In the first intense battle of six between state rivals, the Rangers are ahead 2-1 over the host Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

Even without Rick DiPietro, who has another mysterious “lower body” injury (has anyone else gotten fed up with the Islanders over this garbage yet?), the team has gotten stellar goaltending from backup Joey MacDonald, who’s made several highlight reel saves (23 total) along with Ranger counterpart Henrik Lundqvist (24) making for a fun first two periods which has seen each team register 25 shots with 13 and 12 apiece respectively.

The teams split a pair in the first with the Rangers getting the jump thanks to Chris Drury’s lucky bounce going off MacDonald snapping his career worst 11-game drought to begin a season 1:15 in. The Islanders struck back with eight seconds left in the period when Kyle Okposo got his first one-timing a Richard Park feed past Lundqvist off a draw Drury won.

The Isles are without Brendan Witt on D and it’s been well documented how shorthanded they are without Andy Sutton, Radek Martinek and Mike Sillinger. Plus no DiPietro tho you’d never know it by how well MacDonald’s played tonight. They’ve been decimated but still have shown up playing hard against their biggest nemesis with a new aggressive speed oriented attack.

It’s made for an entertaining hockey game. The Rangers got the only goal in the second when Ryan Callahan got to a puck off Trent Hunter and put it home cashing in on a bad break for the Isles.

That’s where we stand.

There also was a great scrap between Aaron Voros and Nate Thompson following a great Isles scoring chance which Lundqvist shutdown leading to a scrum. Voros challenged and Thompson accepted with the refs letting them throw’em resulting in a draw.

We’ll have more after the third.

As everyone knows, the league saw all 30 teams play for the only time this season on a busy Saturday fueled by a riveting Devils-Flyers game with a bizarre conclusion to an exciting Ranger last second comeback stunning the Pens to 10 goals being scored between the Ducks and Canadiens with Boston posting a nice comeback of their own over hapless Atlanta. Plus 11 total goals between the Caps and Stars with Alex Semin rifling home the OT winner.

If you’re a hockey fan, there’s not much better than what you got to see on Saturday. Here were a couple of notes of interest from the big hockey day:

FROM THE STAT WIZARDS AT ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
There were 96 goals scored in the full slate of 15 NHL games played on Saturday (excluding the three goals credited in the final scores to teams winning their games via shootout). That matched the third-highest one-day goal total in NHL history. The only two days on which more than 96 goals were scored were Jan. 23, 1993, (103 goals in 12 games) and Nov. 25, 1987 (97 goals in 10 games). Two other days’ games also had a total of 96 goals: Nov. 29, 1986 (10 games) and Oct. 21, 2006 (13 games).

Ottawa’s Filip Kuba is the first defenseman in NHL history with assists in each of his team’s first eight games of a season, breaking the record of seven games set by Brad Park with the Bruins in 1981–82.

The Blackhawks’ Kris Versteeg leads NHL rookies with eight points (in eight games) this season. In the last 25 years the only other Chicago rookies to score at least eight points in the team’s first eight games of a season were Pavel Vorobiev in 2005-06 (5-4–9) and Patrick Kane last season (1-8–9).
Obviously, the goal output wasn’t a surprise considering all the action tho I doubt anyone had the Ducks outscoring the Habs 6-4 and the Caps beating the Stars 6-5. But then again, did anyone have the Islanders setting a new franchise mark for most shots in regulation with 60 only to lose on a last second Doug Weight penalty shot versus former coach Peter Laviolette and the Hurricanes? Simply amazing.

This week’s Coaches Corner saw Grapes heap praise on Anaheim tough guy George Parros, who this past week proved he can do more than fight including contribute offensively. In case you missed it, he scored on a breakaway and setup another goal. How about that?

Don Cherry also took Sean Avery to task for not standing up for himself and fighting David Clarkson who oddly enough he had fought in the past when he played here which is why it was so odd to see him wuss out when his team was getting beatdown. It was almost like he didn’t want to be bothered. Cherry raises some strong points about Avery’s antics and how it could hurt his new team in Dallas. Ultimately, it’s up to the agitator who’s more than capable of droppin ‘em.

Grapes also gave an interesting explanation on why Calgary’s Rene Bourque got nine minutes handing the Caps a lengthy power play they failed to capitalize on losing to the Flames.

One thought on Ron Wilson replacing Vesa Toskala with Cujo for a shootout which the Leafs lost a few nights ago:

Why??? I like Curtis Joseph but he’s a dinosaur in hockey years. Sure. He can still be a decent backup but you don’t do that to your starter going with an ice cold goalie who’s over 40. Made no sense whatsoever.

While Filip Kuba’s gotten the hot start with the Sens, his team remains an enigma not playing good hockey having dropped four straight to fall into last of the Northeast. Only the Islanders have fewer points than Ottawa and Tampa Bay. So, what’s the problem? Well, where to start? They can’t decide on a goalie with Martin Gerber making Hasan’s prediction look good while backup Alex Auld has outplayed him.

