Scoring Summary
1st Period
Washington - Lawrence Nycholat - 1st NHL Goal, from Ovechkin and Zubrus at 5:25.
Devils - Scott Gomez - 5th of the Season, from Elias and Martin at 18:53.
2nd Period
Devils - Sergei Brylin (PP)- 8th of the Season, from Rafalski and Parise at 6:22.
Devils - Scott Gomez - 2nd of the Game, 6th of the Season, from Gionta and Elias at 13:31.
Washington - Brooks Laich (PP) - 4th of the Season, from Nycholat and Beech at 16:50.
3rd Period
Devils - Patrick Elias - 14th of the Season, from Gomez and Martin at 6:43.
Washington - Alexander Semin - 17th of the Season, Unassisted at 19:14.

In what this blogger called a “must-have” game for the New Jersey Devils, they played their game. Once again playing in front of a season-high crowd –16,297–this holiday season, the game was driven by Martin Brodeur making some very key, very spectacular saves on the Capitals at points in the third period, and once again –timely scoring– but this time, it came from the guys you want tickling the twine.

It started auspiciously enough for New Jersey, seconds after failing to capitalize on a Power Play, Washington brought it ahead and got the puck to the left point where young Lawrence Nycholat –a call-up from Hershey for this flu-ridden Washington team– just ripped a shot that hit a Devil stick in front (The overrated Brad Lukowich maybe?) and passed Marty Brodeur.

The Devils answered late in the period on Scott Gomez’s 5th of the season. It’s about time that Gomer’s started putting ‘em in the back of the cage. Remember when he was a 30-goal man? Oh yeah, it was LAST YEAR GOMER! Pick it up and learn to shoot it again. Now, I know he was injured but, still, he needs to be encouraged to shoot the puck.

The Devils got their second goal early in the second period. After a Paul Martin shot, Zach Parise and Sergei Brylin both had rebound tries, and Sarge’s backhand landed in the net. For Brylin, it was his 8th (Another sign that Gomer should be scoring more) and the man I hope will be the last Devil to ever wear #18 (More in a column next week) got the Devs their first advantage.

It was extended seven minutes later, when Scott Gomez did what every hockey coach tells you to do from about, oh, 4 years and up: “Go to the net, and good things happen. Now go play or something while I finish my JD…” oh, wait that’s another story. ANYWAY…he went to the net and redirected the rebound from a Gio shot into the net. After a lengthy review from the crack (not on crack) staff at the Heavens of Mt. Continental, it was ruled Gomez’s 6th to make it 3-1 NJ.

The guy who’s name sounds like a chocolate and was called up from the chocolate making capital of the world –Lawrence Nycholat from Hershey–figured again in a goal, when he again, just took a shot, and it was redirected off of Brooks Laich’s skate and past Brodeur. It was 3-2 heading to the third.

That’s when Gomer used his newfound fascination–shooting the puck–to fool the young Washington defense. He fake a shot and brilliant slapped it over to THE CAPTAIN, and, at a terrible angle, ripped it right across into the net. You couldn’t have placed it better than Elias did, and it was 4-2.

The Caps struck 1 final time before regulation expired, when Alex Semin ripped a shot home from the point. Many thought either Ovechkin or Chris Clark tipped it en route, but for now it’s Semin’s 17th unassisted with :46 to go in the game. The Devils held off any of the Caps further efforts–including a buzzer stop by Marty on The Visor– and got points #44 and #45, winning 4-3. They are 4 points ahead of the Isles, with the showdown coming tomorrow night.

Being that I don’t have much time cause I have to run out for a special get together with friends including seeing an old buddy in Jersey, I’ll make this quick.

Losers of six straight in bad fashion, the Rangers (18-16-4, 40 pts) need a win in the worst way at Ottawa (19-18-1, 39 pts). Ironically, the Sens have also been inconsistent and are one of the teams the Blueshirts are battling for playoff positioning. So it’s a huge potential four point swing game between two underachieving Eastern Conference teams. The Sens are fresh off their 2-0 shutout of the Islanders while the Rangers limp into this one after a couple of days off to contemplate their latest defeat of the same 2-0 variety to those Islanders.

