With New Year’s Eve hockey games starting, I figured I’d update my top three for each trophy as of this moment as we close in on the halfway point:

Hart

1.Martin Brodeur- has done most with less. League leading six shutouts.
2.Marian Hossa- continues to play extremely well. Tied for second with 52 points.
3.Dominik Hasek- where would they be without him? Leads in GAA (1.82) and has won 10 of last 11.

Norris

1.Chris Pronger- Continues to dominate on blueline with 40 points and +21 rating.
2.Nicklas Lidstrom- Rock solid as usual with 34 points and NHL best +24 rating.
3.Scott Niedermayer- Smooth as silk D can flourish in any situation. 32 points, +10 rating.

Vezina

1.Martin Brodeur- Has all his team’s wins. Ranks in top three in wins, GAA, save percentage and shutouts.
2.Dominik Hasek- First in GAA, second in shutouts and world’s better than Osgood.
3.Chris Mason- Has flown under radar. Ex-Devil draft pick is playing like a No.1 and has stats (15 wins, 2.27 GAA, .929 save pct and 4 shutouts) to back it up. Will Vokoun get his job back?

Calder

1.Evgeni Malkin- continues to pace all rookies in goals (18), PPG (8) and points (36).
2.Anze Kopitar- right behind Malkin with 35 points while leading all freshmen with 24 helpers. A dynamic talent.
3.Matt Carle- leads all rookie defensemen with 21 points while getting almost 19:00 a night for playoff contender San Jose.

Selke

1.Todd Marchant- has returned as very effective checking line center who neutralizes opponents and is threat shorthanded (3 SHG).
2.Kris Draper- former Selke winner continues to be gritty reliable self for Wings chipping in three shorties and respectable +9 rating.
3.Jay Pandolfo- his linemate Mad Dog always gets all the kudos but the former BU standout is the overlooked player who makes that line so tough to play against.

Jack Adams

1.Ted Nolan- has comeback and proven he still can motivate players. Has Islanders playing solid hockey and competing for a playoff spot when they were expected to finish near the bottom.
2.Denis Savard- since taking over in Chicago, the former Blackhawk has injected life into a once dead Original Six club and has them in playoff contention.
3.Glen Hanlon- you look at that Caps team especially on D and wonder how they can be only a couple of points out of the postseason race. This team’s work ethic is tremendous.

I’m not totally sure what well be doing for New Year’s. You can expect my inaugural attemp at Isles GameDay, when they take on Buffalo tomorrow at 4.

Tonight’s Games:

Anaheim at Minnesota.
Kings and Wings.
Hawks and Jackets.
Battle of Alberta.
Sharks and Stars.
Canes and Phailures.

No webcasting for a few days, so without Center ice, there’s no hockey to watch tonight.

I see Steve called it an “accident” that the Rangers actually won a game for the first time in over two weeks. Normally, I would agree based on how poorly this team has been going. But not tonight buddy. Was it also an accident that the Devils found a way to beat the Islanders? Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

To say I was absolutely shocked with what I saw would be an understatement. It’s almost as shocking as another lifeless New York team that wears blue leading 20-7 at halftime in D.C. against the other Washington team. Well they did win but not without making it an adventure. Meaning both teams won. Did hell freeze over? An investigation is underway as we write this.

What took place the Garden tonight was a miracle. The Rangers and Capitals battled old school in every sense of the word, turning back the clock to when the game wasn’t soft and these two were bitter Patrick Division rivals. How good was it? By far the best game the Rangers have taken part in this season. Forget some of the other wins they’ve had. The first two against the Devils were nice. So were the couple of big ones out West at Anaheim and San Jose. But those take a back seat to how the club snapped their seven-game skid.

From the very opening shift, I could tell that something was different with Tom Renney’s club. Instead of the passionless East/West pansy hockey which had been sucking the life out of them, the Blueshirts decided to come out and play a throwback North/South style which will suit them well when they visit The Meadowlands this Tuesday starting the New Year. Whether or not they do it is up to them. But this new classic style worked well and paid dividends in a 4-1 statement victory which energized fans for a change and didn’t leave them blue during this holiday season.