Their best three players are a combined minus-12. Few are as talented as Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson who all are solid overall star players. Despite a point-per-game production, they are underperforming and getting zero support. Mike Fisher hasn’t posted a point yet since returning with a minus-five and Antoine Vermette (1 goal) and Chris Kelly (2 assists) have done nothing.

Heck. Even defensive leaders Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov are a combined minus-11. Could they really miss Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros that much? Well, they did get Kuba for the latter and he’s been their best leading the club in scoring with 11 assists. However, they never really replaced Redden, who isn’t even doing much on the Rangers with 2-1-3 and plus-three not much to write home about.

Something needs to change in Ottawa and soon or they really won’t see the playoffs for the first time since 1995-96. Especially with Buffalo vastly improved and Montreal showing they’re still strong and Boston playing well with Phil Kessel emerging into the player most expected.

Onto another thought which I had a week ago about the Canucks going from Western Canada to D.C. in two days predictably getting blitzed by the Caps. Here we go again with the Bruins this time coming off a nice 5-4 comeback ‘W’ featuring Milan Lucic’s hat trick having to fly cross continent for a 9 ET game tonight at Edmonton. And again, I have to ask how this makes any sense?

I get that the league wanted a more balanced schedule allowing fans to see every team’s stars which is good. But don’t you think some of these trips are off the wall? It could’ve been scheduled better. Two days isn’t much time for a team to prepare for a game in a different time zone. In other words, I wouldn’t expect the B’s to light up the scoreboard tonight.

This Just In…The NHL announces that the Rangers will cram 20 games into a first month which included a trip to Europe while the rest of the league including the other three participants (Ott, Pit, Det) playing a more normal schedule.

Thomas Vanek can’t be stopped these days. It’s not surprising that he’s gotten off to a much quicker start in the second year of his big contract. The first year sometimes can be tough with the pressure and he really didn’t start playing until last January rallying for 36 goals and 64 points. This year tho he’s a different player playing in every key situation including a couple of shorthanded markers. How many other young players are as physically gifted as the 24 year-old from Austria?

Any chance New Jersey might change their team name to the Zach Parises? Just thought I’d ask because he has been something special so far on an otherwise offensively challenged team minus Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik. At least it’s allowing Petr Vrana to play. The former top pick has talent. Very good skater. He just needs to produce.

Couple of other tidbits of local interest: Alongside Parise (6-5-11) sitting tied for sixth in scoring among a slew of players is the Rangers’ Brandon Dubinsky (4-7-11), who’s coincidentally been the club’s most consistent player outside of the goalie. Just how good might the former 2004 second round pick be? He’s only 22 years-old and shows great composure. Not bad for a guy taken 60th overall. How did he fall that far?

All Cory Stillman does is post a point-per-game wherever he travels. There he is with Florida leading them in scoring with five goals and nine points. It’s amazing to think how many teams he’s been on which brings me to our trivia question.

Can you name all six teams Stillman’s played for? I got all six.

Answer without looking it up.

In one of the (if not the) best rivalries in all of hockey, the Rangers and the Islanders meet for the first of six times this season on Long Island.  While the Rangers currently top the NHL with an 8-2-1 record and 17 points, the Isles are also in first - in the John Tavares sweepstakes, since their 2-5 record has them last in the NHL with only four points on the season.

Of course, when the Rangers and the Islanders get together the records seldom matter.  Neither do the injuries although Rick DiPietro is once again on the shelf after either reinjuring his knee, hip or tweaking something else on his $60 million body.  In any case Joey McDonald (3.43 GAA, .887 Sv.Pct) will start for the Isles again with Yann Danis up from Bridgeport to be the backup.  The Islanders will also be looking to up their offensive production after the Hurricanes’ Cam Ward made an incredible 60 saves in the Isles’ 4-3 loss at home Saturday - including one on a penalty shot by Doug Weight with less than a second remaining. 

For the Rangers, they’re just looking to maintain status quo after victories in Columbus Friday and home against Pittsburgh Saturday, although they’re looking for more production from captain Chris Drury (3 assists and a -3 in 11 games).  Since it is a blood rivalry for both teams, Henrik Lundqvist will probably start again in goal although I wouldn’t be totally shocked if Steve Valiquette got the call for the Rangers’ third game in four nights.

And you can usually count on at least one fight on the ice.  Aaron Voros and Brendan Witt, perhaps?  Or Paul Mara and the Isles’ Nate Thompson?  In any case Derek or Lenny (or both) will probably be around later for a more extensive preview after they put on the warpaint and get the snacks ready for what should be another entertaining game between these two teams. 

There are also five other games around the NHL tonight including Ottawa traveling to still unbeaten (in regulation) Buffalo, Anaheim at Columbus, Chicago at Minnesota which also hasn’t lost in regulation yet, Boston at Edmonton and Detroit at Los Angeles.  Speaking of the Sabres - a.k.a the unofficial second team for most of BoNY - has grosek18 gone into catatonic shock yet over having both the Bills and Sabres in first place at the same time?