Season Series: The Rangers won the only meeting thus far at Scotiabank Place 3-1 back on December 9 one day after my birthday. Henrik Lundqvist played one of his best games, stoning the Sens a number of times and Jaromir Jagr scored a goal which proved to be the winner. Fedor Tyutin finished it off with a shorthanded empty net. The Sens will be without their top two centers Jason Spezza (team leading 44 points) and Mike Fisher (9-15-24) for this game. Their offensive leader Spezza will miss approximately a month while Fisher is day-to-day. So the question is can the Rangers sweep the two games up there? We’ll see. The final two meetings take place at the Garden January 11 and March 13.

Keys to a Win:

-Shutdown Sens’ sniper Dany Heatley (20 goals) and Daniel Alfredsson (9-22-31).

-Don’t turnover the puck. Ottawa comes at you with speed and their D loves to jump in and create odd-man rushes.

-Stay out of the box. This is self explanatory. You don’t want to put the fast moving Sens on the power play.

-Get a lead. If they can get the early jump and make Ottawa play from behind, it should help a lot.

Will they get it done? Who knows with this team anymore? They need this badly though because Washington comes in tomorrow before they visit the Devils. It doesn’t get any easier.

To our new Islander blogger Rob. He will be doing once-a-week columns on the Isles, but we are still looking for a GameDay and recap blogger! Please contact us if interested.

Before we begin tonight’s edition of GameDay, I’d like to show you a new friend of ours, his name is “The Rock”.

That is as of 1 week ago, at the Prudential Center in Newark. Boy, will she be a beaut!

Anyway…

New Jersey (20-13-3, 43 Pts, 1st Atlantic Division, 3rd Eastern Conference) vs. Washington (16-14-7, 39 Pts, 3rd Southeast Division, 9th Eastern Conference)
7:30 PM
The Swamp of East Rutherford
TV: FSNY
Radio: WFAN 660

Last we met: Marty pwned Ovechkin. ‘Nuff said. Well, I guess, THE CAPTAIN, Zajac, THE ZACH and GIO scoring in a 4-1 win is cool. But seriously, Marty with total Ovechkin pwnage.

Season Series: 1-0 Devils

Next Meeting: A home and home 2/25 and 2/26.

Leading Scorers
New Jersey
#26 Patrik Elias 13-20-33
#9 Zach Parise 14-15-29
#14 Brian Gionta 15-13-28
#15 Jamie Langenbrunner 14-14-28
#23 Scott Gomez 4-20-24

Washington
#8 Alex Ovechkin 25-24-49
#28 Alexander Semin 16-17-33
#9 Dainius Zubrus 14-19-33
#17 Chris Clark 14-14-28
#18 Matt Pettinger 10-7-17

Goaltending
New Jersey
#30 Martin Brodeur 20-12-2, 5 SO, 2.15 GAA, .923%
#40 Scott Clemmensen 0-1-1, 0 SO, 3.60 GAA, .878%

Washington
#37 Olaf Kolzig 12-9-4, 0 SO, 3.09 GAA, .912%
#1 Brent Johnson 4-5-3, 0 SO, 3.50 GAA, .893%

Key Matchup
#8 Alex Ovechkin (WSH)
vs.
#30 Martin Brodeur (NJ)

Marty’s shut the door on Ovechkin consistently since the first the two met. He’s scored only twice in the 5 games they’ve played, and neither were anything to write home about. Plus, the “Visor Incident” seems to have given Marty the extra impetus to step up versus A.O. so it should be interesting to see how the two combat each other tonight. It may be the first time in a while that Marty’s had a true personal rival, though I suppose when your a goaltender, everyone’s your personal rival.

Game Analysis

This is a must have game for the Devils. They need to get at least a point from these Caps, as they host the Icelanders on Saturday, and that’s a team that was outclassed by Ottawa of all clubs two nights ago. With the Isles in close quarters in terms of points, a win is absolutely imperative tonight for New Jersey.

For the Devils, they simply have to do what they always do when they’re winning: Get scoring from anywhere on the forward ranks, get the usual stellar goaltending from Marty (But why oh why do I feel were getting Clemmy tonight?) and have defense not stink to high hell as much as they’re capable of and they’ll take home a “W”. For Washington, the key his additional scoring, as usual. Zubrus, Pettinger, Semin and co. must all chip in. Brian Pothier needs to run the power play efficiently, and the Caps will have a shot.