So what was different aside from the unusual rough stuff and rock’em sock’em antics which had to have league commish Gary Bettman shaking in his boots? Well, for starters, there was a Petr Prucha sighting. Reunited for the second straight game with Opening Night linemates Matt Cullen and Brendan Shanahan, the slumping second-year winger scored twice (not a misprint). Both goals were the kind he scored last year en route to 30. The first came just 1:55 in when Prucha did the grunt work in front of the net finding a Karel Rachunek rebound and flipping a backhand home past Olaf Kolzig. It was his first goal in six games and got the team off to the kind of quick start they needed- also ending that long goal drought which lasted over seven periods.

Continuing to carry the play to a tired Caps team who was shorthanded due to the flu and playing their fourth game in five nights (can someone please explain why), the Rangers took the body and controlled play in a dominant first outshooting their opponents 16-5. Not long after a key Henrik Lundqvist stop on Alexander Semin, Nylander increased the lead to two when he tapped home Martin Straka’s centering feed for his 13th. The play wouldn’t have been possible without the work of underrated defenseman Michal Rozsival, who jumped into the play down low and created the seam for Straka to thread the needle to an isolated Nylander. A potential NHL All Star on the backline (no joke), Rozy earned a secondary assist.

In the second, the hardworking Caps raised their intensity level and tested Lundqvist, who was equal to the task swatting aside all nine shots which included four Caps’ power plays. Lundqvist and the Ranger PK did a solid job killing them off. It seemed in this one a Ranger was in the right spot for a change, breaking up a play or getting in the path of an Alexander Ovechkin blast. Speaking of AO, he had an eventful night. It’s worth noting that in the first during the first goal by Prucha, he was nailed by Darius Kasparaitis near the end of a long shift. While Ovechkin got retribution by nailing Nylander, Prucha put away the rebound. It was all part of another active night for the fiery Russian star who played his usual no-nonsense physical style.

Back to the second period where this game changed and intensified to a boil. During his shifts, goon Donald Brashear was pulling the usual antics nailing several Rangers including Rozsival and team captain Jaromir Jagr. That’s always been how Brash plays. He makes you pay out there. The book on this Ranger squad is to be as physical as possible because they can’t deal with it. So the ex-Flyer was only doing the smart thing in trying to mix it up and spark his club. On one shift in which he skated with Dainius Zubrus and Chris Clark, the always underrated big man almost setup the tying goal but Lundqvist held the post on Zubrus and froze the puck.

It was a little later in the period when things started to get heated. After third line energizer Ryan Hollweg caught a Cap near the boards, a hustling Brashear rushed to the aid of his teammate and punched Ryan twice with his glove on. Hollweg responded with a punch before Brash hit him square in the face with two more, drawing an additional two minutes for roughing. In essence, Hollweg did the job and went to the box with a grin. I can only hope he does the same thing Tuesday and goads Devil goon extraordinaire Cam Janssen into as silly a penalty. He’s not as ornery as Brash yet. So we’ll see.

With under a minute left in the second, the Rangers got a huge goal from out of all people Kasparaitis (again not a misprint). On a play made possible from hard work from Jagr who was much better tonight than the past three losses, No.68 took a Straka pass behind the net, drew a delayed penalty and two Caps and still setup a streaking Kaspar for his second goal in two Saturdays. He also tallied in that awful blowout loss at Toronto. This was different circumstances entirely and gave his team a three-goal margin.

Two seconds after the puck was dropped, retribution was saught from Ranger enforcer Colton Orr on Brashear. Sticking up for Hollweg, Orr took his lumps and predictably lost to the bigger man. No shame there. What was better was that it was for a great cause. If Orr does that when he plays, then he’s winning a lot of points in my book. It’s the only way Renney can justify keeping him in the lineup over Jarkko Immonen, who still should see PT over either Marcel Hossa or Adam Hall.

