked at me like we Devils fans weren't worthy of being around Ranger or Flyer fans. This was a special moment. It was the moment that the Devils franchise grew up. That it was against the Broad Street Bozos made it all the better.

Now, had Johnny Mac not scored that goal in Chicago, the Devils would have made the Playoffs eventually. But had Claudie not scored that goal at The Spectrum, that 1st Cup doesn't happen, and might not have happened to this day. It's arguably more important than any goal the Devils scored in those Finals.

1. May 25, 2012, Adam Henrique, Prudential Center. Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, against The Scum. Win, and we go to the Stanley Cup Finals. Lose, and we have to play a Game 7 at The Garden, and no one wanted that. Except the Rangers, of course.

The fact that this was the anniversary of the Game 6 that Mark Messier, ol' Lex Luthor himself, had guaranteed at the Meadowlands in 1994, put an added touch on the proceedings: This was another Game 6 in which we could have eliminated The Scum without having to go back to The Garden, and we did not want a repeat performance.

We almost got it. Martin Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist played like a pair of Hall of Fame goalies, and it was 2-2 at the end of regulation. One minute and three seconds into overtime, Mike "Doc" Emrick had the call on NBC: "They score! Henrique! It's over!"

Since the Devils have 3 Stanley Cup seasons -- and this goal would not lead to one of them -- it was not the most important goal in Devils history. But it remains the most satisfying. And since the Rangers didn't make this year's Playoffs, it won't be topped this season. Maybe not ever.