East meets West when King Henrik battles Roberto Luongo.

They’re Kings of their own domain. Both dominating in net for their respective clubs. Much like when Rocky took on Ivan Drago, East will meet West again when Ranger netminder Henrik Lundqvist battles Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo tonight at the Garden.

The game features two of the elite goalies in the game with Luongo’s five shutouts leading the league while King Henrik ranks first with 12 wins and tied for third with a miniscule 1.92 GAA. About the only surprise headed into the match is that Lundqvist, who led the league last year with 10 shutouts has failed to post one yet. Could it happen tonight against one of the best goaltenders who he’s had great success against outplaying him in all three career meetings back in his rookie season (2005-06) when Luongo was still a Panther?

We’ll just have to wait and see if the outcome will be similar because Luongo’s on a much better team with the Canucks (10-6-2, 22 Pts) tied for fourth in an ultra competitive West where four total points separates third place Minnesota from ninth place Nashville and Columbus.

Vancouver is eerily similar to the East-leading Rangers (14-5-2, 30 Pts) relying on the stellar play of their netminder while getting timely scoring from a balanced offense led by Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Henrik leads them with 15 points (3-12-15) while brother Daniel’s six goals are second to former Leaf Kyle Wellwood, who’s played very well thus far scoring big goals to rebound from an injury plagued 2007-08 with seven markers.

Unlike last season, the Canucks possess a more balanced attack with youngsters Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond contributing along with the pesky Alex Burrows. Veteran pickup Pavol Demitra recently returned from injury scoring the lone goal in a 2-1 shootout loss at the Islanders Monday. He also netted three assists in a win over Toronto on Hockey Night In Canada.

Demitra is helping replace former Canuck Markus Naslund, who faces the team he rose to stardom with after coming over from the Penguins for <gulp> the immortal Alek Stojanov. Gee. I wonder who won that one.

In over 11 seasons spent in British Columbia, Naslund scored 346 goals including 30 or better six times hitting at least 40 in three straight seasons from 2000-01 through 2002-03 with his best coming in ‘02-03 when he tallied 48 goals and 56 assists for 104 points- all career highs across the board. He also went 5-9-14 in the postseason with the ‘Nucks falling to the Wild blowing a 3-1 series lead after Todd Bertuzzi opened his mouth.

The former Canuck leader dropped off following the lockout going from 32 goals and 79 points in 2005-06 to 24 and 60 in 2006-07 to 25 and 55 in his final campaign last season. His lowest output in a decade when he went 14-20-34 in his second full season with Vancouver before becoming one of the better scorers in the league during a low scoring era.

Overall with the Canucks, Naslund scored 346 goals, 390 assists totaling 736 points in 884 games. Impressive marks for the skilled Swede once tabbed by Pittsburgh in the first round 16th overall back in 1991. Just imagine if Craig Patrick had kept him playing alongside Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev. There’s no telling what they might’ve accomplished.

Instead, he went on to stardom in Vancouver becoming one of the most respected players before being shown the door by management who blamed him for their shortcomings. Considering that his production was down, maybe it was time for a change. He pursued the Rangers once before re-upping with the Canucks. Now signed with the Broadway club for two years, eight million, Naslund is tied for second in Ranger scoring with 14 points (6-8-14). He scored his biggest goal in the final minute tying Boston last Saturday as the club rallied from two back to post a 3-2 shootout win.

After coming out of the gate slowly, Naslund’s begun to fit in on a team which doesn’t rely on one or two players to score but rather a group which has seen at least seven Rangers with 11 points or more. Interestingly enough, for a team that doesn’t score a ton (57 GF in 21 GP), they’re tied with the Blues for third best in double digit scorers with only the high flying Western attacks of the league best Sharks and defending champion Red Wings getting more contributions with as many as 10 different players scoring at least 10 or more points thus far.

Naslund’s former club has at least six of those including solid defenseman Kevin Bieksa (3-8-11), who won’t be in Vancouver’s lineup due to a left foot fracture that has him on IR. A break for the Blueshirts, who themselves won’t have one of their better scorers in Scott Gomez (3-10-13), who will remain out for a fourth consecutive game with an ankle injury.