There’s plenty of hockey to discuss on a rare day when all thirty teams are playing.  To wit:

-No Jamie Langenbrunner today for the Devils.  Sheldon Brookbank will dress and play on the fourth line.  So I guess Petr Vrana will get even more of a chance to impress although it would be nice if certain veterans pick it up before they become UFA (cough Brian Gionta cough).  And of course, Martin Brodeur will start in goal again.  In other news, the sun is scheduled to set sometime early this evening.

-The Rangers will take on Pittsburgh at MSG in their first game since Game 5 of the second round of the playoffs last year, when the Penguins ousted the Rangers in Pittsburgh.  Of course, both teams’ rosters are actually very different now but I’m sure Derek will have more on a matchup that should be enteraining nonetheless.

-In the Peter Laviolette special, Carolina goes to Long Island to take on the Islanders.  What has it been, three or four coaches behind the bench for New York since Laviolette was unceremoniously dumped by Charles Wang?  Speaking of Carolina, is one-time Cup hero Cam Ward on the verge of losing his job?  Journeyman Michael Leighton has played very well for the Canes so far in net.

-In other news, Senators goalie Martin Gerber will miss tonight’s game in Toronto due to an ahem, leg injury.  Which is probably code for we’re finally tired of him and want to see what Alex Auld and prospect Brian Elliott can do.  Other rivalry matchups include Detroit at Chicago in the teams’ only meeting until the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day and Edmonton traveling to Vancouver.

It was Mike Ribeiro Night at the Nassau Coliseum. Apparently, someone forgot to inform the Islanders that the Dallas top pivot is a pretty good player who must be contained if you want to have success.

The talented 28 year-old Montreal, Quebec native lit up the home club for five points (goal, four assists) factoring in all of his team’s goals in a 5-3 road win a night after they were routed 5-0 by the Devils. Ribeiro netted primary helpers on Dallas’ first three tallies in the opening 20 minutes.

He setup Loui Eriksson on the power play putting the Stars in front for good 3:30 into the contest. Less than four minutes after setting up Dallas captain Brenden Morrow’s third, the crafty center picked up the lone assist on Eriksson’s second of the night giving him three points already.

The Islanders responded when team captain Bill Guerin cashed in on a Sean Bergenheim feed slicing it to 3-1 halfway through the contest. If only his teammates had taken advantage of Sean Avery’s double minor for roughing and Philippe Boucher’s cross check handing them a two-man advantage. They came close hitting a post and forcing Marty Turco to make some tough saves. Ultimately though, the Isles couldn’t get that big momentum swinging goal.

Following Guerin’s second from Bergenheim and defenseman Mark Streit, the Stars responded when Ribeiro and Morrow combined to setup Krys Barch restoring a three-goal lead at 13:05.

On a night in which he had donated four assists, the Star of the night finally had some favor returned when Morrow and Mike Modano combined for what was easily the prettiest goal of the game with Modano one-timing a cross-ice feed for an open Ribeiro near Rick DiPietro’s side for an easy slam dunk for a power play tally making it 5-1 with 1:33 left in the second. Just textbook passing.

The Isles did get a couple back in the third with Trent Hunter making a nice feed across for a cutting Streit for his first as an Islander via the man-advantage. A nice setup.

Jon Sim netted his first of the season finishing off a nice individual effort putting in his own rebound past Turco with three seconds remaining to close the scoring.

Overall, the Islanders were outshot 29-27 but anyone who saw the first two periods knows better as the Stars actually decided to show up unlike the previous night in which they got no big saves and didn’t bother backchecking.

So, what can be taken out of this for Scott Gordon’s club? Not much. At least Streit posted a three-point game (1-2-3) cause there’s really not much else good to say. Sim’s goal late was nice hustle but it was too little too late.

The highlight or lowlight depending upon your preference was a fight which broke out in the stands following a Streit boarding minor with 2:26 left. Apparently, plenty of security was needed to break it up drawing a grin from DiPietro, who allowed five goals on 29 shots in his second consecutive start.

I guess when you make the kind of dough he does on what’s not too good a team, you have to find something to smile about. Especially on a night in which his teammates didn’t give him enough support.

The Isles are home for Carolina Saturday before the Rangers pay a visit to Hempstead Monday night.

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Brenden Morrow, Dal (goal, 2 assists, 4 SOG, plus-three in 22:04)

2nd Star-Loui Eriksson, Dal (2 goals, 3 SOG in 20:27)

1st Star-Mike Ribeiro, Dal (PPG, 4 assists, 3 SOG, plus-three in 22:10)

Notes: Veteran defenseman Brendan Witt didn’t return following a knee on knee collision with Barch and will be reevaluated by the Islanders with a “lower-body” injury. … Not sure what this means but on a night the club held a nice team promotion of buy one ticket, get one free, they only drew 10,183. … Stars controlled the faceoff circle winning 31-of-50 draws. … Special Teams had Dallas 2-of-6 on the PP while New York finished 1-for-5.

