It’s been less pleasant to think of the present on an otherwise nostalgic night for the New Jersey Devils.
Cory Schneider gave up three goals on five shots (yes, that’s less than a 50/50 save percentage) before being pulled in favor of Keith Kinkaid (who quickly gave up the 4-0 goal) as the Toronto Maple Leafs are all over New Jersey to start this game. They ended the first period up 4-0.
On the bright side, fans can look to the past, although some of this action might evoke the earliest days of their run under Dr. John J. McMullen, the team’s first owner. McMullen is being inducted into the Devils’ Ring of Honor on Friday.
Plenty of big names were on hand, from Lou Lamoriello to Claude Lemieux to Patrik Elias (who notably didn’t wear a jersey, as if to remind us that he feels that his story isn’t over).
Here’s full video of the presentation:
Good stuff from the Devils organization. The team lagged behind a bit, at least to start.
Update: The Leafs ended up winning 4-2 on Friday. You could probably accuse them of, um, sitting on their lead a bit -
Devils outshoot the Leafs 14-0 in the third period.
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) January 7, 2017