With the Rangers ahead by three in the third, that’s when things got even more interesting for those tuning in. During a faceoff, Brashear snuck a short elbow into Jagr’s kisser. The cheapshot was noted by the Czech, who returned the favor by taking down Brash and earning an interference minor. It got more troublesome for New York when Aaron Ward went to the box on a trip giving Washington a two-man advantage. But during it, it was a determined Blueshirts PK showing something they hadn’t for quite some time. A spark. Rozsival hustling and even defensive enigma Thomas Pock breaking up plays. He also prevented an Ovechkin breakaway in the first. They killed off the penalties and got big cheers from the crowd.

But the best part of this old school game took place a couple of minutes later. During Jagr’s retaliatory penalty, a ticked off Shanahan had words with Brashear between the benches. The message was delivered. Despite how poorly and inconsistent his Original Six club has played, the 37 year-old North American has been terrific all season. Already a fan favorite entering the game due to his team-leading 23 goals and 42 points which ranks third along with gritty play, Shanahan took it upon himself to challenge Brashear during his next shift before a faceoff. Maybe the big guy thought it was a joke. But when Shanny dropped the gloves, Brashear obliged and the two then traded blows to a raucous atmosphere. Truth be told, the future Hall of Famer who’s scored over 600 goals didn’t do badly. He took some shots from Brash but hung in there and got a couple of uppercuts in to the delight of the crowd. It really was fun to watch and see that for one night, the Rangers were sticking up for each other. After the scrap ended, the usual circus which is Brashear cheapshotted A. Ward by suckerpunching him in the face. Ward said something to draw such a reaction and got an unsportsmanlike conduct. But it was worth it in his book. He got the big teddybear tossed out of the game.

Meanwhile, Shanahan got a huge reception headed to the box and an even louder roar of approval when he got out during a break. This was New York hockey fans paying tribute to a throwback hockey player who throughout his accomplished 20-year career has done all the little things to win games. Those fans recognized that. It was also recognized by the beat writers who tabbed him the game’s 2nd star despite not registering a point, rewarding his spunk.

Too many instances this year, the Rangers have been getting pushed around. For one night they pushed back and showed some life that I didn’t believe they had. It continued with less than five minutes remaining when Orr delivered a cheapshot to Ovechkin, catching him not looking with his stick up, drawing a charging penalty before taking on Shaone Morrisonn who did the right thing stepping in for his superstar teammate. I don’t approve of Orr’s antics there. I’d rather it be a little cleaner with AO having the puck. But I also understand why Orr did it. If opponents want to go after Jagr, then our guys need to do the same thing to opponents. I hope they do this to that little pest Brian Gionta Tuesday. It’s him and not Patrik Elias who is always in the middle of everything the first place Devils do. Gionta is the sneaky guy who slashes defensemen in front of the net and creates chaos for goalies. Making him pay the price is the least the Blueshirts need to do.

The good news after the Orr cheapshot which got him the rest of the night off and probably a one-game suspension is that nothing else ugly occured. The two teams instead traded late goals eight seconds apart when Prucha notched his second of the night for his first two-goal game of the season on a rebound via power play before Ben Clymer took a Lawrence Nycholat pass off a faceoff and got just enough of it to spoil Lundqvist’s shutout bid. Why does that always happen to Ranger netminders? This team just doesn’t know how to get their goalies shutouts. It happened way too frequently with Mike Richter and continues to happen with Lundqvist and even Kevin Weekes. Just once I’d like to see them play as boring a style as the Devils so they can pad their goalie’s stats the way the Swamprats do for their future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur. Oh well. Not on this night.

