NJD fans who remember- the early 90s Devils between their 1988 and 1994 playoff runs

billingtons ghost

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Nov 29, 2010
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Ugh... I always hated Fetisov. I know acquiring him was historic, but ugh.

He had the most annoying habit of passing the puck to a teammate through the low slot which probably took a few years off my life. In fact, I remember him passing to Kasatonov BEHIND Billington. I distinctly remember being able to see Billington's eyes pop out of his head all the way up in the upper tier.

I always preferred Kasatonov over Fetisov. Wonder what ever became of him.


Hahaha I actually remember that. My family chalked it up to some crazy red-army 5-man unit type of play. Fetisov clearly thought the game about 14 steps ahead of anyone else on our team, and he let noone in on his secrets - and no one in the stands knew wtf he was doing at any given point in time. People talk about him being a great Devil but there was nothing great about his time on our team.
 

billingtons ghost

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Nov 29, 2010
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You could argue that Brodeur's work in the 94 conference final is some of his best during his entire career. Like it was mentioned, he was in absolute beast mode in game 7. You could tell back then that he was destined for greatness. What sealed it for me was how devastated he was after the Rangers had won the series. That loss hurt. He then went on to win more than anyone ever did before. Go figure.

I'd agree - and even the preceding series were coming-out parties when he still split time with Terreri. Perhaps the early 95 playoff series might have been his most unbelievable play.
 

schoenfeld

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Dec 10, 2006
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a friend of mine from high school found himself in after graduation, he called me up one afternoon to shoot the shit as he often did, the topic always steered towards hockey and the devils as he was more or less my go to for information about the minor league club in the pre internet era. this one particular day he had went to a game the night before and all he really had to say was "this brodeur guy is good, but hes no sean burke. plays around with the puck too much!"

i miss my troy crowder jersey
 
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njdevils1982

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Sep 8, 2006
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Bernie had a season with LAK with over 60 goals I think.

He was solid with us but at the tail end of his career.


lol

70 goals and 150 pts (edit: gretzky's first season in LA, ftorek's second of 2 seasons coaching there)

my brother loved nicholls when we were 'young' …and the kings and blues (he still does)…at least he was a fan of him well before 99 showed up so good on him. he didnt jump on some bandwagon

the '12 cup run between our teams was fun
 
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blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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I'd agree - and even the preceding series were coming-out parties when he still split time with Terreri. Perhaps the early 95 playoff series might have been his most unbelievable play.

Brodeur was the undisputed #1 going into the first round in 1994 vs Buffalo and played extremely well against them. Game 6 he was a hard luck loser in the 4th OT after stopping something like 50 of 50 shots (and Hasek had stopped 70 of 70!) in Game 7 he lets an early one in and then makes just an unreal save shortly thereafter. If we went down 2-0 to Hasek it would've been devastating. It's still 1-0, we tie it late in the first 1-1 and take the lead in the 2nd. Brodeur doesn't face much but in the waning seconds makes another incredible stop to prevent Buffalo from making it 2-2. It was on some sort of netmouth scramble I believe

Boston is where Brodeur hit a bump in the road. We lose game 1 though he still plays well (2-1 loss). Game 2 though he's terrible blowing a 3-1 and 4-2 lead late in the 3rd. Actually Boston takes a 5-4 lead before we tie it 5-5. Boston wins 6-5 in OT. It was there when Lemaire thought his confidence was shaken and needed to go to Terreri for Game 3 at Boston Garden. And Terreri delivered. Won both. Then he goes back to Brodeur for game 5 who pitches a shutout, and then he goes right back to Terreri in the Garden after Brodeurs shutout.

I can't think of another time a healthy goaltender was benched in a playoff series following a shutout.
 

Tretyak 20

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Dec 4, 2003
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I still miss the old barn. I loved the parking lot. I loved going to the diner after the game. I love catching the last race or two after the game. I loved the sight lines, I loved the tiny concourses. I miss score-o. I miss turning to a certain page in the program to find an autograph. I miss the parking lot parades. I miss all the winning mostly.

There will be winning again. I have a distinct feeling that Nico and Hall will not take "no" for an answer. Those two will lead us to a Cup... or several.
 

