Rival in Focus: New Jersey Devils by Bill Meltzer @BillMeltzer / philadelphiaflyers.com
It doesn t feel like all that long ago that the New Jersey Devils gave fits to virtually every team in the National Hockey League they were, after all, three-time Stanley Cup champions between 1995 and 2003 and took four trips to the Cup Final between 1995 and 2012 but none more so than the Flyers. The Flyers lost twice to the Devils in the Eastern Conference Final (1995, 2000) on New Jersey s way to winning the Stanley Cup and also fell to the Devils in the second playoff round in New Jersey s most recent run (2012) to winning the Eastern Conference Championship. While the Devils fell on hard times thereafter and have missed the playoffs in eight of the last 10 years, they ve often continued to, well, bedevil Philadelphia.