Stanley Cup 2012: Devils Will Fire Back After Overtime Heartbreaker

The New Jersey Devils prefer to chase.

On Wednesday night, New Jersey fell 2-1 in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. A Game 1 loss is no reason to panic, though. This postseason, the Devils have proven time after time that they’re always a threat to fire back.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Florida Panthers strung together two straight triumphs to take a 2-1 series lead over the Devils. New Jersey bounced back and dominated a must-win Game 4 to tie it up. Even when the Panthers stole Game 5 and pushed the Devils’ backs against the wall of elimination, they didn’t panic and cruised to victories in Game 6 and 7.

Against the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference semifinals, New Jersey fell in Game 1 to find themselves behind yet again. But once again, they regrouped and this time went on to win four straight contests.

The conference finals were no different. The New York Rangers took the series lead twice with wins in Game 1 and 3, but the Devils refused to lose and won three straight to close out the series.

Rich Chere of The Star-Ledger reported that New Jersey head coach Peter DeBoer talked about what the Devils did to bounce back from their deficits earlier in the postseason. He said after Wednesday night’s loss:

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"We didn't make tangible changes. We fixed what we felt went wrong. I think when I look back at our playoff trail, one of the areas that's cropped up in every round is we've been a little tentative in the first game, kind of felt our way and then jumped in with both feet in Game 2. I think that's hopefully what we'll do here again."

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Down 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals, New Jersey is in their comfort zone. They rebounded before and they’ll do it once again.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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