Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers every Wednesday.
The New Jersey Devils are in the Eastern Conference First Round and trail the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 in the best-of-7 series. Thirty-seven years ago, the Devils made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the former Colorado Rockies relocated from Denver for the 1982-83 season and made a memorable run to Game 7 of the Wales Conference Final.
Battered but unbowed, the New Jersey Devils return home for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Carolina Hurricanes at Prudential Center on Friday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, MAX, MSGSN, TBS, TVAS2, SN360), confident they can gain traction after losing the first two games at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Carolina's 3-1 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday was abetted by special teams, including Jordan Martinook's short-handed game-winner at 5:54 of the second period. New Jersey was 0-for-3 on the power play and is 0-for-5 in the series.
"We're coming home still with a lot of confidence," Devils forward Jesper Bratt said. "I believe that we've found a recipe that can get us a win."
To do so, the Devils will have to solve Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen, who has outplayed Jacob Markstrom. Andersen withstood a strong Devils third-period push until Seth Jarvis' empty-net goal sealed the result and has a .960 save percentage (48 saves on 50 shots) after two games.
"Goaltending is why we won," Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said.
The Devils were without defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon because of injuries sustained in Game 1 on Sunday. They were replaced by Simon Nemec and Dennis Cholowski.
"I liked a lot of our game," coach Sheldon Keefe said, "except the final result. But coming home, we'll get a boost from our fans, and I know that we play our best in adversity."
Hopes have been high for the Devils since the start of the 2024-25 season, validated when they made the Stanley Cup Playoffs by finishing third in the Metropolitan Division to earn a date with the Hurricanes. Their latest attempt at their first Stanley Cup championship since 2003 comes 37 years after the franchise's first playoff appearance in 1987-88, five years since relocating from Denver.
That team leaned heavily on goalie Sean Burke. How far they advance this season depends on Markstrom, who's made 66 saves on 71 shots (.930 save percentage) in the series after missing six weeks (11 games) with a knee injury.
"All that matters to Markstrom," former Devils goalie and current radio analyst Glenn "Chico" Resch said before the series, "is these playoffs. He wants to be the difference-maker."
Signed by the Devils after he starred in the 1988 Calgary Olympics, Burke was that difference-maker when the 1987-88 team went 10-1-0 down the stretch, needing John MacLean's goal at 2:21 of overtime in Game 80 to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at Chicago Stadium. That won the Devils (38-36-6) the tiebreaker against the New York Rangers in the Patrick Division.
"When I bought the team in 1982," said original Devils owner Dr. John McMullen, "I thought we'd make the playoffs in a couple of seasons, but it turned out to be six years before we got in and -- at that -- we just made it."
Burke had a .902 save percentage (148 saves on 164 shots) against the first-place New York Islanders in the Patrick Division Semifinals. None was bigger than what secured the series-clinching Game 6.
"We were leading 6-5, in the final game," Devils television analyst and retired defenseman Ken Daneyko said, "when Pat LaFontaine broke away and Burke made the big save with one second left on the clock."
In the Patrick Division Finals, New Jersey extended the heavily favored Washington Capitals to a seventh game. A fatigued Burke lost 7-2 in Game 6, forcing coach Jim Schoenfeld to consider backup Bob Sauve as the starter for Game 7.
After the morning skate, Schoenfeld found Burke taking a shower.
"'Schony' threw me the soap," Burke recalled, "and I dropped it. Then, he threw it at me again -- and I dropped it. But I caught it on the third try, and he said I was playing."
Burke and Capitals goalie Pete Peeters dueled through a 2-2 tie until late in the third period when MacLean deflected Devils defenseman Craig Wolanin's shot into the net at 13:49. Burke held down the Capitals the rest of the way for a 3-2 victory. In the winner's dressing room, Schoenfeld was given a T-shirt emblazoned, "New Jersey Devils: 1988 Patrick Division Playoff Champions."
"I feel privileged to be the coach of this team," Schoenfeld said. "I haven't ever seen a group like this."
Remarkably, the Devils reached Game 7 of the Wales Conference Final against the Boston Bruins.
Nobody in the hockey world thought we'd get so far," forward Pat Conacher said, "but 20 guys in our room thought we would."
After covering Game 7 at Boston Garden, I concluded that the series was tilted in the Bruins' favor because of a unique save by goalie Rejean Lemelin in the first period when the score was 0-0. Devils forward Pat Verbeek had an open net, but Lemelin executed what he would describe as "the save of my life."
It galvanized a 6-2 Bruins victory, ending the Devils' exceptional run of 1988.
"You get on a roll," New Jersey forward Mark Johnson, now coaching the 2025 NCAA women's hockey champion University of Wisconsin, "and you start to believe it's never going to end. And when it does it hurts."
Time will soon tell whether the new age Devils can pull off something roughly equivalent to the "Miracle of '88."