It’s worth noting that the game doesn’t start until 7:30 with drop of the puck around 7:38 with the game which can be seen locally on MSG also being televised by TSN which helps explain the late start.

As for the history between Luongo and Lundqvist as noted above, here’s a little more on it along with some other fun facts courtesy of The NHL Today in today’s notes:

FROM THE STAT WIZARDS AT ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
– The Canucks play the Rangers in New York tonight with a likely matchup of goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist. Luongo ranks third among NHL goaltenders with 127 wins over the last four seasons while Lundqvist’s 116 wins tie him with Marty Turco for fourth-most in the league over that span. The top two goaltenders on the list are New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur (141 wins) and Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff (131).

Lundqvist and Luongo have started against each other three times, all in 2005-06, Lundqvist’s rookie season and Luongo’s last season with the Florida Panthers. Lundqvist and the Rangers won all three games: two 4-0 shutouts at Madison Square Garden and a 4-3 shootout victory in Florida.

If you want to read an interesting article before the game, be sure to check out Sam Weinman’s special feature on Ranger captain Chris Drury’s special relationship with former BU teammate Travis Roy, who was paralyzed 13 years ago during a freak accident on his first collegiate shift.

The two have remained close since the incident with Drury raising money for Roy’s cause by hosting a golf tournament continuing to contribute to the Travis Roy Foundation to this day. They still speak regularly and it’s clear how much admiration they have for each other with Drury heaping praise on how well his former teammate has handled being a quadriplegic raising money and awareness for spinal cord injuries:

“He’s an inspiration to me and a lot of people just with what he deals with on a regular basis. He’s very upbeat. He has his goals and is very independent. I can’t imagine what he goes through. I don’t think anybody could. But I don’t think he could handle it better.“

I don’t think any of us could imagine having to go through life battling as hard as Roy does day in and day out. His story is extremely courageous and uplifting.  Tonight, he’ll be speaking out at Rye High School while one of his closest buddies takes the ice able to live out a lifelong dream he once had.

When you think all is lost, just remember how fortunate we really are.

With Gomez continuing to not progress, figure the lineup to remain the same:

Naslund-Drury-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Korpikoski-Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Girardi

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Rozsival

It’s a light schedule with the slumping Sabres visiting the Bruins at the top of the hour which can be viewed on yahoo online if you don’t get Center Ice. The late game features the sizzling Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals visiting the Ducks.

Ovechkin got out slowly but has been on fire lately:

– The Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin had only eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in his first 11 games this season but he’s scored 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) in the team’s last four games, with at least one goal and two points in each game. Ovechkin is the first Capitals player to register at least one goal and two points in each of four consecutive team games since Jaromir Jagr had two such four-game streaks in the 2001-02 season. The only player in Capitals history with a longer streak of that kind was Dennis Maruk in 1980-81 (five games).

Enjoy the night’s action.

Michal Rozsival has struggled while Wade Redden has settled in as he faces his former club tonight.

It won’t be just another game for Ranger defenseman Wade Redden when he faces off against his former team, the Senators who visit the Garden for the first of two meetings this week with his new team also visiting Ottawa for a Saturday matinee.

That’s where the 31 year-old veteran out of Sasketchewan who was originally an Islander 1995 second overall selection before traded there for former Calder winner Bryan Berard blossomed into one of the better overall defensemen. In 11 seasons with the Sens, Redden amassed 410 points (101 goals, 309 assists) along with a respectable plus-159 rating over 838 career games.

How consistent was he during his Ottawa career? Only once did Redden finish with a minus-rating while going plus-17 or better in six seasons including five straight between 2000-01 and 2005-06 when he put up his best numbers posting 10-40-50, plus-35 with eight power play goals and four game winners in just 65 contests. Had he not missed time, he gets nominated for the Norris and maybe wins the annual Nicklas Lidstrom Award.

Redden’s contributions helped lead the Senators reach the Stanley Cup before they lost in five games to the Ducks. A series which wasn’t one of his finer moments.

Still, his time spent there was very successful and helped prepare him for his first season with his new team on Broadway where he signed up for the next six years at an average of $6.5 million per year to try to help the Rangers climb further. Thus far, he’s been up and down through the team’s first 20 games posting two goals and six assists for eight points with a plus-two rating.

However, unlike struggling teammate Michal Rozsival, who reupped for four more years getting $20 million, Redden’s settled in and is coming off his best game of a 2008-09 season which has seen a team many questioned get off to a 13-5-2 start good for tops in the East while his former club struggles sitting dead last in their division with just 14 points following being swept by the Islanders.

You just know they want to come into New York and spoil the party. This isn’t just another game for Redden. If you’re Rozsival, you probably wish it was considering how badly the 30 year-old Czech has struggled. It was his two giveaways which led to both Bruin goals putting his team in a two-goal hole before they found the wherewithal to mount another late comeback. One thing about this Ranger club is they never give up. They might not be the most physical but they’re never out of a game.

Rozsival’s poor play has not gone unnoticed where Garden Faithful have booed him for his weak defensive play and awful turnovers on the point while running a power play which has been a sore spot ranking 23rd clicking at just 15.8 percent while permitting a league worst six shorthanded goals (tied w/CBJ) in large part due to the defenseman’s lack of decisiveness. He just refuses to shoot and has lost so much confidence that even the simplest passes are too much for him to handle drawing the ire of home fans.

Add it all up and the Blueshirts are paying him an annual salary of five million to take up lots of space while playing unsteady turning his end into an adventure even making weak link D partner Dmitri Kalinin look better. Though to the former Sabre’s credit, he’s played better lately taking more of the initiative physically and moving the puck well.

The question becomes are the boos getting to Rozsival? It certainly looks that way but with a continued glut at forward with the club not carrying any extra blueliners, Tom Renney has no choice but to continue playing him and hope he snaps out of it. Not surprisingly, the player’s coach showed tremendous loyalty to a player the Rangers have gotten the most out of since taking a waiver on him prior to the 2005-06 season:

“I’m disappointed in what he’s getting right now because he’s a hell of a human being and a great teammate. He’s a good player and he has been since he got here. He needs to know that from us and he gets that every day from his teammates every single day. We’ll stay with him.”

Truth be told, Rozsival has been a key contributor during the club’s three trips back to the postseason including a couple of EC Semi appearances which saw him score a huge triple overtime goal to get the Rangers back in that series against Buffalo.

In his first three seasons, Rozsival notched at least 30 points or better taking on large responsibility playing in every key situation taking advantage of his big opportunity. He went 5-25-30, +35 in Year 1 and followed it up with 10-30-40, +10. Last season, he set a new career high in goals (13) with six coming via the man-advantage while totaling 38 points while going Even over 80 games while playing through a knee injury which he had surgery for during the offseason.

So, he hasn’t been a bad performer here which is why his dreadful start in the first year of a big contract is so alarming. Despite nine points (2-7-9), Rozsival is minus-six and has not looked good.

Tonight, he’ll reach a milestone taking part in his 500th career NHL game looking to reverse the jeers to cheers.

According to Sam Weinman’s Journal Ranger blog, Scott Gomez (ankle) skated this morning but is again out and remains doubtful for Wednesday versus the Canucks.

So, figure the line combos to remain the same:

Naslund-Drury-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Korpikoski-Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Girardi

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Rozsival

Also expect Henrik Lundqvist to make his 12th start in 13 games thanks to a schedule which hasn’t had any recent back-to-backs.

Their record continues to be one of the better ones in the league thanks to a 10-2-1 start. However, the Rangers had slumped winning only once in five before their second period explosion in their latest win over the beat up Hudson rival Devils in Newark Wednesday.

Maybe the Devs were the right elixir to cure their recent struggles even though the Blueshirts again got off to a bad start with one constant Henrik Lundqvist holding them in before Nikolai Zherdev and Chris Drury got untracked. Certainly, they took advantage of a struggling opponent who they’d owned.

Now tonight, Tom Renney’s first place club steps up in competition playing host to one of the better teams in the NHL in the red hot Bruins, who enter MSG with a five-game win streak coming off a hard fought shootout win in Chicago before dismantling the Canadiens 6-1 the other night in improving to 10-3-3 with their 23 points ranking second best to the Rangers’ 26 despite having played three fewer games.

With one of the better netminders in Tim Thomas and a stingy D under former Devil coach Claude Julien, the Bruins are a well schooled club which plays responsible two-way hockey led by veteran physical defenseman Zdeno Chara and the much overlooked Dennis Wideman, who they acquired from St. Louis for Brad Boyes in one of those deals which worked out well for both teams.

They also have a very fast attack up front which can transition from D to offense quickly with leading scorer Marc Savard (6-11-17), Marco Sturm, Patrice Bergeron, Chuck Kobasew, Michael Ryder along with emerging stars Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic and David Krejci. Adding former Phoenix No.1 pick Blake Wheeler (six goals) to the mix in the offseason gave them even more young talent to what’s become a legit playoff contender. Adding a vet like Stephane Yelle who has valuable Cup experience helped improve their depth.

When you can send out Jay Pandolfo clone P.J. Axelsson to pull out a shootout with a sweet backhand deke past Nikolai Khabibulin, you know you’re pushing all the right buttons and have a good team capable of doing something.

If the Rangers (12-5-2, 26 Pts) are to prevail, they’ll need to be extremely sharp from the outset. They can’t afford another sluggish start against a very opportunistic club that enters ranked in overall team defense (2.01 GAA). In case you’re wondering, the Rangers rank third best (2.13 GAA). So, it’s imperative to get out quickly or it could be a long night.

Looking for pleasant surprises on the home side? Look no further than third-year defender Dan Girardi, who’s not only one of the team’s most reliable in his end but suddenly has added offense to his game on a consistent basis with his 14 points (2-12-14) second on the club and tied for third among blueliners this season. Not bad for a guy who went undrafted and has evolved into a steal for Glen Sather.

Last season, the 24 year-old from Ontario tallied 28 points (10-18-28) including five power play goals in his first full campaign.

His emergence along with Paul Mara’s steady improvement have made up for Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival’s poor starts.

Updating Scott Gomez’ status via The Journal’s Sam Weinman, the playmaking pivot remains out for tonight with an ankle injury. Obviously, the team is operating on the side of caution which is probably wise considering the kind of game they got from Nigel Dawes, rookie Lauri Korpikoski and Dan Fritsche Wednesday.

Expect the same lines for tonight:

Naslund-Drury-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Korpikoski-Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Girardi

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Rozsival

If you’re looking for a scrap, keep an eye on Boston’s Shawn Thornton who will mix it up. So, maybe Colton Orr will get to use his fists.

Don’t forget, the other two locals are in action as well with the Devils hosting the Capitals in a rematch of last night which Washington took 3-1. The Islanders face off against Ottawa looking for a sweep of a home-and-home when they host the Sens at Nassau Coliseum.

Here are the rest of a busy Saturday night schedule:

Flyers @ Canadiens, 7 ET, HNIC

Maple Leafs @ Canucks, 7 ET, HNIC

Sabres @ Penguins, 7:30 ET

Blue Jackets @ Wild, 8 ET

Stars @ Coyotes, 9 ET

Avalanche @ Oilers, 10 ET, HNIC

Predators @ Kings, 10:30 ET

Enjoy the games!

Just updating a couple of things on tonight’s two games:

1.The Rangers have changed their D around. It now looks like this:

Redden-Girardi

Kalinin-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin with Rozsival is scary. I’d have put Staal with him and had Kalinin work with Mara, who’s improved. Oh well.

2.If you can’t see tonight’s Flyers-Devils game on TV, yahoo is making it available online. Just go to the boxscore and click on the Watch Live link if you want to check it out.

Be back with updates later.

Devils take on the Stars for the first time since the 2nd game of ‘06-’07, when the Stars beat the Devs, 3-1. This is their first venture to the Garden State since 2003.

The Stars come into tonight’s game with consecutive one goal wins over teams from New York on goals by Mike Modano. It’ll be interesting to see if Marty Turco gets the call over the hot Mike Smith, whom Cat at Untypical Girls loves so much, she got a jersey of him. Not since Patricia from 2MA has there been such backup goaltender love. Anyway, Smith has played well when given a chance and, let’s face it…we blow chodes when we take on backups!