All in all, it was just nice to see the Rangers get back in the win column. It was good enough in this mediocre new NHL to vault the 19-17-4 Blueshirts (19-21 in regulation for those keeping score) back to seventh in the East with 42 points, one ahead of the Islanders and Bruins. The bad news is they’ve played three more games than the Isles while Boston still holds a ridiculous five games at hand. Can anyone explain that to me? What the hell kind of scheduling is that? That’s something I’ll never understand about this half ass backwards league. But whatever. It is what it is. It also means the Blueshirts are going to need a serious push in the second half starting with the game January 2nd to make the postseason a second straight year. We’ll see what they’re made of.

Happy New Year!!!!! Hope everyone enjoys it and stays safe!

Scoring Summary
1st Period
Devils - Brian Rafalski - 2nd of the Season, from Pandolfo and Madden at 5:21.
2nd Period - Nothing
3rd Period
Devils - Patrik Elias (PP, EN) - 15th of the Season, from Gomez and Oduya at 19:50.

Goaltenders
Devils - Martin Brodeur, 29 Shots, 29 Saves.
Islanders - Rick DiPietro, 35 Shots, 34 Saves. (1 EN Goal)

First of all, what a fantastic game. Say what you will about scoring being down, this proved that it doesn’t matter how much scoring you have, it’s the kind of excitement the game has. This is the game that made Devils-Islanders a big-time rivalry once more. This had fire, passion, energy, fisticuffs and general hatred that every rivalry should have. And they meet again in what, 5 days? Cannot wait.

This was a goaltenders duel in every sense of the word. Old guard vs. New guard. Canada vs. USA. New Jersey vs. New York. Brodeur vs. DiPietro. These two battled at every shot they faced, and played the game with the snarl you expect from those two. It’s a shame that a fluke goal in the 1st period decided it.

After the Devils were unsuccessful on two early power plays in the first five minutes of hockey, things settled down, until Brian Rafalski took what seem to be a harmless looking shot. However, it went off an Islander stick, popped into the air, and then, same-day call-up Allen Rourke tried to get a glove on the puck. He did, but he knocked it back in the air, over DiPietro’s shoulder and into the back of the cage. Rafalski’s second of the year, the third goal from a Devils defenseman, and surely a memory for Allen Rourke that he will not soon forget.

Then, the goalies took over. It was end-to-end action all night. I did not want this game to end. If I was neutral in my rooting interests, I could watch this kind of hockey for the rest of my life. One notable play came late in the third, as a Devil had fallen down at the blue-line, the Sunkists had a 3-on-1 with Paul Martin back on the play as the lone Devil. He went down, dove to the puck, and stopped the play right there. A season’s worth of insipid play was forgiven on that dive right there.

The Isles took a penalty with just under two minutes to go. This made it so difficult to get an extra attacker on. They got one chance when they finally did, but they turned it over, and Patrik Elias had about a lifespan to put the puck in the empty net. THE CAPTAIN did put it in, and extended his team scoring lead, and the Devils broke a 5-game losing streak against New York, and extended their lead in the Atlantic Division to 5 points over the Isles and Rangers, who accidentally won tonight over the Capitals.

Devil of the Night:

Marty Brodeur - Wanted to give it to Martin for the block, but Marty shows you again why he is the best.

Bum of the Night:

Brad Lukowich - Overrated. Simply overrated.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In the Dumb and Dumber continuation of this Original Six laughingstock, Immonen will again sit out in favor of Orr, further showing how clueless Renney has become. He has lost his mind. It’s time to fire him. He never gives any young players a fair shake. Meanwhile, Jagr continues to not lead by example by taking silly hooking penalties and blind giveaways. This organization just does not get it.

Meanwhile, Malik will miss yet another game due to his groin injury which means the defense should be in trouble once again. Oh boy. In other news, Bryce Lampman was sent down to Hartford for the 1,000th time. Why recall him in the first place if you have no confidence that he can play? It’s so typical. He’s been in the AHL forever. Would he really be a downgrade over jokes like Kaspar or Poti II? I don’t know what to say anymore.

The Rangers will attempt to lose their last eight in 2006 tonight in similar fashion to how they dropped their final nine to end last year’s promising season. At this point, does anyone actually believe they won’t find a way to fall to the grittier Capitals tonight at MSG? I thought so.

