No Mas: Henrik Lundqvist pulled himself during a disappointing loss to Roberto Luongo in a battle of elite goalies that never unfolded.

If this had been a prize fight, it would’ve got stopped after five rounds. Much like Roberto Duran did versus Sugar Ray Leonard in their infamous rematch, Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist said, “No Mas” to the Canucks.

With his team failing to show up, King Henrik couldn’t bail them out this time serving up two breakaway goals and three more in a 4:10 span early in the second in what was as uncompetitive a game by the first place Rangers all season. Instead, it was the Canucks getting superior goaltending from their star netminder with Roberto Luongo winning by TKO in the highly anticipated goalie match-up which never materialized as Vancouver got the first four scoring five of six in cruising to a 6-3 win at a disillusioned Garden last night ending the Rangers’ three-game win streak.

Lundqvist wasn’t solely at fault for the poor showing which saw a flat Ranger team finally get what was coming to them for once again failing to show early in a match falling behind 4:16 in when Mattias Ohlund found an open Kyle Wellwood, who got between the gap of the worst Ranger defense pair of Dmitri Kalinin and Michal Rozsival breaking in on the Ranger goalie and deking him to the forehand for his eighth.

The team didn’t come to life with instead an ugly epidemic rearing its ugly head again when not only did the Ranger power play fail but again saw its own shadow (Groundhog Day anyone???) yielding another crushing shorthanded goal thanks to a Wade Redden misplay leading directly to an Alex Burrows breakaway goal with him going stickside doubling the margin at 9:38. The league worst seventh SHG they’ve allowed which remarkably is the identical number they’ve given up while a man short. How’s this possible?

If that weren’t bad enough, a faster Vancouver team continued to attack getting glorious chances creating three-on-two’s down low but misfiring. Had they hit the net, there’s little doubt that it could’ve been four or five goals in the first for goal and point franchise leader Markus Naslund’s former team which didn’t sit well as the current Ranger alternate who was one of a handful to show ripped into his new teammates while heaping praise on his former friends.

It only got worse with the Canucks continuing to expose the Rangers who were deficient in every aspect giving pucks away, failing to backcheck and not finishing checks. Maybe it could’ve been different had Brandon Dubinsky shot instead of going around the net with Luongo down with a chance to tie. It was his hard pass which Redden mishandled before committing another blunder. Though the coach only chose to talk to his second-year pivot whose game is slipping.

That much continued to be evident when his sloppy giveaway led directly to Ryan Johnson’s first unassisted for a 3-0 Canuck lead. The follies continued on the next shift when Nigel Dawes blocked a shot breaking his stick and was replaced by Fredrik Sjostrom too late with the ‘Nucks taking complete advantage when Taylor Pyatt setup an uncovered Ryan Johnson for his first as a Canuck. You know things are going bad when a journeyman connects.

Down four, they finally cashed in on one of four Shane O’Brien minors when captain Chris Drury took a Redden pass and beat the Canucks down the ice going to the backhand for his club-leading eighth on the power play cutting the deficit to three 51 ticks later. The momentum proved shortlived due to an undisciplined Colton Orr offensive zone interference penalty getting him into the doghouse as he never saw the ice again.

A questionable crosscheck on Paul Mara handed Vancouver a 5-on-3 and they technically scored twice or so it appeared. First, a Sami Salo blast trickled past Lundqvist and seemed to cross the goalline. However, the officials never called it a goal with play continuing before going to video review. Somehow, they couldn’t overrule it. My guess is it must’ve been 99.9 percent over and they just couldn’t find the definitive angle to overturn it.

Either way, it became moot 20 seconds after a Rozsival crosscheck which kept the Canucks on the two-man advantage longer. Though his penalty didn’t get served until Pavol Demitra drove an unscreened shot off the right post and in, it just made life more difficult.

At that point, Lundqvist had had enough immediately skating to the bench pulling himself after allowing five goals on 17 shots. This wasn’t the first time either. It happened last season too. I’m all for a goalie feeling like he’s not giving the team a spark but shouldn’t the coach make the decision? Lundqvist’s not Martin Brodeur. He shouldn’t be making the call which was disturbing. Though the last goal he gave up was the only one he should’ve had which might explain the disappointed look on the bench after deciding Stephen Valiquette needed some work.

The Ranger backup who hadn’t played since that third period assault in Toronto at the beginning of the month was very sharp robbing Wellwood three times on the ensuing 5-on-3. He gave them a chance to comeback stopping all 15 shots he saw.

By that point, I’d already left the house needing to get some fresh air taking a ride to a couple of old spots while listening to the second and most of the third on the radio. If I may, how’s it possible that this team could be carried on ESPN1050? It’s just God awful! The station barely comes in and half the time, you get oldies music even though I’ll say most of the time, the selections are good. But come on!

No Ranger fan in their right mind wants to hear a mixture of oldies with the game almost unlistenable. This is a complete disgrace. ESPN will never ever get the respect that WFAN has unless it finds a better frequency. It’s gotten that bad. When it’s a much easier listen on secondary station AM770, there’s a big problem. And frankly, I know I’m far from alone here. I’m fed up!

