Take that Martin “Excuse Maker” Brodeur! Even on a night when the Devils severely outplayed the Rangers through the first 40, they still didn’t have what it took to get a win against their bitter Hudson rivals at a fun filled atmosphere in NYC.

Ranger beat writer Larry Brooks of the New York Post had it documented perfectly in his article yesterday which was to the point about the subtle cheapshots Brodeur will stupe to when it comes to the team he’s become envious of. A week after not giving any props to rookie Nigel Dawes for pulling off a great move and shot which wasn’t even close to being “missed”, the future Hall of Fame netminder this time was at it again over the opposite No.30 Henrik Lundqvist when in a recent SI piece, he had some unflattering remarks which didn’t make a whole lot of sense:

“The way he plays is not something I like too much. “Lundqvist is weird.”

Huh? What exactly was Mr. Brodeur talking about? Even the affable 26 year-old who led Sweden to Olympic Gold a couple of years prior was baffled beyond belief:

“I have to tell you, I respect Marty a lot, and it’s always a great challenge for me to play against him, but I don’t know what to say about what he said about me,” a rather bemused Lundqvist told The Post yesterday. “Does he think my style is weird? I don’t think I have a weird style.

“Does he think that I’m weird as person? I don’t think I’m weird. I don’t know what to say.”

It’s probably better off that Lundqvist didn’t make much of an issue of it. The only thing I can think of is Marty can’t like the fact that the third-year Ranger has fared quite well against him in the regular season. As poetic justice had it, in a game where both franchise goalies made terrific highlight reel saves, Lundqvist’s star shined the brightest again in making 32 saves to Brodeur’s 28 in improving to an unheard of 12-2-3 lifetime head-to-head in the regular season. Marty still till this point holds the edge in the playoffs (3-0).

If you liked goaltending, then you got to see another classic turned in as each netminder took turns making ridiculous saves. Brodeur got it started with a right pad kick out of a Marty Straka try off a great backhand Jaromir Jagr pass. Lundqvist turned away Jamie Langenbrunner’s shot labeled for the top of the net with a great glove save. He also robbed Langenbrunner on a tip try from in close with his team leading at that point 1-0.

With the game tied at two late, Brodeur answered with perhaps the finest save of the night imitating Lundqvist with a cat-like glove stop foiling rookie Ryan Callahan’s breakaway try. Unfortunately, he could do very little about Dawes’ latest heroics. Off a quick rush by who else but Chris Drury, the 23 year-old Manitoban drove hard to the net. Drury’s centering feed went off Devil defender Sheldon Brookbank ricocheting at Brodeur, whose clearing attempt hit the driving Dawes as he was being hooked on the unpredictable play by Travis Zajac.

As fate would have it, the puck went off Dawes’ shoulder while flat on the ice into the net along with the spunky player who always seems to be in that area.

“I was just kind of mad I got hooked,” Dawes told the AP. “That’s the craziest goal I’ve probably scored in my career. I’ll take it. It’s a huge two points. Good things happen when you go to the net like that.”

How right he is. From there, the Blueshirts held off a strong Devil attack which finally decided to test Lundqvist, who wasn’t required to do much but made a couple of strong stops including one on Brian Gionta. With Brodeur pulled for an extra attacker, the former Ranger killer was parked right in front and made a nice deflection but Lundqvist was positioned perfectly eating it up.

The Rangers won despite playing two poor periods. Honestly, the game should’ve been over at that point. As I said to one of my buddies up in 411, the Devils probably could’ve been in front 6-1. Only Lundqvist and Dainius Zubrus’ wide shots kept that from happening.

The second started out alright for the Rangers with a miracle taking place in the form of an actual power play goal with Brendan Shanahan netting his 23rd to snap a seven-game drought off a great feed from Scott Gomez. Gomez wasn’t expected to play due to bad ribs but the ex-Devil didn’t seem to care and suited up. To be honest, I didn’t think it was the wisest decision by him and Tom Renney. He could’ve been seriously hurt. The Devils twice took cheapshots at him including an illegal hit by scrub Vitaly Vishnevcrapski at the conclusion of a scoreless first. How in the world wasn’t that an interference call? He freaking crosschecked Gomez down with the puck nowhere in sight.

That was not only dirty but looked intentional. There was also Zubrus doing what he does best wrestling him to the ice. Of course, no call. Just like last year.

I had plenty of reasons to hate the Devils already. It was awfully nice of them to give me a couple of more. Oddly enough, I ran into a Devil fan when I got out of work yesterday. He was sporting his Black and Red Devil hat supporting his team. We talked a little about the game and he mentioned he was from Haslet, New Jersey. Hope I didn’t mess that up. The dude was definitely amped up for the game mentioning how he was going to watch it with plenty of buddies. I wished his team luck.

That’s not the best part of the story though. Ironically enough, we both attended the same exact public schools (P.S.4) and junior high schools (I.S.75). I was like, “Well, no sh*t!”

How cool is that? He also remembered Mr. Glawon. Imo, the best teacher at P.S.4, who later went on to become a principal. It’s just really weird I guess. Especially me being three years older. What were the odds? Probably about as good as the two teams combining to score five total goals in regulation.

When the Devils get to two and the Rangers score not once but twice on the man-advantage, something’s not right. Possibly a full moon?

I just figured at that point, the law of averages would finally catch up and the Devils would come away with their first win of the season series. Instead, Christian “Traffic Cone II” Backman atoned for his Sandis Ozolinsh-esque primary assist on Zach Parise’s go-ahead late in the second by firing past Brodeur over the left shoulder early in the third for a PPG. His third (second as NYR- both at MSG) came 98 seconds into the third from Gomez and Drury.

Speaking of Gomer, he showed a lot of courage playing last night and quite well too in notching two assists continuing to stick it to his former club. He has seven assists against them so far with one more big game left on the final day of the regular season at The Prudential Center next month.

Will Patricia Greuter of 2Man really have to don Ranger blue? We’ll know soon enough.