from Stan Fischler at the Daily Freeman,

In Newark, where the Devils enjoyed an unprecedented season-long run of sellouts at Prudential Center, fans are massaging their scalps, wondering how the plunge from the penthouse to the pits occurred almost without warning and precedent.

Or, as Mr. Devil-turned-broadcaster Ken Daneyko says, “I’ve never seen anything like this collapse.”

While the Blueshirts prepare for the playoffs, Lou Lamoriello’s club can only ponder what-might-have-been, especially since the Devils leaped from the starting gate in this aborted hockey season with an 8-1-3 record.

The ever-trustworthy Fischler Sports X-Ray Machine provides all the pertinent answers which, incidentally, are so simplistic they can be summed up in six words: Age, Injuries, Sophomore Slump, Zach (and) Parise. To wit:

AGE -- DeBoer entered the season with two veteran goaltenders. Future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur will be 41 years old in a little more than two weeks. His sidekick Johan (Moose) Hedberg will be 40 two Sundays from now. The most productive Devil, Patrik Elias just turned 37.

more