Anyway, enough about that. I just needed to rant. Anyway, at the very least, I managed to pick up Aaron Voros’ seventh goal which came off a faceoff in which it sounded like he chipped it off Luongo and in cutting it to 5-2 with 11:28 still left in the second. Something Kenny Albert and Dave Maloney drove home because unlike the Senator game where nothing was happening, this game had lots of skating, scoring and chances.

The Rangers certainly had enough opportunities to get back in it. The difference was Luongo, who despite allowing three goals for the first time in seven starts. Last night was his 14th straight between the pipes finishing with a season high 39 saves.

That speaks to the weirdness of this Ranger club. They never start well and this game was inexcusable falling behind by four twice before finally playing. The one characteristic I like about this team is they never seem to give up. I could tell on the radio coming back that they were coming and if not for some timely stops by one of the league’s best, they actually might have come all the way back.

Luongo made two big saves on Mara with him setup on the doorstep down one in the first and another midway through the third with the score 5-3 after Ryan Callahan tallied his sixth- a PPG setup by Naslund and Drury with 12:15 left.

His biggest save came when he robbed Redden pointblank somehow getting across with the glove up to deny a backhand rebound late in the second. He scores there and it makes coming back a lot easier. The defenseman also had bad luck on another glorious chance hitting both posts during a power play in the first minute of the third.

So, they had their shots. Luongo was very good in this game because his team clearly sat back and relaxed when they built their lead. I get why. You’re up four against a team which hasn’t shown it can score. But the Rangers do seem to play better as games wear on and are resilient.

While it’s easy to credit them for not throwing in the towel, this was a very bad performance and they paid dearly hanging out their franchise goalie to dry in a big match which all of Canada saw. So, you know he was extremely disappointed.

The team failed on a late PP which could’ve made it even more entertaining. I might’ve pulled Valiquette for an extra attacker. What’s the harm? There were four and a half minutes left. If you don’t score during the first half, pull him with three and change to go. Just another example of our coach being too conservative.

Vancouver eventually hit the empty net with an Ohlund shot redirected by Daniel Sedin with less than three seconds left putting the stamp on it.

THREE STARS:

3rd Star-Mattias Ohlund, Van (3 assists, 2 SOG, plus-four in 21:13)

2nd Star-Roberto Luongo, Van (season best 39 saves incl. 16 of 17 in 3rd)

1st Star-Alex Burrows, Van (2 goals incl. SHG, 3 SOG, plus-one in 18:12)

Notes: Eleven difference Canucks registered a point with Pyatt and Jannik Hansen each tallying two assists. … In a losing cause, Drury finished with a goal and an assist along with a game high seven shots topping all forward in ice-time (23:59). … Against his ex-team, Naslund registered an assist finishing with three shots and an Even rating in 22:44. … Nikolai Zherdev was again quiet with only two SOG, minus-two in 20:03. … With a helper, Dawes has points in three of his last four. … The lone bright spot was the Ranger PP which went 2-for-6 though they didn’t capitalize when they really needed to. … Rangers (14-6-2, 30 Pts) get the next two days off to review what went wrong before visiting favorite antagonist Jarkko Ruutu and Ottawa Saturday afternoon at 3 ET.

It’s already becoming a familiar script.  A good effort by an undermanned Devils team, but the offense can’t put the puck past a goaltender you wouldn’t expect to play well and despite acceptable goaltending on their own end, it’s all just good enough to lose.  That’s what’s facing the Devils right now after their 3-1 loss in Washington, dropping them to .500 (7-7-2) just two weeks after being four games over.

For the fifth time in six games since Martin Brodeur’s injury the Devils went down to defeat, but as has been the case for all but one or two of the games you really can’t blame the goaltending.  Scott Clemmensen rebounded from a somewhat shaky first few minutes to play solidly making 24 saves, only giving up a deflected goal by Brooks Laich in the first period and what proved to be the game-winning goal late in the second period on a Tomas Fleischmann wrister in the slot. 

If it wasn’t for a bad Capitals line change in the third period that gave Patrik Elias a breakaway goal the Devils might still be shooting into Jose Theodore’s crest.  It was actually the first even-strength goal allowed by the Caps in three games, though the first two were mostly with Brent Johnson in net.

At least Alex Ovechkin provided some entertainment (comic relief even) when both he and Laich celebrated Laich’s goal in the first period as if they scored - and the goal was initially credited to Ovechkin before replays showed that Laich tipped Ovechkin’s blast on the power play.  When Ovechkin tried to score an empty net goal in the third period and iced the puck, he argued with the ref, convinced he was in front of the center line despite being two steps behind it.  After the faceoff however, he made amends by scoring on a second chance towards the empty net.

Too bad watching Jamie Langenbrunner these days is like watching paint dry.  I hate to bag on him, I really do - he’s been a great Devil.  But man, he looks like he’s lost three steps this year.   And he assassinated two more crests tonight on good scoring chances and muffed another one with a bad pass.  Not that he was alone in finding new and creative ways not to score, it just tends to stick out more when you play 20 minutes as opposed to just under 4 (cough Bergfors and Vrana cough).