It looked like it was going to be an inauspicious 2008-09 debut for Isles’ franchise goalie Rick DiPietro.  He gave up a goal on the first shot he faced by Nick Boynton, just 24 seconds into last night’s game against the Florida Panthers.  The good news for the Isles is that DiPietro immediately settled into form after that, making 34 saves and only allowing one more goal - a power play tally by Cory Stillman in the second period.  However, Tomas Vokoun was just a little bit better on this night, stopping all 31 shots he faced as Florida shut out the Islanders 2-0.

As Derek noted in a post a few days ago, the Isles actually hadn’t missed their franchise goalie to this point.  Joey McDonald did a good job in three of the Isles’ first four games - two of them wins - and may have proven he’s capable of giving DiPietro more nights off than he’s been accustomed to in the past. 

That said it had to be encouraging for Isles’ management that DiPietro was in midseason form right off the bat.  Of course one might say the Isles’ offense was also in midseason form (having scored a mere 11 goals in five games) and that wasn’t a good thing.

The Isles have a few days off before their next game, home against Dallas on Thursday night, after the Sean Avery circus act comes through the Garden and Prudential Center tomorrow and Wednesday.

They blew two third period leads. The Islanders led 2-0 entering the third and seemed on their way to a routine victory. However, that was far from the case the rest of the way in what amounted to a nice bounce back 4-3 overtime road win in Tampa thanks to Trent Hunter’s heroics.

The Isles seemed in control thanks to goals from centers Mike Comrie and Doug Weight. But early in the third as FSNY color analyst Billy Jaffe was heaping praise on the game defenseman Freddy Meyer had played, suddenly there was the ever dangerous Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier using his speed to receive a Vaclav head pass staying onside beating Brendan Witt before tucking the puck under Joey MacDonald’s pads to suddenly cut it to 2-1 at 3:43.

With New York still nursing a one-goal lead with Jon Sim in the box, Tampa Bay used all two minutes before Prospal stuffed home an Andrej Meszaros rebound to tie it with 7:58 left. Scott Gordon’s team showed resiliency a couple of shifts later thanks to a great Jeff Tambellini rush down the right wing forcing Olaf Kolzig to leave a rebound which an emerging Hunter backhanded home for a 3-2 Islanders lead with 6:09 to go.

So, the Isles were home free, right? Not exactly. Instead, the topsy turvy third continued when former Pen Ryan Malone netted his first as a Bolt parking in front of MacDonald finding a Jussi Jokinen rebound to retie it just 66 seconds later.

Meyer, who had played a strong physical game almost turned into the goat when he was sent off for holding with 4:23 remaining. However, the Islanders killed it off and the contest eventually required OT.

It wouldn’t take long to decide thanks to the hard work of Frans Nielsen who got in and forced an indecisive Kolzig into a brutal turnover. With the former Cap out of his net, Nielsen quickly passed out to an open Hunter who buried his second of the night for the game winner. Sadly, Olie the Goalie didn’t even bother hustling.

Hunter’s fourth of the season came only 51 seconds into overtime giving his club a huge spark responding well after being blown out 7-1 by Buffalo at home.

For all the talk about when Rick DiPietro’s going to make his season debut, the Isles are .500 (2-2-0) with MacDonald doing a solid job in his place. Last night, he finished with 33 saves and you couldn’t blame him on any he allowed.

The play of the 28 year-old from Nova Scotia has allowed his team to hang in there. More than you can say for the Flyers, who lost yet again 5-2 in Colorado dropping to 0-3-1. It might be early but did myself and Hasan jinx them?

All in all, it was a good win for the Islanders. Especially after blowing two leads. They stayed with it and came away with two points increasing Barry Melrose’s misery with Tampa Bay now 0-2-2 sitting in 14th a point ahead of the Flyers.

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Jeff Tambellini, NYI (assist, 3 SOG in 17:21)

2nd Star-Vaclav Prospal, TB (goal, assist, 4 SOG, plus-one in 20:35)

1st Star-Trent Hunter, NYI (2 goals including OT winner, 4 SOG, plus-one in 19:16)

Quick Hits:

-The teams combined to go 2-for-15 on the power play. (NYI: 1-for-9, TB: 1-for-6)

-Kolzig finished with one less save (32) than MacDonald because SOG were dead even (36-36).

-Tampa Bay controlled the faceoff circle finishing 35-26.

-Eight different Isles factored into the scoring with Hunter, Nielsen (2 A) and Comrie (G, A) each posting multi-point games.

-Rookie Kyle Okposo netted a primary helper on Comrie’s marker for his second point of the season. He received 10:39 and shared the team lead with four shots.

