1987–88 New Jersey Devils season: Difference between revisions

On the last day of the season, Sunday, April 3, 1988, the Devils were scheduled to play the [[Chicago Blackhawks]] at [[Chicago Stadium]]. Going into the game, the Devils were tied with the [[New York Rangers]] with 80 points for the last playoff spot in the [[Patrick Division]]. On April 3, the Rangers were scheduled to play the [[Quebec Nordiques]] at home. The Rangers shut out the Nordiques, 3-0, to finish their season with 82 points. When the game ended, the Devils-Blackhawks game was still in progress. Both teams skated to a 3-3 tie after 60 minutes. For the Devils to qualify for the playoffs, they would have to score in overtime to get the win and the two points to keepwin pacethe withtiebreaker the Rangers. An overtime loss would keep them at 80 points and a 3-3 tie would move them up only to 81 points, handing the last playoff berth to the Rangers. At 2:21 of the overtime period, [[John MacLean (ice hockey)|John MacLean]] scored the game-winning goal on a rebound slap-shot past Blackhawks netminder [[Darren Pang]] to give the Devils a 4-3 win. Both the Devils and Rangers finished with 82 points. However, since the Devils had two more wins during the regular season, they ended up taking the Patrick Division's 4th playoff spot and thereby sealed the first ever playoff berth for the franchise in New Jersey.