Oh well, at least there were no further injuries and the Devils even got Paul Martin back, and the Devils’ top defenseman played 22 minutes and looked sharp right away, saving a goal early in the first period.  Ironically the only injury of the night was to the Caps’ leading goalscorer Alexander Semin, I guess the injury bug is getting contagious!  Fortunately Semin only missed the latter part of the third period and was described as day-to-day. 

On the flip side, Brian Rolston stopped skating today, apparently a setback in his recovery although of course GM Lou Lamoriello wouldn’t admit to that.  So it doesn’t look like the offense will be getting any further help soon - certainly not in time for tomorrow’s rematch at the Rock.

UPDATE: Well, well - Clemmensen earned himself a second straight start tomorrow night, as per Sutter in the postgame.  Poor Kevin Weekes, after a year plus of collecting dust behind Marty now he’s collecting dust behind Clemmensen.  But Clemmensen’s been in that position too, and hopefully the kid keeps playing well while he’s in there.  Too bad he can’t help our punchless attack though.   

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Jose Theodore (500 32/33 Saves)
2. Brooks Laich (Goal, Assist)
3. Patrik Elias (Goal)

It’s generally been assumed that Kevin Weekes will be the Devils’ starting goaltender for as long as Martin Brodeur is on the shelf.  And so far Weekes has started four of the five games the Devils have played since Brodeur’s injury.

That may be about to change, however.

While the Devils did their best to hide the fact that Scott Clemmensen will start tomorrow in Washington, it was ironically Weekes himself who inadvertently spilled the beans to the media about Brent Sutter’s goaltending choice for tomorrow’s game. 

Even though it’s the front end of a home-and-home on consecutive nights, having your supposed starting goaltender sit two out of three games and pulling him in the other generally isn’t a good sign that said goalie will remain the starter much longer.  Neither is this quote from Sutter about his goaltending situation:

I’m going to be a game-to-game guy with this,” Sutter said. “The decision will be made about the game before tomorrow night and then the decision will be made at some point after the game who is going to play the next game.”

While I still believe both goalies will play one game this weekend, if either’s equipped to play on back-to-back nights it’s Clemmensen given the hectic schedule of minor league teams, and Weekes’ own inactivity over the last two years.  Even though Weekes hasn’t set the world on fire in his last two starts and Clemmer’s had four surprisingly decent periods this week, I am surprised the gauntlet’s been thrown down this soon. 

Then again when you’re dealing with two goalies with career GAA’s of 2.9, maybe Sutter should try to ride the hot hand, as bumpy of a roller coaster ride as that is.  I love Weekes and all - class guy, but other than his 2002 playoffs his body of work really doesn’t suggest that he’s the answer.  Neither does Clemmer’s…but he has had only 20 career starts.  Perhaps he’ll finally get an opportunity for extended playing time here, which is ironic since it seemed as if the 31-year old from Des Moines, Iowa had finally accepted his role as a minor league goalie.  If I was nuts I’d suggest that he has a chance to become the next Tim Thomas (who also was a journeyman until his early 30’s).  

But for now I’d settle for a couple of wins, whoever’s in net.

They started the season by winning their first five and going 10-2-1. But lately, bad habits have crept into the Rangers’ game leaving them with just one win in their last five (1-3-1).

Now, they’ll face a battered archrival when they pay a visit to The Rock to renew the Battle of Hudson against a struggling Devils team which won’t have the familiar Martin Brodeur in net snapping a streak of 30 straight starts.

It will be very strange to see former Ranger Kevin Weekes manning goal for the Devs but that’s precisely the situation Brent Sutter’s club is in with not only no Marty but neither Paul Martin or Andy Greene on D and of course, no Brian Rolston or Bobby Holik though Brian Gionta is back in playing on the Madden line according to Journal News’ Sam Weinman via his outstanding blog.

In fact, according to Weinman, here’s what the Devil lineup should look like:

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner

Pandolfo-Madden-Elias

Gionta-Zubrus-Clarkson

Rupp-Vrana

Note: The Devils are dressing seven D. So they’ll be mixing and matching.

Salvador-Oduya

White-Mottau

Salmela-Brookbank/Leach
If only it were that simple for the Rangers, who have their own issues getting off to slow starts falling behind despite a much healthier roster which should give them the edge in this match-up. However, judging from recent history where Henrik Lundqvist has dominated Brodeur, maybe the Devils are better off at least for the present with Weekes in net. They can’t do much worse.

As Hasan previously noted in his nostalgic post, it used to be the other way around with the Rangers unable to buy a win over their closest rival (distance folks). Sure. The tables have turned but usually, the games have been close. And while it looks like the Rangers should win, you know better considering that this team has been underperforming and can’t score to save its life.

The Devils don’t score much either but possess the best forward on either roster in the red hot Zach Parise, who enters with 11 goals, tied with Alex Semin for second trailing just Buffalo star Thomas Vanek for the league lead.

