Charge to the Playoffs: The Fall and Rise of the NJ Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk

After yet another 2-1 win and game-winning goal from the stick of Ilya Kovalchuk, the New Jersey Devils find themselves at 19-2-2 in their last 23 games. They are currently nine points out of 8th place with two games in hand on the Carolina Hurricanes, and ten points out of 7th place with three games in hand on the New York Rangers. The only question that should be posed is not "will they make the playoffs?" but rather "who will want to play them in the first round?"

The Devils' upcoming schedule is one of the more favorable among the teams currently situated 7th-12th in the Eastern Conference. Their next six games are against the likes of the Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders and Atlanta "where has our hockey ability gone" Thrashers.

They do have some difficult games against the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres towards the end of the month—that March 26th tilt against the Sabres could be jockeying for the 7th and 8th playoff seeds—so the Devils cannot afford to drop points in their next six against teams currently far from playoff contention.

The teams the Devils are chasing have infinitely more difficult schedules. While the Devils will be feasting on the aforementioned bottom-dwellers of the conference, the Rangers play home to the Philadelphia Flyers, at the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks and home for the Montreal Canadiens, with a game with the Isles sandwiched in there.

The Hurricanes play home to Atlanta, at Washington, home to the Columbus Blue Jackets, at Buffalo and then home to the streaking Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Sabres have the toughest schedule by far in the next two weeks. They go on the road for five straight against the likes of the Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins and Maple Leafs. Ouch.

Toronto's upcoming two weeks isn't much better, but they do get some games at home, unlike the Sabres. They play home to the Chicago Blackhawks, take a short trip to Long Island, and them come back home for the likes of the Flyers, Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning before taking another trip to Carolina.

The Devils should pick up at least another 4-5 points on the 7th and 8th seed teams, minimum.

And in the midst of all of this playoff talk, I think back to when Devils fans were wondering if their team would ever win two games in a row! They did on November 22nd and 24th...that was it. Think about that: before this epic charge to the playoffs began, the Devils had won more than one game in a row only once. They have since won 19 of 23 and have gone 11-1 in their last 12.

Yes, that sound you hear is the shaking of the Flyers' skates asking, "Why?" If revenge is a dish best served cold, what better place than a hockey rink to avenge last year's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Flyers.

But their question is a valid one. Why is this happening? More specifically, how is this happening? Quite simply, it's the resurgence of an entire franchise. I mean you can really point anywhere on this team and see improvement. So, rather than recycle what the entire hockey world has been dissecting for the last two weeks, I offer three predictions.

The Devils will make the playoffs as the 7th or 8th seed. I think it will come down to Buffalo and New Jersey with Toronto and Carolina just missing out. The Rangers are collapsing and have played more games than anyone. The Devils' schedule is favorable (they finish their last six games with four at home where they are 10-0-1 in their last 11) as I've pointed out, and at some point towards the end of March and beginning of April we should see...

Zach Parise will return to the lineup. He started skating again March 2nd and was given a two-to-three week timetable before practicing with the team. Since the playoffs are six weeks out, there should be plenty of time for ZP to get into game shape. His return would be tremendous and certainly would give the team a shot in the arm. The scoring would be more balanced and the Devils would instantly become a more dangerous team. Right in time for...

A rematch from last year. The Flyers will finish as the 1st or 2nd overall seed. The Devils will likely finish matched up against them. It will be a repeat of last year, when the lower seeded team soundly defeated the higher seed.

So, the Devils have risen from their early season grave, after parting with an in-over-his-head rookie coach, and turned things over to a coach who, after last season's embarrassing loss in the playoffs, revised his methods and system. The results speak for themselves.

At several times during this season, Devils fans kept up the mantra of, "well, at least we have a good future." Indeed, the future looks bright with several of the Devils' young players—Mattias Tedenby, Jacob Josefson, Nick Palmieri, Mark Fayne, Matt Taormina, among others. But something unexpected happened—the present looks bright as well.