Prediction: Devils 3, Caps 1. Devils goals from Madden, Gomez, and Langenbrunner.

This is a new feature that we are doing here at BoNY. We are taking writers throughout the hockey world and giving them 10 questions on the Rangers, Devils and Islanders. We hope to have a lot of great guests.

Our first guest is a friend of the blog and to the NY Hockey Report, ESPN’s John Buccigross.
John joined the ESPN conglomerate in 1996 as an ESPNNews anchor. He quickly rose through the ranks, and became the regular host of NHL 2night from 1998 until it’s cancellation in 2004. He currently is a regular host of SportsCenter. He is a very good guy, and was nice enough to give us his take on 10 of the most random, interesting issues on the local hockey scene.

Steve Lepore: Do you think the Devils are a more exciting team to watch Post-Lockout, or are you among the many that believe they still play boring, 1-2-2 hockey?

John Buccigross: The Devils have been pegged as a boring team because they never have had a terribly flashy player. An iconic offensive player. The Canadiens of the 70’s had Lafleur and Shutt, the Islanders had Bossy and Trottier, The Oilers had Gretzky and Messier, the Penguins had Lemieux and Jagr, the Wings had Yzerman, the Avs had Sakic and Forsberg. The Devils Hall of Famers are on the back end: Brodeur, Stevens, and Neidermayer. I think that might be part of the perception. Joe Nieuwendyk is the only lock Hall of Famer among Stanley Cup winning forwards on the Devils. And Nieuwendyk only played two years for the Devils and had three goals in twenty two playoff games

SL: Who has been the better captain so far: Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, or Alexei Yashin?
JB: Wow, what a question. Jagr is the best player and that probably matters the most. Alexei Yashin tries hard and appears rather likeable. I’ve always loved Elias. I don’t think he is Captain material for the most part however. He’d be better off if someone else was I think.

SL: Who is the better goaltender: Rick DiPietro or Henrik Lundqvist?
JB: I think long term, Rick DiPietro can do more. He is the closest thing to Brodeur in terms of style. He doesn’t have Marty’s humilty and warmth, but he is going to be good for a long time.

SL: Who do you feel is the most responsible for the Islanders’ resurgence?
JB: Ted Nolan, without a doubt.

SL: Do you think the Rangers have tuned out Tom Renney?
JB: I think the Rangers have a rancid defensive corps and one line that can score 5 on 5. The same deal as last year. If they make the playoffs they are one and done.

SL: Let’s say the Devils ice their usual, playoff-caliber team in 07-08: How many times do you think the Prudential Center (Newark Arena) will sell out out of 41 regular season games?
JB: 11 times.

SL: How much longer until the Isles are considered a serious target for relocation?
JB: Nassau County entered into the Coliseum lease agreement with Spectacor Management Group in 1979. The original 30-year lease was extended in 1986 to July 31, 2015. So, at least 9 years. It’s a cool place to live for a rich owner, so I think they are there for good.

SL: Which NY Area Team has a bigger need to upgrade on the blueline?
JB: You are right, all three have to. But the Rangers are the worst [on defense].

SL: You’re going to watch 1 more hockey game before you die. Who’s calling it: Doc Emrick, Sam Rosen, or Howie Rose?
JB: I really like all three. THey are happy, energetic, enthusiastic broadcasters. I’ll take Doc.

SL: What has happened to Petr Prucha?
JB: Soft players with not enough courage eventually get weeded out.

THE BONUS QUESTION…

SL: Tell us about your new book…
JB: My book with Keith Jones comes out in February. It’s about Keith’s life in hockey. I hope it doesn’t suck. I’m scared.