The man is amazing. He really is. When you look at the rest of his team, it’s unbelievable how he finds ways to put the puck in the net. The Devils as a team have scored 37 goals entering tonight with the Zach Attack responsible for 29.7 percent. Remarkable.

If the Blueshirts are to come away with two points, they’ll need to shutdown Parise. A lot easier said than accomplished these days. He’s their energizer who never takes a shift off and has great hands around the net which are improving all the time. He’s going to be a lock for 40 goals and might even challenge the 50 barrier. Did I just say that about a Devil? Oh. He’s that good.

While Parise does most of the scoring, Patrik Elias is their second best and while streaky is certainly capable of erupting. Keeping him and pesky linemates John Madden and Jay Pandolfo in check would bode well for the Rangers.

The Devs also have quiet captain Jamie Langenbrunner along with Gionta and Zajac, who’s rebounded from a bad sophomore campaign. So, it’s not like they’re incapable. They just haven’t been scoring much.

As for the Rangers, it’s more scoring by committee with team captain Chris Drury pacing the club with six including his tying goal the other night 46 seconds into the third to earn them a point against Edmonton. Believe it or not, he’s tied with Aaron Voros, who got two identical ones versus Brodeur in the Rangers’ MSG win last month. Why does that feel like so long ago? Figure Voros to be doing battle in front with Weekes. He’s gotten underneath the skin of recent opponents. So, keep a close eye on what happens at the edge of the Devils crease.

Nikolai Zherdev has cooled off and Brandon Dubinsky has hit a slump. Scott Gomez is a minus-four despite creating opportunities almost every game. If only the coach would awaken and realize his best finisher should play with his most dynamic passer. Wake me up when it happens.

Markus Naslund has played much better recently and will need to have a good game tonight. Still, one has to wonder why Tom Renney keeps changing the lines giving them no chance of forming any chemistry which has contributed to the lack of consistency.

It’s little secret that I’m not happy with Renney and I’m far from alone. This team has too much speed to be playing this conservatively. They need to play more of an up-tempo system which takes advantage of their team speed and allows the Ryan Callahans and Nigel Dawes (in and out of the doghouse with Petr Prucha) to excel.

Wade Redden is wasting away literally and Michal Rozsival has been dreadful. Has anyone seen Dmitri Kalinin’s plus/minus? He’s played a little better lately but come on. The only consistent players on the blueline thus far are Paul Mara and Dan Girardi with even Marc Staal a little jittery in his second season.

There’s just not much to like about this team despite their tainted 11-5-2 mark entering play where before long, the Penguins will overtake them minus Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney. Speaking of which, did anyone catch that incredible comeback last night in which they fought back from 5-2 and 6-4 down on the strength of a Jordan Staal natural hat trick tying it with 24 ticks left before stripping maybe the best player in the game in Pavel Datsyuk to setup Ruslan Fedotenko’s winner for a 7-6 win over the Red Wings? It was an amazing game and a remarkable performance by Staal, who carried his team to victory.

How come the Pens who dropped off in talent can still light up the scoreboard? I know it’s cause they got two of the best players in Crosby and Malkin. But they lost Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone picking up Miroslav Satan, who not surprisingly is rejuvenated along with Fedotenko.

It’s just very frustrating watching the Rangers on offense. They don’t finish checks. They don’t generate much on the cycle and their power play troubles are well documented.

So, even if they win tonight, it won’t even be all that exciting because I feel they need a different leadership if they’re going to seriously compete. I’m going to state how I’d make the lines for the upteenth time.

Naslund-Gomez-Zherdev- putting their best three offensive guys together makes too much sense.

Dawes-Drury-Callahan- this is how it’s gotta be. It worked last year and Callahan certainly has played well. Dawes will come around.

Voros-Dubinsky-Sjostrom- isn’t it about time they rewarded Sjostrom and gave him a real center to play with? Voros works well with Dubinsky and creates space.

Korpikoski-Betts-Orr- as much as I agree with a diehard I talk to in my section about the coach overplaying Betts and Orr, they’ve earned the right to stay in the lineup. This is the only line which brings it every shift and Betts’ penalty killing has become invaluable. He’s always in the right spot. Give them a kid with speed who might be able to do something with the puck. If you’re going to bring Korpikoski up, play him!

At this point, I’ve concluded that Prucha needs to be traded. He just will never get a fair shake here. So, do the kid a favor and send him elsewhere so he at least gets a chance to repair his career. Renney has treated him so unfairly, it sickens me. He pulled the same garbage with Jarkko Immonen. Remember him? He was a part of the Brian Leetch trade. The Finn was a solid two-way player with decent hands. But Renney didn’t like him cause he wasn’t a good enough skater despite the fact he wasn’t even that bad and looked like he could contribute offensively. No wonder the kid went home.

