Kids shine in latest win over Hudson rival

October 5, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Indeed, the kids were alright in tonight’s first installment between heated Hudson rivals. Without the contributions from the young rookie duo of Mike Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy, the Rangers don’t come close to earning a ‘W’ over the Devils at a packed Rock in Newark.

In only their third NHL games, both distinguished themselves by factoring into all three goals in the club’s 3-2 victory. The second straight of this young season for a team that has many new faces including the two first-year players with promising futures. On a club who isn’t a playoff lock, one thing Garden Faithful can take solace in is knowing how gifted each is.

That much was evident as the 19 year-old Del Zotto registered his first two-point game against future Hall Of Famer Martin Brodeur, who predictably was better than Saturday. Unfortunately, he still wound up on the losing side with Henrik Lundqvist making a couple of more big saves in improving to 15-2-4 versus the Devils since he entered the league. Remarkable stuff against a franchise and legend that owned them prior.

Also remarkable was what developed in Game 3 for a club whose power play entered 0-for-9, already giving fans flashbacks despite improvement. All thanks to Del Zotto, who showed tremendous poise on the point. The likes of which we haven’t seen in years since that No.2 guy whose number hangs from the Garden rafters. With his team already trailing, having forced John Tortorella to burn a timeout 84 seconds in reading them the riot act, the youngest player on the ice coolly rebounded home Vinny Prospal’s shot around Paul Martin tying it up for the team’s first power play goal in half a century. Well, it felt that way.

Del Zotto’s second goal in two games settled down a club that came out dead following a strong opening shift from the Marian Gaborik line. Dan Girardi was brutal turning over the puck to David Clarkson, who dumped for a hustling Jay Pandolfo that outworked Marc Staal to set up Niedermayer’s first in Devil colors. The lifelessness continued with the Devil ZZ Popp line buzzing. Following another chance with Dainius Zubrus accidentally crashing into Lundqvist, Tortorella had seen enough.

“Anything you guys can think of, he probably said it,” Gilroy said of a tirade that won’t be repeated even if we have a pretty good idea.

“We didn’t come out ready,” captain Chris Drury assessed of the steam coming out of their fiery coach. “It was pretty obvious at the start of the game and he let us know. From that point on I thought we responded very well.

“You’re not always going to get away with bad starts like that.”

Somewhat understandable since it was the team’s third game in four nights. But not competing won’t be tolerated no matter the circumstances.

Following a poor pinch from Michal Rozsival that led to a Brandon Dubinsky minor, the Devils restored their lead when Girardi again was victimized, leading to Travis Zajac’s PPG. Somehow, they got the brutal period tied when Del Zotto dished across for Ales Kotalik, who finally did something- blasting a rocket off the post and in. That it was another power play goal was startling. Were we seeing things? Granted. Thanks to some of the most porous officiating from the dud of Stephane Auger and Justin StPierre, the Rangers were the beneficiaries with this incompetent duo missing an obvious Ranger bench minor. Apparently, eight was enough!

So too was handing out an extra two to Johnny Oduya for sticking up for a fallen teammate following a dangerous knee on knee collision between a guilty Drury and Martin. Somehow, the Blueshirts got a man-advantage. For some reason, the refs were on their side later inventing a phantom dive on Nicklas Bergfors that negated a New Jersey PP.

“[Martin] is so shifty, he moved out of the way and I just caught a bad part of him,” an apologetic Drury said. “I’m glad he is OK. I am certainly not trying to go knee-on-knee with anybody.”

“That is a teammate of his and he probably saw it differently,” referring to Oduya. “If that was our guy, I would expect the same.”

“It’s not a good thing when they score a goal. I thought maybe I would get two (minutes),” Oduya duly noted. “I didn’t think that much. Come across, get a hit like that low on your knee. I know how it feels.”

While Del Zotto was having a great night considering he got just 11:42 (4:05 PP, 7:37 ES), not lost in the shuffle was the 25 year-old Gilroy, who rebounded from a dreadful home opener that saw him and his teammate glued to the bench most of the third in a win over Ottawa. All night, the Hobey Baker winner was everywhere making the kinda reads this team has lacked forever.

If Del Zotto has tremendous offensive upside, it’s the more polished BU product who’s more well rounded, earning 25 shifts (18:52) with most coming at even strength. Having come close to a first NHL tally earlier with smart pinches, he finally got rewarded when he cashed in on a Gaborik cross feed. With the Devils scrambling, Gilroy had all sorts of time stepping into a slapshot which trickled thru Brodeur’s five-hole.

“I don’t know how I was that open,” the game’s No.1 star explained of what held up as the winner. “I think everyone was focused in on the forwards and I just came in the back side.”

It’s that kind of uncanny ability to read and react that made the Blueshirts sign Gilroy for two years at $1.75 per season. It looks like one of Glen Sather’s wisest investments. Even if Ranger fans still cringe everytime Rozsival has the puck with Wade Redden- who’s had a better start- not worth close to his paycheck, at least they can see a light at the end of the tunnel. The most encouraging development three games in.

The kids will make mistakes but that’s okay because they’ll continue to get experience learning on the job. Finally something to look forward to. It might not happen right away but the Rangers’ future just got a whole lot brighter.