There’s every reason to think that the Devils will lose this series, and lose it badly.
For starters, while Brodeur is 2-3 years away from having every important goaltending record, no one is playing better right now than Henrik Lundqvist.
Plus, the Rangers ended the season well and the Devils did not.
And lastly the Rangers have owned the Devils this year, winning 7 of 8. (Though 4 of the 8 contests were decided in a shootout, effectively making the Devils 0-4-4.
To paraphrase Cleveland Indians groundskeepers: That’s still shitty.)
And these are 3 good reasons to pick against the Devils, but there’s something more that bothers me about this team: For years, this team has absorbed free agency hits left and right without finding adequate replacements. And they’ve overachieved over most of this time due to some very good coaching by Sutter, Julien, and Lamoriello. But after losing Judas Gomez, Rafalski and Niedermayer while only retaining Langenbrunner (smart move) and Elias (Bad move. He’s half of what he used to be; a hepatitis death scare will do that), the Devils were due to take a step back. And worse, there’s no help awaiting this team in the farm, as Parise and to a lesser extent Zajac and Clarkson may be the best that Lowell produces for some time. Surprisingly, the Devils have maintained a fairly high level the last two years, winning the division 2 of the 3 years since the strike in spite of their losses. But sooner or later, it was going to catch up to them, and I guess my biggest fear is that it finally has, culminating in a first round loss this year.
And one additional reason to pick the Rangers: after seeing how I fared in many recent picks, I’m convinced that pretty much any team that I pick to win is going to lose. Case in point, in the one NCAA pool that I was still alive in (a pool with 7 other friends) I needed UNC to beat UCLA in the finals, and I’d win free shots from everyone. Thank you Memphis and Kansas! And last year in the NFL playoffs, I picked the Patriots, Packers, Cowboys, and even Tampa to end the Giants’ season. I’ll admit it. I'm horrible picking games. So if I can do my part in ending the Rangers’ season, then picking them to beat the Devils is the least I can do.
The Pick: Rangers in 3.
There’s every reason to think that the Devils will lose this series, and lose it badly. For starters, while Brodeur is 2-3 years away from having every important goaltending record, no one is playing better right now than Henrik Lundqvist. Plus, the Rangers ended the season well and the Devils did not. And lastly the Rangers have owned the Devils this year, winning 7 of 8. (Though 4 of the 8 contests were decided in a shootout, effectively making the Devils 0-4-4. To paraphrase Cleveland Indians groundskeepers: That’s still shitty.) 
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