-Both defensemen Bruno Gervais (assist in 21:25) and Mark Streit (team high 25:07, 4 SOG, plus-one) logged big minutes.

-In a losing cause, TB’s Meszaros tallied two assists in a game high 25:17.

-D Paul Ranger made his season debut for the Lightning logging 23:46 finishing with two minors, two shots and a minus-two rating.

-The Islanders held Martin St. Louis off the scoresheet with only one SOG and a minus-two.

-New Bolt forward Radim Vrbata is still without a point.

-2008 No.1 overall pick Steven Stamkos played only 9:22 registering a shot while taking a penalty.

-In other action, the Caps used a spirited three-goal third period scoring four unanswered to stun the Pens at Mellon Arena 4-3. Alex Semin and Michael Nylander tallied to tie it. Boyd Gordon’s wrister was properly reviewed with replays confirming that his shot went off the back bar and in at 15:43 for the winner. Nylander and Semin each had a goal and helper. Though Alex Ovechkin finished with no points, his ferocious hitting sparked the comeback and even left a flustered Sidney Crosby shoving him when it was over like the baby he is. While Sid The Kid had two assists, he finished minus-three. Meanwhile, Evgeni Malkin was in on all three Pens goals netting a goal and two helpers along with nine SOG.

Also of note, after he lost Tom Poti to injury, Bruce Boudreau took a page from Scotty Bowman shifting Sergei Fedorov to the blueline with success. One of the most talented players of our time was invaluable making a seamless transition logging 22:17 while assisting on the winner and finishing plus-two. He might not be the scorer he once was but the 38 year-old Fedorov still has the skating and hockey sense which is what’s allowed him to last this long. Maybe the Caps should keep him on D. He was that impressive.

-The Canucks got a 4-3 OT win at Detroit when agitator Alex Burrows rebounded his own wide shot off a carom past an out of position Chris Osgood. He finished with two points, a plus-three, five SOG and the game’s first star. Willie Mitchell added two helpers. Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom had two assists in the loss while Henrik Zetterberg (groin) sat out.

-The Wild got a five point performance from emerging top pivot Mikko Koivu (1-4-5) and three points (2-1-3) from ex-Star Antti Miettinen in a 6-2 road victory over the Panthers remaining perfect on the season at 3-0-0. They’ve outscored opponents 14-7. Not bad considering Marian Gaborik sat out and is off to a slow start and they lost Brian Rolston. Somehow, Jacques Lemaire keeps them winning. Meanwhile, a team expected to be better in Florida is 1-2-0 having been outscored 14-9.

-As noted earlier, the Flyers remained winless falling to Colorado 5-2. Simon Gagne scored his fourth on a penalty shot going to a backhand deke. However, the Avalanche made the Flyers pay for their lack of discipline converting on 3-of-11 power plays with PPG from Marek Svatos, Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny. Ageless wonder Joe Sakic setup three of his team’s goals including a wonderful set play to Hejduk responding to Gagne’s tally.

The Flyers were badly outplayed in the first and third getting outshot 26-7 (17-3 in 1st) and outscored 3-0. They also were sloppy late in the second turning it over in the neutral zone leading to Cody McCormick’s first with 36 seconds left. Andrew Raycroft was the beneficiary finishing with just 16 stops for his first win as an Av. It all added up to Colorado’s first win in four tries.

-And finally, the Blues continued their surprising start routing slumping Dallas at home 6-1 scoring five on starter Marty Turco (5 GA on 18 shots) chasing him. St. Louis captain Keith Tkachuk and Brad Boyes each tallied and Paul Kariya added two assists as St. Louis improved to 3-1-0. Manny Legace finished with 29 saves. Meanwhile, the Stars have been outscored 18-12 and have just 3 points in four games (1-2-1).

Starting with the locals, both the Devils and Islanders are in action tonight.  New Jersey goes to Atlanta, usually a place for weird Devil-Thrasher games - while the Isles are at Tampa Bay in their first game since the Columbus Day massacre at  home against the Sabres. 

For the Devils there will be at least one lineup change, Andy Greene will be in for Anssi Samela.  Hoo boy.  Here’s to hoping Greene’s the player he looked like he was going to be in 2006 and not the lost soul he was last year, although this could be nothing more than rest for Samela who isn’t used to an 82-game schedule.

On Long Island, apparently Rick DiPietro is ‘getting closer’ to a return, whatever that means.  Perhaps he’ll play tonight, this weekend, or not for another 15 years.  I kid, I kid.  In all seriousness, the Islanders did lose another key part to their team when Radek Martinek went down for four to six weeks due to an unspecified upper-body injury.  Usually teams aren’t this anal about revealing the nature of an injury in the regular season but I guess coach Scott Gordon went to the NFL school of injury secrecy at all times.