On a serious note, if you want to know how lost Dumb and Dumber Coach Tom Renney is, one game after benching top pivot Michael Nylander for the third period and replacing him with rookie Jarkko Immonen, he healthy scratched the Finn in favor of enforcer Colton Orr in yesterday’s loss to Ottawa. And what was his explanation? According to Daily News beat writer John Dellapina, he was worried about Immonen “keeping up in high paced games.” Say what? This is about as dumb an explanation as I’ve read. Especially when it was Immonen who played well between our two dead Czechs (Jagr and Prucha) against the Islanders. The same Immonen who injected some life into Matt Cullen during a five-game win streak (seems very long ago) which preceded this seven game skid.

I think Renney is delusional for scratching Immonen. A two-way player who actually has one more point in far less games played (1-3-4 in 11 GP) than Marcel Hossa (1-2-3 in 37 GP), Ryan Hollweg (goose egg) Orr (ditto) do. But does he reward the guy when his offense continues to struggle? Of course not. Welcome to Rangers World. Where Logic 101 doesn’t apply!

Series Info: The Rangers and Caps have split the first two of the four-game series this season with New York taking the season opener on October 5th at MSG 5-2 while the Capitals turned the tables on them last month at Verizon Center by posting a 3-1 win on November 11th. The final meeting after tonight between the two clubs takes place in the nation’s capital on February 10.

Overall, the Rangers are 74-78-18-2 against Washington in the all-time series. They take a 41-34-9-1 home record into play tonight.

Uphill Battle: Due to this seven-game losing streak, a once thought playoff lock, the Rangers (18-17-4, 40 pts) enter play third in the Atlantic five points behind the Devils and one worse than the Islanders. They were finally passed in the standings last night by virtue of Ottawa and Boston’s victories which propelled them to 41 points, putting each Northeast club in a three-way tie for sixth in the East with the Islanders…Coming off a 4-3 loss at The Swamp to the Devils, Washington (16-15-7, 39 pts) enters play 10th in the conference right behind the Blueshirts. So to say this is a pivotal game would be an understatement considering what’s been going on.

Keys To A Miraculous Victory:

-Limit top sniper Alexander Ovechkin (25 goals, 25 assists)

-Keep an eye on Alexander Semin (17 goals)

-Don’t get scored on in the first minute like they did in Ottawa. It’s no secret that this team’s confidence is at an all-time low. They have been shutout back-to-back games and haven’t found the back of the net since Aaron Ward did so at Tampa Bay in the second period to put them up three before a monumental third period collapse. So that’s the last seven periods in which they haven’t scored. Getting a lead is imperative.

Since I don’t believe in making predictions for these games, I am going to add a special bonus line suggestion for what I would do to fix the offense. The lines obviously need to change and there needs to be a switch in the way they’re constructed. Here’s what I’d try:

Prucha-Nylander-Jagr- It’s no secret that Prucha is ice cold. Sticking him with Jagr might snap him out of it.

Straka-Immonen-Shanahan- Immonen has to be the 2nd center on this offensively challenged team. Straka is the club’s most interchangeable forward.

Hossa-Cullen-Ward- In order for this team to have any success, Cullen must be the third center. I’m all for recalling Dawes or Callahan and trying them on this line if Hossa and Ward don’t cut it.

Hollweg-Betts-Hall- What you have here is an energy line which can be sent out each shift to provide a lift. And it also puts Betts in the proper place centering the fourth line. When Ortmeyer returns, slide him in place of Hall and you got the HBO line in place of HMO. A hardworking line.

Strange but True: Since defenseman Marek Malik left with a groin injury during the first period of a 6-1 Devil loss, this team has been lost. They also imploded in the final two periods of that same game and have gone on to drop five more. Big Bird is missed severely.

Radek Martinek will miss the next 4 weeks with a broken foot. The Isles have called up D-Man Allen Rourke from Bridgeport.

