How the Devils' rise has echoes of a recent Stanley Cup champ

Email

Print

There are division rivals a team can't wait to face. Others, not so much.

Take the Washington Capitals for instance, who've already seen enough of their Metropolitan Division rivals in New Jersey.

"Thankfully, we're done with the New Jersey Devils this year," Capitals' coach Spencer Carbery joked in late December. "They've got a great team. We had some good battles against them. They've got a real good team, a well-rounded hockey team."

Theirs was an evenly matched series in the end -- with New Jersey the overall victor at 2-1-0 -- but Carbery's relief in being free of the Devils (for this regular season, at least) is testament to how strong their rivals up I-95 have been this…