From time to time, I’ll do this and let you know what I’m thinking. In this segment, I’m going to focus exclusively on the struggling Rangers’ problems:

-Among the problems is team captain Jaromir Jagr. Despite being in the top three in scoring, the sometimes moody Czech who finished a close runner-up to San Jose’s Joe Thornton for last year’s Hart Trophy seems to be in a rut. The body language hasn’t been good and might be a reason the dynamic winger has been held off the scoresheet the past two games. The more alarming aspect is that outside of a two-goal effort in a loss to the Islanders over a week ago, he’s only hit the back of the net in two other games this whole month. That just won’t cut it. Sure, Jagr has been a target of team defenses and will continue to be. But he has the size, strength and skill to combat it. He took the same punishment last year and played like an MVP. With his club struggling, it’s no time for sulking. He needs to lift his game.

-As has been well documented, the team’s third and fourth lines aren’t giving the kind of support Jagr and Brendan Shanahan need to relieve some pressure. Just how bad is it? Here’s a breakdown of the lack of production:

Ranger Big Four (Shanahan, Jagr, Straka, Nylander): 69 goals
Rest of Forwards: (Cullen, Prucha, Betts, Hall, etc): 29 goals

And right there is the problem. There’s just not enough support.

-Aside from the lack of offensive balance up front, the defense has issues. Other than Michal Rozsival, nobody has been consistent. I’ll cut Aaron Ward some slack because he’s playing through injuries and always gives a solid effort. Fedor Tyutin has been up and down but shows potential. If he could just find some consistency, he could be really good. Outside of those three, it’s a struggle. Especially with Marek “Big Bird” Malik still out due to a groin problem. I know nobody is going to want to be reminded but the two times Malik has gone down, this team has fallen apart defensively. It’s not so much that he’s a great defenseman as much as he’s a steady player who pairs well with Rozsival and alleviates some pressure. As I also noted on my show last night, it’s little secret that Karel “Poti II” Rachunek and Darius Kasparaitis have struggled mightily. When do they make a move and upgrade that horrific third pair?

-With Jed Ortmeyer finally recovered from a pulsonary condition, the gritty underrated wing and PK specialist should be returning to the lineup soon. And boy can they use him. Nobody ever realized how vital he was. But this is a guy with so much heart who plays the game all out and hustles every shift. He’s definitely sorely missed. Hopefully getting him back can provide a spark for this lifeless bunch.

-If the other third and fourth line forwards continue to struggle finishing, the Rangers need to get Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes back up here. Both have more talent and upside than guys like Hall, Hollweg, Hossa and Ward to name a few. It wouldn’t hurt to try to inject this roster with some young energy.

-The Rangers will visit Ottawa tomorrow before returning home for the Caps Saturday night to finish the year. They definitely need a win just for their confidence. Remarkably, they’re not out of the playoff picture due to the East’s mediocrity. So if they can string together a couple of solid efforts, they can right themselves. It has to happen soon.

Hey puck fans. Last night, I cohosted the NY Hockey Report Show with guest cohost and diehard Isles’ fan Patrick Hickey. Among the topics covered were Rangers-Islanders, breakdown of both teams along with some discussion of the Devils plus the NHL realignment proposal and some WJC. Patrick also surprised Derek with his violin for all Ranger fans. It was a fun show to do.

Here’s the show archive:

www.broadcastmonsters.com/NewyorkHockey/nyhockey122706.asx

Here are the standings:

NYI 4-0-0, 8 PTS
NYR 2-3-0, 4 PTS
NJ 1-3-0, 2 PTS

NEXT 5 Games:
12/30 NYI at NJ, 7:00 PM (FSNY/FSNY2)
1/2 NYR at NJ, 7:30 PM (MSG/FSNY)
1/4 NYI at NJ, 7:30 PM (FSNY/FSNY2)
1/9 NYI at NYR, 7:00 PM (MSG/FSNY)
1/13 NJ at NYI, 7:00 PM (MSG/FSNY)

Tomorrow Night’s Hockey

Carolina-Buffalo’s on the Webcasting Docket, on Comcast.net and Yahoo.com at 7:00 PM.

Detroit at Columbus again?!

Philly and Tampa meet up for those who get HDNet.

LA at Edmonton is on Yahoo.com at 9.

Phoenix at San Jose.

Usually this will cover the locals. But I felt inclined to give a few thoughts on the unlikely game which took place between Western Canada bitter rivals Calgary and Vancouver.