Colin White will be out for tonight’s showdown, many news reports have claimed.

NHL TONIGHT:

Not that you should be watching anything but Devs-Isles, but the Rags host DC tonight (7PM, MSG).

Buffalo and Atlanta have a showdown of Division leaders.

Battle of Ontario: Toronto hosts Ottawa on HNIC.

Montreal visits Tampa on HDNet.

St. Louis may sellout tonight against Colorado.

Nashville won’t sellout vs. Boston.

Phoenix and San Jose rematch after Phoenix’s upset at the Tank on Thursday.

Edmonton battles Vancouver on HNIC.

(21-13-3, 45 Pts, 1st Atlantic, 3rd East) (19-14-3, 41 PTS, 2nd Atlantic, 7th East)
7:00 PM
Nassau Mausoleum
TV: FSN2 (Devils Broadcast), FSNY (Isles Broadcast), Check NYOverFlow.com for Channel Listings of FSNY2.
Radio: Radio Disney AM-1560 (Devils Broadcast), Bloomberg 1130 (Isles Broadcast)

Last We Met:

As Doc Emrick said, “There are some games where the turning point is the [national] anthem. That was one of them.” The Islanders embarrassed the Devils (In front of a crowd of about 65), who could only muster 16 shots. 5 different scorers for New York, who were lead by Alexei Yashin with a goal and three assits, and the Icelanders took the only meeting of the season so far, 5-2. Zajac and Parise scored for NJ.

Next Meeting: Next Thursday at The Swamp, followed by a game on 1/13 at the Mausoleum.

Leading Scorers
New Jersey
#26 Patrik Elias 14-22-36
#9 Zach Parise 14-16-30
#14 Brian Gionta 15-14-29
#15 Jamie Langenbrunner 14-14-28
#23 Scott Gomez 6-21-27

New York
#55 Jason Blake 21-17-38
#79 Alexei Yashin 12-22-34
#81 Miroslav Sata 10-15-25
#25 Viktor Kozlov 13-11-24
#18 Mike Sillinger 10-14-24

Goaltending
New Jersey
#30 Martin Brodeur 21-12-2, 2.17, .922%
#40 Scott Clemmensen 0-1-1, 3.60, .878%

New York
#39 Rick DiPietro 16-11-1, 2.66, .917%
#1 Mike Dunham 3-3-2, 2.83, .916%

Key Matchup
#14 Brian Gionta (NJ)
vs.
#55 Jason Blake (NYI)

The two small, gritty American forwards will be key to either team geting out to an early start, which–with the goaltenders involved in this one–may be the most important element of this contest. Gionta’s recently picked up his game, and Blake’s always a threat to score, so it’ll be interesting to see who gets off and running first.

Game Analysis

This game is probably bigger for the Islanders than it is for the Devils. After getting shutout by the Senators, they need a big pickup against the best team in the division. For the Devis, it’s more about pride. The Islanders absolutely humiliated them the first time around. They need a win to show the Isles who they are.

Prediction: Isles 3, Devils 2.

Well, this is my inaugural weekly column covering the Isles and I’m excited about that. What a season it has been so far. After a summer of much discontent that read like a script from Days of Our Lives, the team partially assembled by Neil Smith and the Gang of Four (or is it five?) has done quite well for itself, due to several factors, not the least of which is the coaching performance tendered by Ted Nolan. He has got the team motivated most nights (with the exception of the Carolina game last week in which the team barely broke a sweat and looked out of synch for all 60 minutes) and the guys look well coached. They are in position, playing the game that suits their style, not trying to do too much, but playing hard nosed and getting dirty in the corners. And how about Alexei Yashin. Wow, the guy is doing it all, not only scoring but playing a really spirited defense as well. And Jason Blake has been outstanding, really coming into his own, especially with Yashin next to him.