And from bizarro world: The Blackhawks have fired Denis Savard a mere four games into the season.  Funny, I thought Lou Lamoriello was the only GM that fired coaches when nobody expected it.  I mean wow, what happened here?!  With a team on the upswing last year, 1-2-1 four games into a season (with tough losses at NY and Washington and a win last night) gets a legendary player fired?  Yes, Joel Quenneville is a capable coach and a fine replacement but come on!  If it was going to be done this quickly it should have been done in the offseason.

All On Broadway before teams take ice.

When’s the last time you could say the Ranger power play was the difference in a win? Not the past couple of seasons with a man-advantage that might as well have been declined due to overpassing tendencies driving fans nuts. Though it wasn’t perfect in tonight’s 4-1 home victory over the archrival Devils due to a near full 5-on-3 where they took a page out of the old book refusing to shoot as if they didn’t know how to deal playing two men up.

Perhaps they just prefer the regular 5-on-4 where twice the same simple formula resulted in an Aaron Voros deflection power play goal with the former Devil draft pick doing his best to agitate Martin Brodeur. I can’t comment on whether the second tally early in the third should’ve been goalie interference as Hasan earlier contended because it was very hard to tell from our 411 seats even when replayed on the scoreboard.

I guess I’ll just not say anything yet cause I don’t really know. What I do realize is how valuable Voros’ addition has been to a mostly vanilla roster without Sean Avery. I was on board with the signing right away due to the size, grit and physicality the former Wild player would bring. However, I don’t think any Ranger fan in their wildest dreams had Voros getting off to this kind of start scoring three goals and setting up four already half off last season’s 14-point total (7-7-14).

The 27 year-old from British Columbia also picked up a primary helper on Brandon Dubinsky’s third on the gift Brodeur allowed off his glove to give the Blueshirts a good start. I think Hasan’s description of it was right on. So, nothing further.

If the Rangers grabbed control after Dubi’s tally getting the final eight shots of a period which they started poorly in, then the Devils finally woke up in the middle stanza immediately following the first of Voros’ markers by playing a desperate physical brand of hockey forechecking the heck out of the Rangers.

A word of friendly advice to Nikolai Zherdev on the only glorious chance his team had of making it 3-0. SHOOT THE PUCK! When you’re setup perfectly by Dubinsky on a two-on-one within 18 feet of Brodeur and possess the best shot on the team, you don’t pass the puck across going for the perfect play which wasn’t there. You use your laser-like wrister and test Marty’s glove even if it’s one of the best in the league. He is so much like Alexei Kovalev, it’s scary. He needs to simplify things a little before fans start getting on him.

From that point, it was all Devils just using a much more aggressive attack forcing Ranger turnovers and getting the puck in deep beating them to the punch. They kept coming in waves until finally the hard work of Zach Parise, Jay Pandolfo and John Madden paid off when Mad Dog chipped a backhand over Henrik Lundqvist following a series of saves in tight.

It was only a matter of time cause if you stop doing the things that got you the lead like the Rangers also disturbingly did in Philly, eventually a good opponent will take advantage and get back in it. New Jersey outshot them 12-4 and really could’ve been tied if not for some good saves from Lundqvist, who was sharp in making 26 stops with 21 coming the final 40 minutes.

The only drawback on the Devs’ second was the ridiculously mistimed interference minor Johnny Oduya took knocking down Voros with just three ticks left handing the Blueshirts a man-advantage and needed momentum when they had none.

Of course, Tom Renney sent out his No.1 unit to start the third when they’d done little the whole night. Chris Drury was invisible a second straight game. Only Scott Gomez competed. Markus Naslund was again a non-factor getting shots blocked or missing wide. No wonder he only saw 14:35. The coach finally came to his senses sending out the second unit with Dubinsky, Voros and Zherdev.

It didn’t take long for them to setup Voros’ second. Almost identical but created by the second-year Alaskan center outmuscling Madden in the corner for a puck working it back to Dan Girardi, who fed an open Paul Mara who didn’t waste any time firing with Voros in front who wound up with his second of the night restoring order.

The Devs didn’t quit continuing to work hard but Lundqvist was there when called upon. He didn’t have to stand on his head because the Rangers didn’t back up testing Brodeur as well. They competed better in the third.

Colin White’s high stick 12 seconds following Bryce Salvador’s delay of game killed any realistic chance their team had of coming back. While they did a stellar job killing off the two-man disadvantage, it took two minutes off the clock and allowed the Rangers at the least to take momentum back and continue forechecking.

Brent Sutter made a wise move pulling Brodeur with over two minutes left to at least give his team a five-on-four with both needless captains Drury and equally invisible Jamie Langenbrunner in the box for roughing. However, his club just couldn’t find a way to make things interesting against Lundqvist.

Ryan Callahan’s empty netter from who else but Dubinsky sealed it.

All in all, a good win for the Rangers, who improved to a perfect 5-0 with the Sabres coming in Wednesday. Another game I’ll be at. Buffalo won over the Isles 7-1 yesterday destroying them scoring all seven including a four-goal second against Joey MacDonald. When are the Isles gonna admit something’s wrong with Rick DiPietro? Nevermind.