My3Sons

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Brodeur was the undisputed #1 going into the first round in 1994 vs Buffalo and played extremely well against them. Game 6 he was a hard luck loser in the 4th OT after stopping something like 50 of 50 shots (and Hasek had stopped 70 of 70!) in Game 7 he lets an early one in and then makes just an unreal save shortly thereafter. If we went down 2-0 to Hasek it would've been devastating. It's still 1-0, we tie it late in the first 1-1 and take the lead in the 2nd. Brodeur doesn't face much but in the waning seconds makes another incredible stop to prevent Buffalo from making it 2-2. It was on some sort of netmouth scramble I believe

Boston is where Brodeur hit a bump in the road. We lose game 1 though he still plays well (2-1 loss). Game 2 though he's terrible blowing a 3-1 and 4-2 lead late in the 3rd. Actually Boston takes a 5-4 lead before we tie it 5-5. Boston wins 6-5 in OT. It was there when Lemaire thought his confidence was shaken and needed to go to Terreri for Game 3 at Boston Garden. And Terreri delivered. Won both. Then he goes back to Brodeur for game 5 who pitches a shutout, and then he goes right back to Terreri in the Garden after Brodeurs shutout.

I can't think of another time a healthy goaltender was benched in a playoff series following a shutout.

I was at that game 7 against Buffalo. Recall Claude Lemieux having a solid game. I also recall that the players looked pretty stone faced the whole time as if they knew they were going to win. I also remember watching the first game against Boston on TV and the stands were empty and the commentators asking where all the fans were.
 

JimEIV

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Feb 19, 2003
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I'm going to have to come back and read this thread end to end - but I'm the same age as Jim, so my recollections are about the same being an 18 year old in '88.

The thing that stood out to me is that you really never got much of a feeling of progress early on - certainly '88 was a quantum leap forward and we became a middling team instead of a doormat, but the coach juggling, the contract issues and uncertainty around Burke and Muller and Shanny, and also the general feeling that we had lots of odd bits and pieces that didn't necessarily fit nor wanted to be there in particular made it tough as a fan.

It wasn't clear that Lou was a genius, because he was an unknown quantity to the general populace, and it just seemed he was excessively tight-fisted and/or unreasonable.

We added good players - Fetisov/Kasatanov - but those guys were trying to play the 5-man game that you see from today's defensemen, and the fact that they did things differently certainly didn't mesh with the rest of the team. There seemed to be multiple 'teams' and lots of mismatched pieces.
You had guys like Bernie Nichols, Phil Housley - who were supposed to be 'great' players but were never really adopted by the fans because they didn't seem to want to be there, and their performance didn't measure up to who they thought they were.

There was a distinct buzz about certain players from time to time - fan favorites: Crowder and his fights, Ysebaert, Cigar, Kevin Todd -etc - who would have good seasons and then disappear or get dealt.

You had a group of old-guard guys playing their hearts out - MacLean (although he got big for his britches), Dano, Driver, Brown - that was the core -
and you started phasing out the old guard - Verbeek, Conacher, Stastny, Boschman etc... that you knew weren't 'the future'.

You started adding guys like Weinrich, Semak, Albelin, Terreri, Billington, - role players that you thought would be a nice secondary base on a good team - guys that could hold down a spot and not hurt you.

Then, it all changed with trades. I'd say getting Lemieux and Richer suddenly made us dangerous when we really didn't have the feeling of a very dangerous team. The feeling there was the same as when Kovalchuk (grrr) made us dangerous at any time. But you knew you were getting 'characters' as well.
Then Holik was a big add - suddenly you had a REALLY good 4th liner who would win faceoffs, hit people and score - and character.
Randy McKay was a big add as well - another underrated heart guy.

Lou's draft picks started filtering in - Nieder (who was terribly scary Zidlicky style early on) Guerin, Zelepukin, Dowd... proved we could draft effectively and that there was help coming to fill out the lineup.

It still didn't seem like we were going anywhere in particular - we seemed to be doomed to be a 'bubble' team going forward - good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to make any noise.