While the season is looking up, I think Garth Snow knows that the team still has an uphill battle to make the playoffs and then thrive there. Both trades of Zhitnik and York are telltale signs that Garth is is filling the piggy bank so he can spend and fill a hole or two. But where are the holes? The obvious need is a second line scoring center with speed. Sill is a good 3rd line center and Kozlov is a better winger than center. Bates is really a 4th liner at this stage of his career. If possible, this type of acquisition would benefit the team sooner rather than later. But it will probably happen closer to the trade deadline as teams will be less willing to part with high quality guys until they get a better sense of their chances of making the playoffs and being able to contend. Who to watch for? I would keep a very close eye on Tampa Bay. TB is not going to continue paying 4 guys 21 million dollars to languish near the bottom of the conference. If this continues, look for Jay Feaster to unload either Lecavalier or Richards, with my bet on Richards. He would be a very nice fit on the Isles second line and make everyone around him more productive with his set up skills.

Who would the Islanders have to give up? I think any package would have to include a young defenseman. Over the next few weeks I think we will see Campoli play a few more games and then when Freddy Meyer has recovered from his injury, he will take that spot for the short term. I think you will see one of the two moved before the deadline. To sweeten the deal, don’t be surprised to see Hunter go as well as a draft pick. The Islanders arguably need a top tier quick, scoring D man as well, but they probably won’t get one this year and will wait until next summer to focus on that.

Today’s game against the Devils should be a good test for the Isles. The Devs are playing much better lately with nine wins in December. Let’s see if DP can outplay Brodeur.

Happy New Year to all - see you next week.

This team sucks! Heck. I already concluded that last week. But to get a grand total of ZERO GOALS in consecutive games and lose by a combined score of 3-0 to the Islanders and Senators speaks volumes for how pathetic Tom “Dumb And Dumber” Renney’s club is.

It’s one thing to get blown out because your team defense sucks. But quite another to not score one freaking goal in six consecutive periods! Not when you have guys like Jagr, Shanahan, Straka and Nylander as part of your roster. This is inexcusable and the low point. At what point do they finally pull the plug on Renney and make a change? What’s it going to take? A losing streak of 12 or 13 games?!?!?!?!?! Good god. They won’t make any changes either. That’s the sad aspect for a team that once was eight over .500 in regulation in this mediocre new NHL. Btw that was only two weeks ago before they got their asses handed to them by Toronto 9-2 and New Jersey 6-1 on the Lost Weekend. They haven’t recovered.

How bad is this club? Henrik Lundqvist played well for the most part tonight but allowed a questionable goal redirected by Daniel Alfredsson to squeeze right through his pads less than a minute in. I know what the Lundqvist clan will say. How can you fault him for a deflection? If you saw it, it trickled through his pads. He was still in perfect position but didn’t close it up in time.

And that right there was enough for a sad Blueshirts team which suddenly can’t score goals. They even turned a five minute Chris Neil charging major into a fire drill registering two routine shots and hardly getting any attack time at all. And did Renney actually try some new personnel with the same old guys not able to move the puck quick enough to get chances? Of course not!

I didn’t see much of this game. But the one highlight was Colton Orr beating Brian McGrattan in a scrap. Orr showed a lot of mettle in that fight against a bigger guy, taking his lumps before getting the better shots in to get the win. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the lineup which has become so predictable it’s hard to even watch anymore.

To tell you how little I think of this team, there was a point in the third where the game got blacked out due to technical difficulties. Nobody seemed to care here in Old Bridge. That’s all you need to know.

So, the fading Rangers on life support try to make it an eight game slide tomorrow against the Caps to end a year which was once promising. Remember when this team was better than the Devils in February before the Olympics? Bueller, anyone? That team self destructed and dropped their final nine. Now, they look to end a year which was a positive for the organization in stunning similarity. How typical of this franchise.

Pretty soon I believe Renney will look like this classic picture of from Home Alone:

But hey. Renney “has total faith” in this team and believes they don’t want to be a perennial loser. Now might be a good time for the way too nice coach to take a good look in the mirror.

Until the next loss tomorrow. Oh well.