This is how annoyed I am with the coach. Sure. He’s brought back respectability to the franchise and for that, I’m grateful. I met the guy during the lockout at a team get together and he’s a very classy well spoken man. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the right fit for this team going forward. They have a world class Vezina candidate in Lundqvist. They brought in Gomez and Drury to seriously compete. But when you look at the roster, there just aren’t many guys who can finish which is why it’s baffling that he doesn’t try Zherdev with Gomez.

His system won’t get the most out of Callahan or Dawes, who has scored at every level. A more aggressive system would be better for this team moving forward. And ditto for Korpikoski, who is a great skater and showed in preseason he’s got the ability to finish which is why maybe he should play with Dubinsky.

My other suggestion would be shifting Voros to the fourth line making it a royal pain to play against because they’d be a very good forechecking line banging everyone.

If the coach likes Naslund with Drury, then keep Callahan with Gomez and Zherdev. Cally has worked well with Gomer and could bud into a 20-goal guy. If we follow through on this other idea, here’s how I’d make the lines:

Callahan-Gomez-Zherdev

Dawes-Drury-Naslund

Korpikoski-Dubinsky-Sjostrom/Fritsche

Voros-Betts-Orr

These lines would have pretty good balance. Sure. It’s risky going with unproven finishers with Dubi but they are good enough skaters and there’s some skill which could show itself. The way this team is setup, it’s imperative that the young guys contribute. Sjostrom isn’t a fourth liner. He deserves a chance to play with a real center.

As for who I deal Prucha to, I don’t have a clue. I still don’t know what the heck Patrick Rissmiller’s doing on our roster. How in the world did Glen Sather sign him for three years? Between overpaying Redden and Rozsival tho the market influenced his price and adding so many fourth liners, he screwed up our cap.

I’m fairly certain Fritsche will be in tonight over Dawes cause he played good the other night. Our coach really hasn’t given him a fair chance either to show what he can do. Having too many forwards hurts cause guys are in and out of the lineup which isn’t good for team chemistry. They should have kept Corey Potter or Brian Fahey as an extra D.

In any event, the game is an hour away. What team will show?

Ales Hemsky’s shootout tally proved to be the difference as the Oilers got their second win in two nights over a local edging the Rangers 3-2 at The Garden earlier tonight.

The Rangers rallied from two goals down to tie the game getting a second period tally from defenseman Paul Mara and a Chris Drury marker early in the third recovering from another sluggish start despite being the more rested team.

Sure. They finished with 42 shots including 20 in the middle stanza alone peppering Oilers rookie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, who finished with 40 saves gaining the game’s top star. However, one has to ask why it took them so long to awaken allowing a more aggressive Edmonton attack to gain a two-goal lead before they started playing.

This is becoming a bad trend. If you saw the game at Washington, then you know what we’re referring to. Why aren’t they coming out with more energy? Their coach always says he’s not satisfied with the level of effort wanting better consistency despite their 11-5-2 record which now seems to be a mirage with them having dropped four of five (1-3-1) blowing an opportunity to build a lead over a struggling division with just the Pens starting to come around.

So, the Rangers instead have 24 points leading the Pens by six points and the battered Devils by eight headed into Wednesday’s big match at The Rock where they’ll see former netminder Kevin Weekes instead of Martin Brodeur.

It was the Oilers who squeaked out a 2-1 win the night before on a questionable Ales Hemsky deflection off his skate who got the early jump taking advantage of some poor Ranger defensive coverage when Fernando Pisani went wide drawing two defenders and then centered for slumping first-year Oiler Erik Cole who didn’t purposely deflect it in off his skate for his third 3:27 in.

With the exception of a strong shift by Ryan Callahan that drew a power play and a Colton Orr decision over Zach Stortini, the home club didn’t distinguish itself boring fans.

It didn’t change much early in the second. Especially when Kyle Brodziak redirected in a Lubomir Visnovsky blast for his second at 3:30 increasing the Edmonton lead to 2-0 as groans came down unless you were wearing an Oiler jersey. They had a decent contingent who showed up for warmups supporting their team including Old Bridge pal John Herbst who was in the building along with buddy Harry Ambrosino. Let’s just say one friend was a lot happier than the other between periods.

The Rangers finally showed some signs of life when Mara completed a nice passing play started by Markus Naslund going shortside on Drouin-Deslauriers for his first at 8:13 cutting it in half. Try saying just his last name five times real fast and let me know how you do. Callahan netted the primary helper and really earned it as he was one of the best players all night. More than you can say for Nikolai Zherdev, who coasted despite five shots.

Following a phantom hook on Dmitri Kalinin which they killed, the Rangers upped the attack drawing a couple of power plays but if you’ve seen their setup, then you know nothing got done. They were way too spread out and forced outside by the Edmonton PK.

Why does Tom Renney continue to send out Michal Rozsival for shifts on the point when it’s become obvious he can’t play and has lost his confidence? Life often has unsolved riddles. This is one I’d really like to know. Heck. At one point during the third, he sent out Kalinin. Talk about desperation.

If the Ranger PP didn’t get anything accomplished, they at least were able to build enough momentum after Edmonton killed off the remaining seconds to strike in the first minute of the third. Thanks in part to Scott Gomez keeping it simple by using a couple of players in front as a screen, his low shot rebounded out to Drury, who somehow got enough of it to trickle it past a sliding Drouin-Deslauriers tying the game with his sixth just 46 seconds in.

