NHL Ends Regular Season While Brodeur, Jagr May Have Played Final Game as Devils

And that’s a wrap for the NHL regular season.

On Sunday, teams finished up play and now 16 of them will look ahead to their postseason matchups, which will begin on Wednesday, April 16.

Here’s the games and their start dates for the first round of playoffs.

Eastern Conference

Detroit Red Wings at Boston Bruins (begins Friday, April 18)

Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning (begins Wednesday, April 16)

Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins (begins April 16)

Philadelphia Flyers at NY Rangers (begins Thursday, April 17)

Western Conference

Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche (begins April 17)

Chicago Blackhawks at St. Louis Blues (begins April 17)

Dallas Stars at Anaheim Ducks (begins April 16)

Los Angeles Kings at San Jose Sharks (begins April 17)

Here’s a look at the latest odds.

Eastern Conference Winner

Boston Bruins - 13/10
Pittsburgh Penguins - 11/4
Philadelphia Flyers - 17/2
Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers – 9/1
Detroit Red Wings - 10/1
Tampa Bay Lightning -14/1
Columbus Blue Jackets -20/1

Western Conference Winner

St. Louis Blues - 5/2
Chicago Blackhawks -15/4
San Jose Sharks - 9/2
Anaheim Ducks -5/1
Los Angeles Kings -6/1
Colorado Avalanche - 13/2
Minnesota Wild - 18/1
Dallas Stars -22/1

2014 Stanley Cup Winner

Boston Bruins - 7/2
St. Louis Blues -6/1
Pittsburgh Penguins -7/1
Chicago Blackhawks -8/1
Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks-9/1
Los Angeles Kings - 10/1
Colorado Avalanche -14/1
Philadelphia Flyers -18/1
Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers – 20/1
Tampa Bay Lightning - 28/1
Minnesota Wild - 40/1
Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars - 50/1

Brodeur and Jagr’s Last Game with New Jersey? 

In Sunday’s NHL action, New Jersey Devils veteran Martin Brodeur may have started in his final game with his 20-year-old team.

Martin Brodeur

Brodeur, 41, is in last year of his contract and has been playing backup this season to the team’s Cory Schneider, 28. The player may test the free-agent market waters after he previously saying he’d like more playing time. This comes after Brodeur’s 19-14-6 record over 39 games this season; however, he is the league’s leader for wins (688) and shutouts (124).

For Sunday’s game in front of the home crowd, he received a rousing fan response with the chant, “Thank You Martin!”

Brodeur said on Sunday via the Associated Press, “It was a little emotional. I have spent my life here. All the fans out there know me. They think they know me by my name, and I feel they know me. They have been calling my name for 20 years. Every time they stop me and talk to me, they are great. It’s a relationship that an athlete has with people. It was definitely fun, but it was emotional.”

Along with the fan love, the Devils also got a 3-2 win over the Bruins for Brodeur. For the night he had 16 saves while teammate Marek Zidlicky scored twice; Travis Zajac had one goal.

Jaromir Jagr had two assists to advance his total to 1,050; he sits at No. 8 for the league’s career list.

This veteran player, 42, may have also played his last game with New Jersey. While he expressed discontent with the team’s play this year, he has been open about extending his career but again he is an unrestricted free agent.

Jaromir Jagr

Jagr has hinted about returning to the Devils and said after Sunday’s game, “Like I said, I like it here a lot. No question about it. At my age, it’s pretty tough to change teams year after year. It took me at least 15 to 20 games to get used to the players. It’s not easy to play in this league, plus you have to get used to new players and new system. It’s tough for me and I don’t have many games left. So why waste 20 extra games?”

For Boston, who rested many of their starters on Sunday, Loui Eriksson and Brad Marchand scored.

The Devils are now done with their season and again will look to the next one under the guidance of coach Pete DeBoer.