Psychologically, the defending champions have never been more aware of the difficulty of retaining what they sweated so profusely to earn. There are high expectations. There's pressure every night.
New Jersey knows how painful it can be to fall short of high expectations.
The Devils swept Detroit to bring home the Cup for the first time in 1995, then failed to mount any defense at all when they suffered the ignominy of missing the playoffs the following season. They topped the Eastern Conference with 107 points in 1997-98, then were toppled by Ottawa in the opening round. Martin Brodeur was the goaltender then and now. He understands how much matchups, injuries and fluky bounces of the puck can mean. We have to do our own thing, but a lot of things have to fall right.