Getting awarded Stevens changed everything, as his nickname 'Dad' really said it all. It seemed like the team was forced to become a team under him. Suddenly things got real for everyone up and down the lineup - even Richer would get his lights put out coming over the middle in practice, so his game needed to go up a level.

That said - Stevens still hadn't completely bought in that we could win. I think Marty showing up gave him real hope for the first time.

Everything went up a level with Jacques and his system. We could now play a system and win a game and it was like bringing order to chaos.

Clearly, the 94 playoffs was the spot we turned the corner. Much like earlier in this year, we were a team that really didn't get any respect whatsoever, and it seemed like the refs were against us - particularly when facing the Rangers. EVERY call seemed to go against us and the ice was lopsided. That playoff run taught us

What is more (MOST) important was our reaction to those calls - and how our team matured. Guys like Dano who never held back when getting a whack on the calf was now being strategic about not getting penalties. Stevens who could always be counted on Owen Nolan style to be taken out of his game by reacting to any over-the-line play, was now the initiator and was no longer taking bad penalties. That Rangers series might have gone differently had we had poise - but what was really important is that the entire team learned poise after being goaded by Messier, Graves et al - guys who had won in Edmonton. That 93-94 series broke my heart, and 'til this day I cannot get across the hatred that revolved around every water-cooler that spring. Being outnumbered in our own building - Fights in the cattle chute, fights in the parking lot, fights in stairwells. It was truly unbelievable and I'll never see that level of fan rivalry again because you had a whole young fanbase in their early 20s on the Devils side against a bunch of ***hats that always took over our building.

We were ready that next year to take the next step and always initiate play and control play.
Adding Carpenter stepped us up another level, more character, more potential scoring, more defense...
and then it seemed like Broten (the next year) was the last piece of the puzzle - along with help from Brylin and Rolston.

And I'll end by just saying that the '95 team was a machine. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that if we got up by a goal we were going to win. We were so tough at counter-attacking and so solid from top to bottom. Haven't felt that before nor since - even in 2000 or 2003 or 2004 and certainly not in 2012.
My big buzz for a certain player was Janne Ojanen. I thought he was going to be superstar :)

I enjoyed this post.
 

Devils Dominion

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Feb 16, 2007
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My big buzz for a certain player was Janne Ojanen. I thought he was going to be superstar :)

I enjoyed this post.

He had the tools but not tough enough.

I thought Anders Carlsson was going to be a big point producer after seeing him in a preseason game.
 

AveryQuietMan

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Oct 2, 2017
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watching claude vilgrain get mugged behind the net one night and the ref just stood there looking at him. co call, didnt even check on him and he was hurt bad.

also made vilgrain wear a cage when there was no injury....... when was the last time you saw an nhler where a cage for shts and giggles????? oh wait it was him....

hockey wasnt for everyone back then......
 
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blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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I was at that game 7 against Buffalo. Recall Claude Lemieux having a solid game. I also recall that the players looked pretty stone faced the whole time as if they knew they were going to win. I also remember watching the first game against Boston on TV and the stands were empty and the commentators asking where all the fans were.

Lemieux was great. Ripped a laser over Haseks shoulder to give us the 2-1 lead that we wouldn't relinquish. That's what it was going to take to beat him that night.

I was at game 1 vs Boston in 1994 and didn't understand it either. Maybe 14,000 people there after we had over 18,000 for game 7 against Buffalo
 

blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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This was the stop against Buffalo. It's 1-0 here. If that goes in it's big trouble

Lemieux's gwg

 
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Bleedred

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This was the stop against Buffalo. It's 1-0 here. If that goes in it's big trouble

Lemieux's gwg


Many highlight reel Marty saves seemed to come off Niedermayer gaffes.

I'm not saying that to bury Niedermayer, as much to share some perspective when I see people complain (not that they've done much recently) about Severson and his f*** ups.
 

blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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Many highlight reel Marty saves seemed to come off Niedermayer gaffes.

I'm not saying that to bury Niedermayer, as much to share some perspective when I see people complain (not that they've done much recently) about Severson and his **** ups.