Dan Girardi notched the secondary assist and would later make a stellar defensive play nullifying a great Oilers’ chance by skating hard and making a lunging block to deny a shot off a mini-break to loud cheers. If he’s not our best defenseman, I don’t know who is. He and Mara have been by far the most consistent while our priciest $11.5 million pair Rozsival and Wade Redden continue to do little to justify their salaries. This is why the team’s cap is screwed up. Glen Sather sure looks foolish.

The third period was the most entertaining with both teams getting chances forcing the goalies to come up big. Each team had 13 shots. The Rangers’ best came believe it or not on a man-advantage with under five minutes left when a cutting Mara was setup but missed high on the doorstep.

Not long afterwards, the Oilers took to Aaron Voros camping out in front of their goalie sending Mara, Voros, Steve Staios and Sheldon Souray all to the box for matching roughs. It didn’t look like Voros did anything to instigate it. Just that teams don’t like players coming near that crease area even if it was legal. Looks like he’s starting to tick off opponents. Keep a close eye on him and Weekes this Wednesday.

The Rangers were forced to kill off a Marc Staal hook with 2:45 remaining just to get it to overtime. The PK was up to the task as usual with Blair Betts and Fredrik Sjostom doing some excellent defensive work.

They were again called upon just 14 seconds into OT when Mara was called for a dubious holding the stick when he really lost an edge. Gotta love those stripes. However, the Rangers did a great job keeping the Oilers outside and Henrik Lundqvist made a couple of routine stops on his way to 29 saves.

In the shootout, Zherdev, Sam Gagner and Sjostrom were all stopped before Hemsky went and just snuck one off Lundqvist’s glove to give the Oilers the lead. The Rangers last chance Naslund made a great move and seemed to have Drouin-Deslauriers beat but his high shot labeled was smothered out of the air by the Edmonton goalie giving his team a successful two-week road trip in which they finished 4-3.

THREE STARS:

3rd Star-Chris Drury, NYR (game-tying goal, 5 SOG in 23:08)

2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (29 saves)

1st Star-Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Edm (40 saves)

Another weekend has come and gone and believe it or not, we’ve played a month of hockey. Hard to believe. We’re a couple of weeks from Thanksgiving. Anyone got anything planned? I’m sure we’ll probably just have a home cooked meal here. I make turkey soup.

Anyway, I love this time of season. Just the right weather and feel in this area. So, what’s on the agenda? Let’s take a look:

-It’s hard to get too excited about the play of any of the three locals right now. The Rangers got off to the good start but there are way too many pieces who aren’t contributing and it’s starting to show. They haven’t played a consistent brand of hockey and fans are starting to murmur.

The Devils can at least use the injury excuse. Have you ever seen a team turn into a Mash Unit? At this point, they should rename themselves the New Jersey Parises because without him, they’d be pretty bad. He’s been brilliant. After that, there’s not much to say especially when Martin Brodeur suddenly is shelved for three months for what Lou Lamoriello termed as a “bruised elbow.” Some bruise, eh?

As for the Islanders, they’re just not going to win much. They’re playing better lately and being competitive but this team should challenge for last overall and be in the John Tavares sweepstakes.

-Close buddy and Puck Daddy’s own Greg Wyshynski had an interesting take on the Rangers regarding Tom Renney’s reaction following a recent home win over the Lightning that goalie Mike Smith’s actions on Aaron Voros in which he slashed, high sticked and even threw punches warranted a suspension. Here’s the video. You be the judge:

Smith earned his nine penalty minutes handing the Rangers a power play when it appeared Voros didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to deter him. He went to the front of the net and effectively screened the Lightning No.1 starter remaining outside the crease and that was enough for him to lose it.

Greg felt it was ridiculous for Renney to suggest a suspension but was it really or was this just disdain coming from a guy who doesn’t have much love for the Rangers? In my book, there at least should’ve been a fine maybe letting Smith off with a warning. The last I checked, goalies aren’t above the law.

By the same token, how come nothing on Henrik Lundqvist getting run over by Alex Semin who he covers? It’s a little different when a goalie gets run into and nothing is called. That’s when goalies should be protected. Asking our league officials to be consistent on it is another matter.

The one part of Wyshynski’s take we are on the same page on is this silly idea the Ranger organization has that they can get a compensatory draft pick because they never signed now dead Russian Alexei Cherepanov. That Glen Sather would stupe so low is embarrassing. The kid is dead. This is about as low as it gets even having the nerve to ask the league. Let it go.

-This was the latest example of a dangerous open ice hit in which a player going full throttle wound up boarding an opposing player hard into the boards without any protection. Montreal’s Tom Kostopoulos was the guilty party who got a boarding major and game misconduct for this dangerous play which put Mike Van Ryn out a month during Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Center.

