from Stan Fischler of MSG, Scott Niedermayer’s banner will be unfurled at Prudential Center on Friday night before the New Jersey Devils host the Dallas Stars and if ever a franchise-maker ever deserved to have his number hung from the ceiling in a rare tribute, this humble, understated defender is it.
With all due respect to Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens and assorted other Garden State heroes, it was Niedermayer who pulled off the spectacular end-to-end rush that helped catapult the Devils to their first of three Stanley Cup championships.
But let me backtrack a bit so that you’ll understand precisely how ridiculously hopeless the Devils’ chances were in that Spring of 1995 when somehow coach Jacques Lemaire manipulated his men through three playoff rounds to reach the climactic Final round against the vaunted Detroit Red Wings.
continued
Original Story:
