The Devils dealt the Rangers another pre-season blow before a crowd of 15,361 at the Garden yesterday.  Goals came from Brian Gionta, Patrik Elias (2), and Dainus Zubrus on the Devils.  For the Rangers, Markus Naslund netted his first of the pre-season, and Nikolai Zherdev clocked one in as well.

Henrik Lundqvist was in mid-season form letting in 4 goals on 12 shots over 2 periods of play.  Backup Stephen Valiquette stepped in facing 11 shots total and letting nothing past.

Kevin Weekes stopped all 10 shots faced, while Scott Clemenson allowed 2 goals on 14 shots total.

Total shots were 23 for NJ, 24 for NY.

Overall, this was a great game for New Jersey’s top line of Elias-Rolston-Gionta, seeing the three make some pretty plays while also shooting a lot of puck (12 shots total generating 3 goals).  Following them, the “750-line” (dubbed by Colin White) of Zubrus-Holik-Rupp scored a goal on 3 shots total.

On Defense, White and Oduya performed very well, with Anssi Salmela showing his stuff as the new guy.  Not much to say here, they kept the puck out of the zone and cleared it well.

It’s becoming evident as to who will stay and who will go.  With only 2 potential roster spots open (winger on the 4th line, and partner on last defensive line), the young prospects had to be very stellar to make the team.

On defense, it appears Brent Sutter wants to keep Mike Mottau, not because he did extremely well, but that his performance is consistent and established.  As for the extra defenseman, Salmela should stay as he performed well and showed some stability.  He will probably sit out more than play.  Matt Corrente needs some time to get seasoned in the AHL.  He let the prospect of getting into the NHL get to his head, and it showed.  While in yesterday’s game, he performed well and with improved poise, his prior performance was not good enough to make the cut in an already intensely competitive competition for few roster spots.  Sheldon Brookbank showed exactly why he is what he is… depth defenseman.  The Devils will probably carry him as practice fodder or shoot him into the sun.

On offense, things appear to be quite set.  Mike Rupp will probably interchange with some dude… probably LeBlonde on the 4th line as he appears to be fiesty and a fighter who is still young.  Fedor Federov is an enigma in a box in a garbage can.  With the puck, he does well… but without?  Question marks are not good when there is so much competition.

Essentially, the team is shaping up quite well, and there aren’t going to be too many changes going into the regular season.

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Now on to the Rangers…

Their performance yesterday was quite poor… not due to a lack of skill, but more towards a lack of energy.  Playing so many games in the week (6 games in 8 nights) may have something to do with that.  In the 3rd period, they began to battle back, but it became a game of “too little, too late”.

On the bright side: Gomez, Drury, Dubinski played well.  It was unfortunate that Korpikoski was booted out so early on what was an entirely bogus call.  He has had a lot of good talk around him and I personally was interested in seeing him play against the Devils.

On the shady side: Redden and Lundqvist really stood out to me.  Lundqvist really did not play well at all.  It could be his knees, it could be he was tired.  Who knows.  We won’t be able to tell until the regular season kicks in.  But many fans will be keeping a close eye on his performance over the next few weeks just to be sure.

Wade Redden… skate problems?  I hope so for his sake.  Mr. 6 years @ 6 mil each needs to play up to that level… ESPECIALLY in the city of New York.  When a player comes to the big apple with a contract like that (in NHL terms), then a certain type of play is expected of him.  Falling down, coughing up the puck, and leaving his defensive assignments open does not help.  He needs to lock it up ASAP, or he will become the next Marek Malik… for 6 years (that contract alone is like a NTC).  I hope for the latter… the Garden Boo-Birds really brighten up my day (Hehe).

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Final comments:  It’s only preseason.  Both clubs were ~50% AHLers, so it is really tough to guage capabilities at this point.  I really like how the Devils are shaping up right now… few major changes allows them to build on what they have, and improve with experience.

The Rangers?  Too many changes during the off-season will hurt them.  It took half a season for them to get their act together last year… and it may be the same story this year.  Personally, this whole “youth movement” thing is just fancy talk for a mini-rebuild.

I’ll write some more on the subject later-on.

Okay…so I’m finally back after a few hours away of letting off some steam in the form of a well timed drive to Park Slope in the BK for groceries you can’t find out in Shaolin (Staten Island). Plus the area is much nicer and it was a great night even with the rain which came.

I tried making sense of the Straka call and how it ultimately decided such an entertaining first game which had more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. I couldn’t do it before but let’s give the Pens full marks for coming back and taking Game One.

Sure. With their explosive offense, being three down isn’t insurmountable by any stretch. But it still takes tremendous poise to pick yourself back up and rebound the way they did. 

Obviously, the turning point had to be Pascal Dupuis’ goal 14 seconds immediately following Jarko Ruutu’s centering feed banked in off Michal Rozsival. It got the Pens right back in it and really swung the momentum. Had the Rangers been able to bury chances instead of either missing wide or shooting into the chest of Marc-Andre Fleury, I believe they would’ve been able to hold off the Pens.

Most disheartening was that twice Pittsburgh scored on consecutive shifts making our team D look in slow motion. Coverage was severely lacking by the forwards who got caught watching. That means you Sean Avery!

It’s still kind of hard to fathom Henrik Lundqvist allowing that Marian Hossa tying marker from that inconceivable angle. I thought I was watching another No.30 for a second from recent playoff failures. That guy at least has a track record. So, even if it was through a maze of players, there’s no excuse.

Another frustrating aspect was that after pissing away a 3-0 lead to fall behind, the Blueshirts cameback to tie on a nice Jaromir Jagr setup to Scott Gomez, who in turn ripped home his fourth of the playoffs. Had they played with that sense of purpose up three instead of falling asleep at the wheel, we’re not discussing what the Pens did right even if the officiating came into play with 3:20 left.

My main beef was that on the same shift, the Rangers were setup well and at least twice Pens tackled our players. Nothing. But as soon as The Whiner went the other way, you just knew one of those BHL specials was coming of the made up variety.

For the most part, the Ranger PK was good doing what they had on the previous four successive kills playing aggressively and not giving the Pens much room to setup. The problem was the one time they finally bought enough space, Evgeni Malkin got in front of Lundqvist doing the job as Sidney Crosby’s one-timer bounced off his left foot and in with only 1:41 remaining.

Another thing which irked me was the delay for a nothing review. Just another tease. Of course it wasn’t intentional. Why do they have to review every God damn thing? Because these days, our league is so pussy-footed. They’re too damn afraid of making a mistake and being scoffed at by people who don’t even give a rat’s ass about the sport. 

Screw being image conscious! It gets you nowhere. Be a little daring. Brian’s got it right. The league NEEDS more crooks. Then maybe they’ll garner some publicity. 

The following above statement isn’t something Battle of NY approves of. It’s only purpose is to serve as satire for a league which needs it badly with the way they disrespect the game and fans alike.

All Photos Copyright Getty Images

Martin Brodeur didn’t have much to say. Aside from the predictable handshake snub of Sean Avery, the normally unflappable Devil franchise netminder handled questions in odd fashion after the Rangers had eliminated his team with a 5-3 Game Five win at The Prudential Center Friday night. 

To say it was awkward would be an understatement. Or maybe as he’d term it, ”Weird.” 

Aside from the unusually brief Brodeur postgame reaction, several other teammates took it in better stride analyzing what went wrong. I watched a vast majority of both sides of the Battle of Hudson MSG postgame coverage and came away impressed with how other Devs handled the crushing defeat. Particularly John Madden, who almost was the hero.

It was a rough night for Brodeur, who didn’t have a good showing allowing another questionable goal in what amounted to another high scoring game. If there was a turning point in this game, it had to be after the Devils got on the board first courtesy of a Brian Gionta goal from Travis Zajac and Dainius Zubrus. Wonder where that line combo came from?

Oddly enough, all four of Brent Sutter’s lines were exactly what was written here. Did someone spread the word to the first-year coach? I just found it totally amusing. 

Anyway, Gionta finally solved Henrik Lundqvist and it came early. You had to figure that boded well for the Devs as the team who scored first had won the past four games. Plus the percentage had been fairly high thus far in these playoffs.

Instead of keeping momentum, the Devs allowed the Rangers to come right back 18 seconds later when the series’ best player Jaromir Jagr got to a loose puck behind the net and centered for teammate Michal Rozsival, who beat Brodeur upstairs for his first of the series. Not long after, Jagr notched his second of the series while on the power play when for some reason the Devils backed off allowing him enough time to setup and wrist one five-hole on Marty.

MSG-Plus (that’s the best name they come up with? Geez.) Devil analyst Ken Daneyko had it right when he said that the Devs’ PK needed to be more aggressive there against Jagr. You don’t let a skilled player like that get so much space. It was just way too much time for what was a stoppable shot.

The turnaround continued thanks to a great shift by Avery. With a target on his back all period where Devils hit him often including a few illegally, the Ranger pest took the abuse during one shift coming out with the puck forcing Brodeur to make a save. Instead of taking their former teammate, the Madden line was preoccupied with Avery allowing Scott Gomez an early Christmas present which made it 3-1 Blueshirts with 1:59 left in the first.

That goal really categorized why the Devils came out on the wrong side in this series. There were just too many instances during this heated series where they were going for the big hit and forgot about their defensive assignments. Not the kind of disciplined hockey one would expect from New Jersey.