In a wild back and forth game which had it all, the Canucks cameback to beat the Flames 6-5 in OT. When I flipped it on the Center Ice feed, it was 2-0 Canucks. Apparently they played a strong first period and led on the strength of goals by each Sedin. Have I mentioned how great these two twins are? Splendid stickhandlers and puckmovers who are so underrated it’s sad.

When we flipped it back on again after watching the Stars hang on for dear life to edge the Avs 5-4 in another weird game (Stars scored the last three), the Flames had comeback to tie only to see Vancouver go ahead once again on a Matt Cooke soft backhand which beat Miikka Kiprusoff. A few minutes later came one of the niftiest plays you’ll see shorthanded. Off a three-on-two rush, Willie Mitchell adeptly setup Brendan Morrison, who tipped home his pass for a pretty shorthanded goal to restore the two-goal lead. It’s also worth noting that that goal came on only their second shot of the period at the time meaning Kipper hadn’t made a save. Weird to say the least.

So Vancouver was in control right? Wrong! The Flames got quick goals from Kristian Huselius (2nd of night) and rookie David Moss (3rd in 3 games since recall) less than 2:00 apart to quickly tie it. Btw…it’s worth noting Roberto Luongo looked pretty bad on both. I’m sure TSN studio analyst Mike Keenan was grinning from ear to ear after explaining why he couldn’t re-sign the netminder and opted to trade him for what now is a failed return. Has anyone seen Todd Bertuzzi? Last we saw Alex Auld, he was being lit up like a Christmas tree and had lost his starting job to ageless wonder Ed Belfour. Bryan Allen now is the best part of this deal. Yikes. As my favorite Weezer song says, “Say It Ain’t So.” I’ll admit I was wrong about that deal. Dead wrong.

So back to this wacky ending. After Daymond Langkow scored a PPG to put Calgary ahead, Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler responded a minute later to force OT. In it, a Sami Salo point shot deflected off a Flame taking a wicked bounce past Kiprusoff to give the Canucks the unlikely win.

It was refreshing to see an NHL game end in OT as opposed to the predictable shootout which is becoming more the norm. More so than anyone foresaw. Paging Bettman.

This was a great game with the kind of intensity you wanted to see. And oh. Dion Phaneuf struggled mightily in this one. Maybe he’s not Norris material quite yet. But boy, I’d take him on my roster anyday as I would the Sedins and Jarome Iginla. The problem for the league is simple. These players all play in Western Canada.

But hey. It sure was great to see!

I am not a believer in this. Maybe because I’m not a Fishstick fan. But for whatever reason, their team never seems to be able to follow a big win over the Rangers with another triumph.

Don’t believe me? It happened again tonight in Kanata, Ontario where the Islanders were shutout by Ottawa 2-0. Was it a case of poor effort? Not really. But from watching this contest, the Isles were a step behind the well rested Sens. Might the Rangers have taken something out of them? Haha. I’ll leave that to the audience to decide.

Either way, the Senators got a Mike Fisher first period tally off a broken play in which a Daniel Alfredsson pass deflected to an isolated Fisher who stuffed it home into an open net.

Trailing by a goal and outshot 12-3 in a lethargic first, the Isles picked it up in the second but couldn’t solve Ray Emery. When two Islanders were penalized and then the bench was assessed an additional minor with less than eight minutes left in the game, it looked like it was curtains. But some gutsy penalty killing especially from Brendan Witt and clutch netminding from Rick DiPietro (two pointblank robberies of Dany Heatley at the doorstep) allowed the Isles to see the light. Could they kill off the 5-on-4 and then possibly tie the score? Unfortunately, they fell a second short when Chris Kelly redirected an Andrej Meszaros point shot to put the contest out of reach.

And so the Islanders couldn’t take advantage of their game at hand on the idle Devils and tie them for first. The Isles will now have the next couple of days off before hosting that New Jersey team they have owned lately. In the only match-up of the season, the Isles routed the Devils 5-2 at CAA. It should be interesting to see who comes out on top. And in general, which team wins this all important season series because the way things are shaping up with the fading Rangers (six straight losses), Penguins (five straight defeats) and Flyers (franchise worst 10 straight losses) the Atlantic could come down to those remaining seven head-to-head games.