The New Jersey Devils, despite a loss last night to the New York Rangers, have pulled a Lazarus and resuscitated their season with their recent nine game winning streak. The streak has put the Devils right back in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race as the NHL prepares to shut down for the Olympics.

This feat is impressive because the Devils are doing it despite losing two major components of a team who has won three Stanley Cups in the last 11 years. Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer were the backbone of one of the stingiest defenses in recent NHL history and hurt their opponents in two very different ways.

Stevens, who retired before the start of the 2005-06 season, was as close to a shut-down defenseman you can get in the NHL. Stevens was well known as a rugged, fearsome hitter, and was even labeled dirty by some. The fact that he never won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman is largely due to the fact the defender with the best scoring totals usually wins the award. (Does anyone else find this moronic?) His name was perennially on the list of finalists for the Norris, despite the fact his offensive production peaked early in his career.

Niedermayer, who signed with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks as a free agent before this season, quarterbacked the Devil’s power play and won the Norris Trophy in 2004. He meant as much to Devils offensive production as Stevens did to its stalwart defense.

The Devils were also without their top forward, Patrick Elias, for most of the first half of the season, and started slowly. Goaltender Martin Brodeur, stripped of his security blankets of Stevens and Niedermayer, appeared mortal after years of domination and New Jersey appeared to be in serious trouble.

Elias returned to the line-up, Brodeur returned to his dominating form, and the Devils rattled off its nine game streak, putting them in a position to make the playoffs.

The Breakaway

The season, and possibly the career, of Philadelphia Flyers’ captain Keith Primeau looks in serious jeopardy after the Flyers acquired center Petr Nedved on Friday. Primeau has missed most of this season with post-concussion syndrome symptoms, unable to even practice with the team. Primeau was one of the best players in the postseason during the Flyers run to the Eastern Conference in 2003-2004. While Nedved should provide some more scoring depth, Primeau’s physical presence will be missed.