Another glaring example of this was Chris Drury’s series clincher. The Devils had a solid shift in the Ranger end but couldn’t make a dent on the scoreboard. Somehow, Nigel Dawes came out with the puck during a two-on-three and made a perfect cross feed between Mike Mottau’s legs to a cutting Drury, who buried it for his second in two contests at 5:35.

At the time, it looked like a knockout blow because the Devs didn’t have much life. However, hockey’s a weird game. Sometimes, you’ll get a couple of bounces to get back in it which was precisely what happened when a Bryce Salvador dump-in from his bench deflected off Brandon Dubinsky’s back past a stunned Lundqvist which suddenly cut it to 4-2 with over 30 minutes still left in regulation. Maybe one of the oddest goals I’ve ever seen.

A few minutes later, a loss of discipline from Dubinsky (offensive zone- interference) and Marc Staal (slash) led to a Patrik Elias five-on-three tally at 13:50 making it a one-goal contest. During a siege in front, Elias threw a puck which caromed off a Ranger past Lundqvist. Suddenly, it was the Devils with all the momentum and plenty of time on their side.

Ultimately, the game came down to Madden, who was pulled down by Ranger defenseman Dan Girardi leading to the first ever penalty shot in Stanley Cup playoff history in the third period. He made a strong move opting to go to the backhand but Lundqvist got just enough of a pad on Madden’s five-hole stuff attempt to keep it out with 7:08 remaining.

With the Rangers playing more conservatively (more on this in another column) trapping, the Devs only got one more quality chance to tie it but a wide open Gionta one-timer similar to the one he scored on was foiled by Lundqvist, who got enough of his goalstick to push the puck over the net.

An inspired shift by Ryan Callahan where he controlled the puck deep in Devil territory for roughly 40 seconds seemed to take the wind out of Sutter’s club as they never threatened again.

A Dubinsky empty netter was the final nail in the coffin with exactly a minute to go, allowing the Rangers to become the second team to advance to the Eastern Conference Semis- joining possibly future opponent and division rival Pittsburgh.

That all depends on what happens with the two remaining series. The Flyers will try to wrap up a spot in D.C. later today while the top seeded Canadiens look to do the same tonight in Boston. If the Habs prevail, they’ll get either the Rangers or Flyers. That’s if the Caps don’t mount a 3-1 comeback. There are other scenarios. So we’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

In the other two Western Conference series, the Red Wings got a Johan Franzen OT goal at 1:48 to edge the Predators 2-1, taking a 3-2 series lead back to Nashville. Meanwhile, the Ducks responded to adversity getting a goal and helper from veteran Teemu Selanne and 42 saves from Jean-Sebastien Giguere while getting the better of the Stars 5-2 to force a Game Six back in Big D.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images 

The Devils took on the last place team in the East on Friday, and in front of a good crowd a The Rock, did not make things easy for themselves. They pulled out with a key two points, that gave them back the Conference lead, and gave them a chance to rest Marty Brodeur on Saturday, but we all know that’s never assured.

The Devils did look good to start this one off. They came out the more ready team to play, despite having three days off and the Lightning having played and lost last night. Usually you expect a team that got beaten last night to come out firing and not look tired, but early on the Lightning did. Mid-way through the first, Patrik Elias made a beautiful pass to Zach Parise, one that actually bounced and Zach had to whip out of somewhat mid-air in behind Tampa ‘tender Karri Ramo.

That’s not to discredit Ramo, who was the better goaltender tonight, as Marty Brodeur did have one of those nights where he was seldom tested, but early in the first made some great saves as the Bolts swarmed the net. Ramo was named the third star of the game, behind Parise and Elias.

The Lightning clearly looked to be taking over in the 2nd, and got their reward for playing so well, as Michel Ouellet got a nice pass from Dan Boyle on the man advantage and put it five hole as Marty was a little distracted by Jeff Halpern. The game stayed tied 1-1 through the third period.

Early in the third, as there really wasn’t too much action in the period, Zach Parise and Dan Boyle were shoving each other at the front. Boyle knocked Zach down, and Parise responded by… dropping the gloves? Wow, did not see that coming, but Zach answered the bell, and ended up drawing a rough, an instigator, and a misconduct to Boyle! Boyle was gone for 19 minutes of this one, and it’s only due to the Overtime that he came back.

When he came back, he likely made the biggest mistake of the game, turning the puck over to a pope check by Sheldon Brookbank, who got it ahead to Patrik Elias. Patty came in on a 2-on-1 with Parise, and ripped a shot past Ramo to end it at 4:02 of Overtime.