Definitely true. Nieds did have some of those "taking things a bit too easy" lapses which drove Lemaire nuts. People have forgotten how long it took for some really quality D to fully come into their own.
 

Bleedred

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Definitely true. Nieds did have some of those "taking things a bit too easy" lapses which drove Lemaire nuts. People have forgotten how long it took for some really quality D to fully come into their own.
One save that was well into Nieds career was a huge save where Marty stacked the pads and did a Hasek roll, after Niedermayer carelessly just let the puck sit in the crease and Hossa got it a few feet away from Marty with like 5-6 minutes left in regulation in game 7 in the 2003 ECF. To be fair, it also looked poor communication between both Marty and Nieds.
 

RandoDoomer

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Apr 6, 2007
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I remember my folks being PISSED having to pay for Sportschannel just to see the Devils. Added to our inferiority complex.

We'd go down to the local Storer Cable office in October to sign up for SportsChannel and pick up our box (since we didn't subscribe to any other premium channels that required the box). Then, as soon as the Devils season was over, we'd return it and cancel SC til the next October. It was definitely a PITA.
 

AZviaNJ

Setbacks, no Defeats
Mar 31, 2011
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Lots of great memories, thanks for sharing. A few things stand-out.

1988 Donutgate - seemed like the Devils never got a call go their way even for a few years after Schoenie was fired in 89.

1990 playoffs - big disappointment losing to Washington. Devils were the better team, but didn't play like it. Burke was horrible. But was thrilled to see Shanahan continue to grow and was convinced he was going to be a Devil for life.

1991 playoffs vs Pittsburgh - Pens won in 7, was shocked the Devs pushed it that far. I vividly remember watching Game 3 from BB upper deck and looking down on a Pittsburgh PP unit of Mario, Francis, Jagr, Coffey and Murphy (all HOFers) and wondering how do you stop those guys?!?! Pittsburgh went on to win the Cup.

Really liked McVie, didn't care for Cuniff or Brooks.

1994 playoffs - thought it was the best Brodeur ever played, especially Game 7, until the end. As heart-breaking as it was, seeing Ranger fans crying when Zelepukin scored with 7 seconds left in regulation provided some level of comfort.....that and the 3 NJ Cups that followed.

1995 Cup parade in BB parking lot - there was lingering concern the Devils were about to be moved to Nashville. This followed me to Arizona, where I've been since 1998, and dealing with annual "Coyotes are moving to....." Oh, and by the way, Johnnie Mac is an awful assistant coach :)
 
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Jack Be Quick

Hasek Is Right
Mar 17, 2011
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I still miss the old barn. I loved the parking lot. I loved going to the diner after the game. I love catching the last race or two after the game. I loved the sight lines, I loved the tiny concourses. I miss score-o. I miss turning to a certain page in the program to find an autograph. I miss the parking lot parades. I miss all the winning mostly.
I am right about at the giant line of demarcation for Devils fans with a very late 81 birthday and all and have great memories from 93 onwards. But I just can't feign any sense off loss from the Byrne or Continental.

I certainly get the nostalgia as my first live game was the playoff triple overtime win vs the Bruins in I believe 94 (could have been double or 95). But really the place was a nightmare during flyers games and a rags fan roaches nest during those years.

The empty cavern was fun for a pot smoking teen running around like an idiot during the mid 90's. But after that? May Joe Pesci forever bless our glorious rock.

That being said it's nice to read stories from the "old timers" who saw this thing through.
 

Nubmer6

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Lots of great memories, thanks for sharing. A few things stand-out.

1988 Donutgate - seemed like the Devils never got a call go their way even for a few years after Schoenie was fired in 89.
Actually, one of my favorite memories was from earlier that first playoff run. I think it was the game to close out our series against the Islanders. The stadium give-away that game were giant foam fingers. Somewhere along the line we ended up with 19040 foam fingers pointing at Kelly Hrudey chanting "Hruuuuuuuuuuuudeeeeeey...". I'm not sure if it got the same effect on TV, but being there live it was completely surreal. It looked like some weird real-life Monty Python cartoon with the giant finger and arm.

-edit-
And yes, I still have my foam finger :)
 

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