DEVILS LAST 10 GAMES vs. BACKUP GOALTENDERS
11/23 at ATL (Johan Hedberg), 3-0 W
11/12 at PIT (Danny Sabourin), 3-2 W
11/5 vs. PIT (Danny Sabourin), 5-0 L
4/8 vs. NYI (Wade Dubieliewicz), 3-2 OTL
3/22 at TB (Marc Denis), 3-1 L
3/17 vs. CAR (John Grahame) 7-2 L
3/14 vs. PIT (Jocelyn Thibault) 3-0 L
2/24 at WSH (Brent Johnson) 3-2 W
2/14 vs. MTL (David Abeischer) 5-2 W
12/22 at WSH (Brent Johnson) 4-3 W

So we’ll see how it goes tonight.

Devils and Pens tonight on FSN NY and WFAN at 7:30 PM. NHL Network in the US will broadcast the game.

Colin White and Paul Martin “may” play tonight. If so, the Devils will be much more adept on Defense, and perhaps more confident on the offensive side.

Aaron Asham also may play tonight. If so…OK.

For the Penguins tonight, they have to balance the lineups and get offense outside the Crosby line.

The Devils have to stop Crosby. I don’t care what Sutter wants, Madden’s line and White (If he plays) should be against Crosby on every possible shift.

I feel confident in my team tonight. No, really.

Marty will start tonight for NJD.

Blue and Orange make their first journey to The Rock tonight.

Lineups:

Parise-Zajac-Langenbruner
Zubrus-Elias-Gionta
Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson
Brylin-Pelley-Asham.

Greene-Rachunek
Vishnevski-Brookbank
Oduya-Mottau

Brodeur
Weekes

I’ll be out in Newark tonight, so we’ll see how this goes tonight. The Devils gotta get production from (supposedly) Jamie Langenbrunner and his linemates Parise and Zajac, and then balance the attack between Elias’ line and Madden’s line, get some solid shifts from the 4th line and hope for the best against the Rangers’ forward attack.

I’ll see you in Newark!

This time it’s at the Igloo. Interesting to see if Langs suits up tonight out of desperation.

One can only hope.

Busy most of the night, try to give some thoughts tomorrow.

UPDATE: According to Tom Gulitti, the Devs will dress 7 D-men tonight (i.e. Mike Mottau is in) because Aaron Asham is “sore” and will sit. Langenbrunner is unable to go tonight, “possibly” tomorrow.

Kevin Weekes will start tonight, giving Marty a chance to get win #500 in front of Scott Gomez and the Rags on Wednesday in Newark.

Good luck Kevin!

Before I go on, wasn’t saying that Sam Rosen was bad, just saying that Doc Emrick has aged a little better. Sam is great.

The Devils are at the Nassau Coliseum tonight to take on the Isles for the 2nd time this season. The first game went to Overtime and late into OT, Andy Greene was given an awful tripping call and Bill Guerin cashed in, despite the fact that Johnny Oduya had been knocked down on the play.

Anyway, an interesting note about tonight’s game is that Jamie Langenbrunner and Colin White will travel to tonight’s game and possibly take the morning skate with NJD. According to Tom Gulitti, Langs could be back as soon as next week. I know we’re all hoping for Wednesday against the Rangers. I know I am.

POTENTIAL LINEUPS:

NJD
Parise-Zajac-Gionta
Elias-Brylin-Clarkson
Pandolfo-Madden-Zubrus
Rupp-Pelley-Asham

Greene-Martin
Mottau-Oduya
Vishnevski-Brookbank

Brodeur
Weekes

NYI
Fedotenko-Comrie-Hunter
Hilbert-Sillinger-Guerin
Park-Vasicek-Satan
Simon-Walter-Jackman

Witt-Martinek
Sutton-Bergeron
Campoli-Gervais

DiPietro
Dubielewicz

INJURIES
NJD: Langenbrunner (Hernia), Colin White (Eye), Cam Janssen (Shoulder)
NYI: Berard (Day-to-Day)

Enjoy the game!