Notes: The Devils moved up to first in the Eastern Conference with 84 points… It was Elias’ 8th game-winning goal, and 4th Overtime-winning goal of the season, and his 60th GWG and 14th OT Winner career-wise… Colin White left the game with what the Devils termed “Upper Body Soreness”, and is questionable for tomorrow night… The big duo of Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis went without a point for the 8th straight game… Lecavalier is without a goal for his 12th consecutive game… The Devils will take on Toronto tomorrow night in Ontario. Game is at 7:00 PM ET, on FSN NY and WFAN.

Didn’t get a chance to check it out, but Brendan Morrow’s goal sunk New York, 3-2.

At this rate, NJD will be in first by New Year’s.

A Big 3-2 victory for the Devils. Two goals for Brian Gionta, and one by David Clarkson on a brilliant feed by John Madden.

Four consecutive ROAD wins for New Jersey. They come home for Dallas, Montreal, Atlanta, Boston and Washington. Consecutively.

I’m scheduled to go Friday (MTL), Sunday (ATL) and the Friday afterwards (WSH).

8 Points out of 10 is particularly possible for this stand. Hell, 10 out of 10 is if Brodeur keeps playing at his God-ly standards. No Elias for 2 nights in a row and 2 wins.

What a game. The Devils save their season with a huge win over Pittsburgh 2-1. Zach Parise got both goals on the power play. Marty Brodeur played a fantastic game, only an Evgeni Malkin goal off a redonkulous turnover by Johnny Oduya (sigh) kept him from the shutout.

Great game, including a key 5-on-3 kill by the Devils in the third period.

Devils take on the Thrashers on Friday at 7.

Marty gets big wins against the Failures. Period. Exclamation point.

Congrats to Marty, and the Devils, who got off the snide tonight with a 6-2 victory at the ATM in South Philadelphia. I was unable to watch, so I’ll post the point-getters tonight…

DEVILS:
Parise: 1 G, 2 A
Elias (!): 1 G, 1 A
Zubrus: 1 G, 1 A
Gionta: 1 G, 1 A
Rachunek: 1 G
Pandolfo: 1 G
Greene: 1 A
Zajac: 1 A
Oduya: 1 A

Brodeur: 26 Saves

PHILADELPHIA:
Richards: 1 G, 1 A
Upshall: 1 G, 1 A
Timonen: 1 A
Knuble: 1 A

Biron: 18 Saves

Well, I’m sure the suicide watch is off for a lot of happy New Jerseyans tonight, and somewhere in Western Canada, the Pelley family appreciates the gesture of the greatest American hockey play-by-play voice of a generation.

The Devils have gotten points in 4 of their last 5 games now, since the opening rock loss to the Senators. They beat the Flyers in front of a tad under 15,000 in downtown Brick City. It was a game filled with sticks going all over the place, cross checks to the throat, hits from behind, and some of all 3 three of those actions going un-penalized.

After a first-period power-play goal from Philly’s Mike Richards, the Devils got their act in gear after blonking on a double-minor power play. When Karel Rachunek had a shot dubbed, it careemed right to Brian Gionta, and with Marty Biron oblivious to the puck’s location, Gionta practically had a 4 x 6 to shoot at, and he made no mistake.

Off the ensuing faceoff, the Devils kept the heat on. A long-ranger from Paul Martin? Stopped by Biron. A rebound from Jay Pandolfo? Same result. Dainius Zubrus’ 3rd chance? BINGO! ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUBI gets his first goal as a Devil to make it a 2-1 NJ lead. Good for Zubrus, I hope he keeps it up.

And whadda’ ya know, he did! 5 minutes later, he crossed the deep slot and ripped a shot off the paraphernelia of Biron and into the white paint behind the red line. Two for ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUBRUS and it was 3-1 Devils after period #1. A shocker.

Early 2nd period. A broken play in the neutral zone sees Sergei Brylin handing off the puck to a surging Rod Pelley. The rookie raced into the Philly zone and ripped a backhander between the legs of Biron for his first National Hockey League goal to make it 4-1. Doc Emrick noted that Pelley’s family was likely watching, and stayed silent while PA Announcer Kevin Clark announced it as Pelley from Brylin at 2:48 of Period 2. That was also it for Biron, as he was ably replaced by Antero Nittymaki, who was solid in replacement.

The game stayed pretty stoic to the end. 2 fights occured, an even brawl between Riley Cote and Aaron Asham, and another draw from Sheldon Brookbank and Ben Eager. The Devils are now at 14 points, 1 point behind Pittsburgh for 4th place in the Atlantic, and up to a tie for 10th with Florida in the Eastern Conference. They take on the division rival Islanders at the Mausoleum on Saturday.

Very few words. Just a blah game.

More later