As for the Devils, it was their first loss of the season. They played as expected with an aggressive trap early which saw them generate on the cycle. What can’t be explained was how the next part of the game changed after Dubinsky’s goal. Guess it deflated them. They definitely have improved forward depth with Holik playing his familiar bruising style on a crash and bang fourth line where he first made his name. He also is still dirty getting away with a few slashes but that’s expected.

I would’ve liked to see Voros and David Clarkson go but they only talked and decided to play instead. I always like seeing at least one scrap between these rivals. Oh well. Maybe next month at The Rock.

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (26 saves)

2nd Star-Brandon Dubinsky, NYR (goal, 2 assists, 9-3 on draws in 13:37)

1st Star-Aaron Voros, NYR (2 PPG incl. GWG, assist, 4 PIM, 2 hits in 13:02)

NJ LINES

Elias-Rolston-Gionta

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner

Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson

Zubrus-Holik-Rupp

Martin-Salvador

White-Oduya

Mottau-Salmela

Healthy Scratches:

Andy Greene

Sheldon Brookbank

Petr Vrana

NYR Lines

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Fritsche-Korpikoski-Callahan

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Girardi

Healthy Scratches:

Nigel Dawes

Petr Prucha

Patrick Rismiller

The Rangers warmup during pregame skate for Devils.

Video:

Moment of Silence for Alexei Cherepanov

Both teams take ice

Each team warms up during pre-game skate

The Rangers take the ice for warmups

Quick Hits:

-Before the national anthem, there was a moment of silence for Alexei Cherepanov.

-Special Teams: NJ: 0-for-3 PP, NYR: 2-for-4 PP

Note: The Rangers have now killed off all 21 penalties this season.

-Rangers were good in the faceoff circle going 28-for-48 with Dubinsky (9-3) and Drury (6-1) neutralizing the Devs’ best Madden (6-10).

-Unlike Saturday, there was plenty of physicality with each team finishing their checks. The Devils outhit the Rangers 43-37 with bruisers Salvador and White each leading the way with seven apiece. Madden and Rupp each had five with both playing strong games. For the Blueshirts, Redden and club enforcer Orr paced them with five each while Marc Staal chipped in with four.

-Another factor was shots that never made the net with the Devils missing the net 12 times and having another 19 blocked with Redden getting in the path of four while valuable penalty killer Blair Betts had three. The Rangers missed the net eight times and had 13 blocked with White and Salvador each finishing with three apiece. Overall, it was a 10 shot differential in the Rangers’ favor.

-Each team did well in takeaways with the Devs getting nine including three from Paul Martin while the Rangers had 13 with an active Gomez winding up with four.

-The Devs’ most effective players were Parise, Madden, Pandolfo, Holik, Zajac, Rupp, White, Salvador and Martin meaning that the Rangers were able to keep the top line of Elias-Rolston-Gionta in check holding them without a point and six combined shots.

-The Rangers’ best players were Dubinsky, Voros, Sjostrom, Callahan, Korpikoski (13:01), Redden, Staal, Mara along with Betts and Orr. The top line as I mentioned did little combining for just three shots with only Gomez coming close with a redirect off the post. He was the only one of the three to assert himself which explains why he got over 20:00. It might be time to break that line up.

-Sjostrom played so well in this one that he saw extended time with over 14:00 getting PK time and being thrown out more by Renney to provide a boost. His speed was tremendous. He really seems to have solidified his spot and might be worth a look on the third line.

-I also came away with impressed with the smart play of Betts and Orr, who again did a respectable job defensively while getting the puck in deep. Very nice work.

-I’m really not sure where the Devs should play Dainius Zubrus. I mean he can’t be on the fourth line and probably fits best with Madden and Pandolfo giving them more offense than Clarkson, who can bang everything in sight with Holik and Rupp.

-In other league action, the Blues cameback to defeat the Leafs 5-4 in a shootout rallying back from a 3-0 deficit thanks to a goal and assist each from Paul Kariya and rookie Patrik Berglund. Keep an eye on the 20 year-old Swede who St. Louis took late in the first round two years ago. He could be a sleeper. Nik Antropov had two assists for the Leafs, who lost due to another boneheaded boarding major from you guessed it Ryan Hollweg. Will he ever learn? Brad Boyes netted the shootout winner.

-As noted before, the Isles got roasted by the Sabres 7-1 with backup MacDonald in for all seven. Yikes. Thomas Vanek tallied twice and Jason Pominville and Ales Kotalik each had a goal and two assists as Buffalo improved to 2-0 with the Rangers next. Trent Hunter broke up Patrick Lalime’s shutout bid with former Ranger Thomas Pock assisting.

The Isles next game isn’t till Thursday at winless Tampa, whose D is so putrid they’re considering signing Marek Malik. Big Bird just might be an upgrade. That one could be interesting. Speaking of which, there was a big fracas in the second featuring a few scraps with four players ejected and eight misconducts. Woh. Wonder what happens when the Isles visit Buffalo? Can you say must watch?

