It’s been settled, and the Hudson River rivals will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Both the Rangers and Devils will square off when their postseason campaigns begin next week, and it’ll likely be a long and heated series.
New Jersey finished second in the Metropolitan division. The Rangers finished behind the Devils in the division, which means the Devils will have home-ice advantage.
The Devils won the season series 3-1 and outscored the Blueshirts 14-11.
The lone Rangers win came at Madison Square Garden back on Dec. 12 when New York came back from two goals down in the third period to force overtime. Filip Chytil then gave the Rangers the win with a goal 2:15 into extra time.
New Jersey won the first meeting, on Nov. 28, 5-3, at The Garden thanks to a dominant second period for the Devils. Game 3 in the season series was an instant classic. A struggling Devils team scored twice in the third period to force overtime Damon Severson had an unassisted goal 2:47 into extra time to pick up the win at the Prudential Center.
In the season finale, the Devils won thanks to their defense, which is not a strength for them. Goalie Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves to stifle the Rangers, 2-1 on March 30.
This will be the seventh all-time meeting between both clubs. The last time was in 2012 when they met in the Eastern Conference Finals. New Jersey won that series 4-2. That series may be most remembered by rookies Adam Henrique’s game-winning goal in overtime in Game 6.