Devils Roll On

With a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks last night the New Jersey Devils have now won six in a row and find themselves on top of the Atlantic Division supplanting the injury riddled Pittsburgh Penguins. That is what makes the Devils a unique win producing machine; in the offseason they lost Brian Gionta and long time stable John Madden and yet the victories continue to pile up. Say what you will about the neutral zone trap—that it’s boring, unentertaining, etc.—the bottom line is that it works and there’s nothing more entertaining than watching your team win. Let’s not kid ourselves, the Devils roster is not full of duds, Patrick Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner, and of course Martin Brodeur are big time players. However, for most teams losing the players New Jersey has over the last few years would not have ended well. Despite the losses (including Brodeur miss most of last year with injury) the Devils players continue to buy into the system being preached to them and it results in win after win and ultimately playoff appearances. Granted, over the last few years success in the playoffs has been hard to come by for New Jersey but being in a position to be successful is all you can ask for coming out of the regular season because once the post-season begins you never know what will happen.