-The defending champion Red Wings got goals from Nick Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg in a 3-1 road win over the Hurricanes. Joe Corvo tallied for Carolina as backup Ty Conklin was solid making 27 saves to outperform Cam Ward (33 saves).

-The Canadiens fought back from a 2-1 deficit after two exploding for four third period goals including three straight in a 5-3 road win at Philly getting a little redemption for their second round ouster. Four Habs had two points with The Kostitsyns combining for a goal and three assists while Roman Hamrlik (goal, assist) and Andrei Markov (2 A) led a balanced attack which was too much for Mike Richards (goal, assist, minus-three) and Jeff Carter (goal, minus-two). There was a scrap between Guillaume Latendresse and Joffrey Lupul at the conclusion with the teams coming together. The Flyers fell to 0-2 and should be in a foul mood when they visit state rival Pittsburgh later tonight.

-In the mismatch of the night, the Capitals defeated a weary Canuck team 5-1. Alexander Semin tallied twice while ex-Ranger Michael Nylander finished with a goal and two helpers in a game Alexander Ovechkin didn’t have a point in despite a domination which saw Washington hold Vancouver to 10 shots making it a routine victory for backup Brent Johnson (nine saves). In a dominant second which they outscored Vancouver 3-0, they outshot them 15-1 on their way to a 35-10 edge. Gee wiz. Roberto Luongo was in for all five before being chased stopping 20 of 25 before Curtis Sanford relieved him.

So, why was this such a mismatch? How about because the Canucks played two intense games beating nemesis Calgary twice including a two-goal comeback to win in OT the other night in Western Alberta. How in the world did the schedule makers have them traveling across North America to the nation’s cap for a game two nights later? Makes zero sense. That’s why the result wasn’t surprising.

-Finally, the Predators continued to win getting the better of the Blackhawks 3-2 spoiling their home opener. Rich Peverley and J.P. Dumont tallied in the shootout. Shea Weber and Kevin Klein got the Preds’ goals in regulation while Martin Havlat showed up with a goal and a helper as did Patrick Sharp getting the Hawks their first point of the season. They’re off to a slow 0-2-1 start getting outscored 11-6.

After raising their Eastern Conference champions banner, the Penguins went out and proceeded to lay an egg for sixty-five minutes being outshot 49-15 by the visiting Devils including a ridiculous 39-7 in the final two periods and overtime. 

Yet it looked as if Pittsburgh would come away with a 1-0 victory in regulation thanks to the heroics of Marc-Andre Fleury and his three best friends (the two posts and crossbar) before a lucky bounce, when Patrik Elias’s pass towards center ice hit off of Hal Gill’s skate and went past Fleury to tie the game.  Zach Parise’s slick wrist shot in the final minute of overtime gave the Devils their just two points in dramatic fashion.

Miroslav Satan scored the Penguins’ lone goal on a first-period power play where Pittsburgh sent three players towards the net and eventually Devil-killer Satan put home a rebound.  In what proved to be a harbinger, Gill’s tough night started early when the giant 6′5 250 defenseman got owned in a fight by David Clarkson - fifty pounds and a few inches shorter.  

There were plenty of good things for the Devils to take out of this weekend.  For one, having a healthy Bryce Salvador here for the whole season (he only played a handful of regular season games last year before getting hurt) and also Anssi Samela in the lineup over the likes of Andy Greene and Sheldon Brookbank seems to have improved the D dramatically from last season. 

The needless worrying by Devil fans about Martin Brodeur changing his mask has been unfounded as Brodeur has been his usual strong self - in fact, the conditioning program Brodeur underwent in the offseason looks like it’s helped prevent the slow starts Marty’s had every season since the lockout.  As a result, Marty now stands just 11 wins shy of Patrick Roy’s record.

For all my hemming and hawing about the offense, they have had a number of chances and it’s been the Devils’ key guys who’ve had the goals thus far - Parise and Elias each have two apiece.  Of course someone else will have to score before the season’s over, but typically your best players have to be your best players if you want to go anywhere.  Too often last season that wasn’t the case, especially offensively.

And from a purely intangibles standpoint, so far the Devils have shown just that little bit more intensity and fight and won a game or even two they would have lost last season.  Not that I thought the team wasn’t trying but maybe the playoff loss to the Rangers at home and the advanced age of some key players have sharpened the intensity level that much more.

In other local news, it proved to be a good night for all three teams.  The Islanders won their home opener 5-2 over the Blues on the strength of four first-period goals and 24 saves by Joey McDonald, while as referred to in the comments section of Derek’s last post the Rangers nearly blew a four-goal lead against the Flyers in Philly’s home opener before hanging on for a 4-3 win, remaining unbeaten with four straight wins to start the season (ensuring both the Devils and Rangers come into Monday’s showdown at MSG unbeaten).