What made it worse was that it was another case where a player turned at the last split second putting Van Ryn in a more vulnerable position. However, Kostopoulos could’ve let up which was what made things worse. To the Montreal antagonist’s credit, he took full responsibility afterwards even apologizing:

“I was trying to get in there, get a hit and get the puck. Like I said, I didn’t anticipate him turning and I couldn’t stop myself. And I hope he’s all right.”

As CBC’s Kelly Hrudey and Mike Milbury pointed out during Coast to Coast, Kostopoulos has a history. So expect him to be suspended a few games for this latest incident which gave Van Ryn a concussion, broken nose and broken finger.

-Also Saturday on HNIC, Ron MacLean and Don “Grapes” Cherry paid tribute to Canada’s Fallen Heroes on a special Remembrance Day Edition. This is a very worthy cause and extremely nice to pay tribute to those who put it all on the line for their country. I really admire Cherry for his passion about the soldiers for his country. Patriotism is such a great thing. We all have so much to be thankful about.

-Before the season, our Vezina pick was Roberto Luongo, who was due for a big bounceback season after how the last week ended with him falling apart and the team missing the playoffs. How does three consecutive shutouts sound and a league-leading five already?

-How is it that the Canadiens can trade Mikhail Grabovski to their nemesis Toronto when they play in the same division? The former 2004 fifth rounder has suddenly blossomed into one of the Leafs’ best forwards victimizing the Habs with a goal and an assist Saturday extending his point streak to four (6-2-8). Apparently, a crowded and talented Montreal roster had no room for the 24 year-old pivot from East Germany who now looks like a future star on a rebuilding Maple Leaf roster. They acquired him for prospect Greg Pateryn and a 2009 second round pick. So far, Grabovski’s 10 points (7-3-10) in 15 games place him in the top five in team scoring. Not a bad return thus far.

-Similarly, can you imagine the Rangers, Islanders and Devils ever making such a deal? Ditto the Flyers and Devils. It would never happen.

-Ex-Ranger Ryan Hollweg hasn’t played for the Leafs since last weekend’s 5-2 win over the Rangers.

-With a 6-1 pasting of Calgary, the Blackhawks improved to 6-0-2 on home ice and are now 7-3-3 playing very well under Joel Queeneville. In fact, it’s their best start since 2001-02 which ironically was the last time they saw the postseason. Ah. My ESPN research days. I even had that series. They were swept out by St. Louis. You look at the young talent on that roster with Calder winner Patrick Kane showing no signs of slowing down and Jonathan Toews getting into the act with a goal and a helper along with talented rookie Kris Versteeg and it makes you realize just how talented this Chicago team is.

They finally look ready to be back in the postseason. Martin Havlat’s healthy and playing for a new contract. The defense all gets involved with Duncan Keith anchoring it along with Brian Campbell and Brent Seabrook. Former first rounder Cam Barker is back putting up points and even former Isles castoff Aaron Johnson has three goals and a plus-11 rating. Both Cristobal Huet and Nikolai Khabibulin have performed well in net. There’s so much to like about this team. They’re coming.

-Kudos to the Thrashers who seem to have righted the ship under new coach John Anderson posting a fourth straight victory winning 5-2 over Carolina. Ilya Kovalchuk notched a goal and an assist and Jason Williams continues to be a good addition adding a goal and a helper of his own as they also got 35 stops from veteran Johan Hedberg, who’s started in place of Kari Lehtonen the last five games. This team suddenly isn’t looking as bad because former No.1 pick Bryan Little has developed into their best center which has allowed Todd White to play more of a supporting role. Once again, veteran Russian Slava Kozlov has defied logic by continuing to put up points.

They’re also getting valuable ice-time from young blueliners Boris Valabik and Nathan Oystrick with Mathieu Schneider sidelined. You look at their D with the mobile skating Ron Hainsey who notched his third and assisted on another along with second-year man Tobias Enstrom (+2 in 23:02) and suddenly it’s not so bad. Vet Niclas Havelid has given them good production and Garnet Exelby provides the beef. With Valabik and Oystrick’s workloads increasing, why again did they take Schneider off Anaheim’s hands? He clearly doesn’t fit the team’s plans. Figure him to be on the move yet again before next year’s deadline.

The team’s sudden improvement has them a game under at 6-7-2 with 14 points- four less than Carolina. Not bad considering where they were following the Devils’ 6-1 dismantling in Newark nine days ago.

-Keep a close eye on Boston’s Milan Lucic, who is a power forward in making. So far, he’s got four goals, four assists and 34 penalty minutes. The second-year player has excellent speed and solid hands around the net. He and David Krejci are improving and with former top pick Phil Kessel starting to untap some of that goalscoring potential, suddenly the Bruins are a team to watch out for. Especially with Tim Thomas thus far proving last season was no fluke. They also just got back Chuck Kobasew up front.

-Speaking of the B’s, the early returns are in and so far the Blake Wheeler pickup has been terrific with the former Phoenix 2004 No.1 pick tallying eight points (6-2-8) including his first career hat trick in a recent win over Toronto. Why on earth didn’t the Coyotes retain him? Boy. When you go back to what Wayne Gretzky said about the kid when he selected him out of high school before he went onto star for the University of Minnesota, it makes them look pretty bad now.

