Puneet Varma (Editor)

2006–07 New Jersey Devils season

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Division
  
1st Atlantic

2006–07 record
  
49–24–9

Road record
  
24–14–3

Conference
  
2nd Eastern

Home record
  
25–10–6

Goals for
  
216

The 2006–07 New Jersey Devils season was the team's 25th in the National Hockey League since the franchise moved to New Jersey. The team qualified again for the playoffs, losing in the second round to the Ottawa Senators.

Contents

Regular season

The 2006-07 season saw the team attempting to maintain its position among the top teams in the National Hockey League's Eastern Conference. Behind the goaltending of Martin Brodeur and the offensive abilities of players such as Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta, the Devils once again made a drive into the playoffs. It was the team's last season in Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as construction of the Prudential Center in Newark was completed in time for the Devils to move in for the 2007–08 season. Patrik Elias became the seventh captain in team history, following the retirement of Scott Stevens the previous season.

Brodeur, in his 13th full season of NHL play, continued his legacy as one of the winningest goaltenders in league history. On December 8, he shut out the Philadelphia Flyers to record his 462nd career victory, moving him into second place on the all-time victory list, behind Patrick Roy (551). Later in the month, on December 26, Brodeur recorded his 85th career shutout (3–0 over the Pittsburgh Penguins) to move into third place on the all-time shutout list, behind Terry Sawchuk (103) and George Hainsworth (94).

On April 2, the Devils surprisingly fired Head Coach Claude Julien with three games remaining in the season, despite a strong record of 47–24–8. Lou Lamoriello took over as coach afterwards.

On April 5, 2007, a win against the Philadelphia Flyers broke two records. One was the records for most wins in a season by a goaltender by Martin Brodeur with his 48th victory of the season. However, nine of those wins came via shootout. Making all things equivalent, Brodeur finished the season with 39 non-shootout wins to Bernie Parent's 47. The other being the New Jersey Devil franchise record of most wins by the team in a season with their 49th victory.

The Devils finished the regular season as Atlantic Division champions with 107 points, good for second-place in the Eastern Conference. They also finished the regular season with a league-high 12 shutouts, all of them by Martin Brodeur.

The Devils were the most disciplined team during the regular season, with just 271 power-play opportunities against, and allowed the fewest power-play goals in the League, with only 40.

Note: No. = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

P- Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y- Clinched Division; X- Clinched Playoff spot

Playoffs

The New Jersey Devils ended the 2006–07 regular season as the Eastern Conference's second seed.

On April 28, 2007 the Devils sold out the 19,040 capacity Continental Airlines Arena for the first time in the 2006–07 season in the 3–2 double overtime win against the Ottawa Senators.

The Devils' season came to an end on May 5, 2007, as they lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals to the Ottawa Senators 3–2, to lose the series 4–1. That defeat turned out to be the last game ever played at the Continental Airlines Arena.

Eastern Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (7) Tampa Bay Lightning

New Jersey wins series 4–2

Eastern Conference Semi-finals: vs. (4) Ottawa Senators

Ottawa wins series 4–1

  • Green background indicates win.
  • Red background indicates loss.
  • Media

    Television coverage was still on Fox Sports Network with Mike Emrick and Chico Resch handling the play-by-play while Steve Cangialosi handled the studio/color commentator duties. Radio coverage was still on WFAN 660, but this time, former television color commentator Matt Loughlin took the position as radio play-by-play announcer. Also, in this season, Sherry Ross returns to be the radio color commentator.

    Regular season

    Scoring
    Goaltending

    Playoffs

    Scoring
    Goaltending

    Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
          MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T/OT = Ties/overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

    Draft picks

    The Devils' picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver, British Columbia.

    References

    2006–07 New Jersey Devils season Wikipedia