-In San Jose’s great 13-3-0 start, young players such as Devin Setoguchi (7-7-14), Ryane Clowe (9-5-14), Joe Pavelski (5-5-10) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (1-7-8) continue to be a big part of the early success making it not so much about Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau or Evgeni Nabokov. This needed to happen if this team is ever to finally take that next step and play for a Stanley Cup.

-Congratulations again go out to tonight’s Hockey Hall Of Fame inductees which include six-time Stanley Cup winner Glenn Anderson (about time), Russian ambassador Igor Larionov, referee/linesman Ray Scapinello and builder Ed Chynoweth.

For more information on tonight’s festivities in Toronto, please refer to this:

2008 HHOF Inductees

While it’s been a rough go trying to sleep and get this bug out of my system, I still have some stuff floating around my brain which pertains to hockey. So, before I forget, let’s get cooking. Not literally of course:

-First want to give kudos to Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski for linking up our piece on Martin Brodeur. Greg’s been a close friend of ours in the business who knows his stuff and has done extremely well. I highly recommend his daily column which can be found at Yahoo in the NHL section folks. Today, the Devil worshipper examined a Forbes best bang for their buck NHL fighters which ironically enough cited Ranger enforcer Colton Orr as No.1 overall on their top 15 extensive list.

While I definitely agree that Colton is one of the best heavies out there, I’m not certain I’d put him first cause he doesn’t put up points. However, he has worked very hard on his skating and deserves a few off the shin.

It’s hard to argue with the rest of the list but as Greg pointed out, players such as Riley Cote and David Clarkson were omitted as was Daniel Carcillo who I’m an avid fan of. In assessing the top 10, I’d put Jordin Tootoo in. Andrew Peters is a good scrapper but might be tad too high at five. Also of note, no Eric Boulton or Cam Janssen.

-It was also a week prior that Wyshynski posted about a late Chris Pronger high blow to Red Wing star center Pavel Datsyuk with the puck nowhere in the vicinity. It’s little secret that the former Hart/Norris winner has a history of cheap hits which must be watched closely. You be the judge:

There wasn’t even a penalty. Exactly the kind of dangerous hits the league must put an end to. Especially when it involves one of our brightest offensive stars. Pronger’s still one of the top defenders in the game who plays on the edge. Sometimes, he takes it too far. Just ask Tomas Holmstrom.

When is enough enough? Pronger shouldn’t get a free pass given his reputation. Elite status or not.

-Overheard during a recent Pens game from play-by-play man Mike Lange who pointed out that Sidney Crosby is “arguably the best two-way player in the game.”

There’s no doubting that Sid The Kid’s a very complete player but I’m hesitant to put him at the top overall. Fact is Datsyuk and rating Conn Smythe winner Henrik Zetterberg don’t receive enough credit for how special they really are in every sense. When Crosby becomes a dangerous shorthanded threat on every shift, then he can be put in that category. For now, I’m going with the Detroit super Euro duo along with Jarome Iginla.

Heck. Mike Richards has to be included for how smart he is on the PK at reading and reacting creating the shorthanded opportunity.

-Also stumbled upon this unbelievable comical interview between promising Blackhawks rookie Kris Versteeg and Sarah Spain where he recites Ludacris’ lines from Fergie hit, “Glamorous.” Watch the reaction of a couple of teammates at 32 in the room. It’s comical. Credit again to Puck Daddy for discovering this. It so reminded me of some of my time spent covering the Staten Island Yankees.

-In case you missed it, Isles’ new enforcer Mitch Fritz had a memorable debut scrap getting the better of resident NHL tough guy Georges Laraque over the weekend. In watching the 6-7, 242-pound monster skate around the ice last night, the man is a beast next to Laraque. We’ll be hearing more from him in the future.

-Calder Race:

1.Luke Schenn, Tor (13 GP, 2 A, 17 PIM, -3 rating)

2.Kris Versteeg, Chi (12 GP, 2-8-10, 6 PIM, +6)

3.Derick Brassard, CBJ (11 GP, 4-7-11, 2 PIM, +4)

-He deservedly took plenty of heat for his brutal giveaways which led to two Islanders shorthanded goals but at least Michal Rozsival took full responsibility following last night’s dreadful 2-1 showing on Garden ice following a closed door 10-minute meeting with a furious Tom Renney:

“I will take responsibility for this game, for sure. I made two poor decisions on the power play that cost us the game. There’s no excuse for that.”

To the naked eye, he just seems tight. His body language gives off a not so confident vibe which is usually when mistakes happen. Looks like he’s thinking too much out there. Simplifying things will work better. As for MIA 6.5 million Wade Redden, we still can’t figure out what Glen Sather in the former Senator to bid against himself kinda like how the Yankees reversed course and anted up retaining A-Rod. Only difference is at least that’s one of the most productive baseball players. Redden’s not even a top player at his position. What gives?

Just think. Sather could’ve saved a lot of bucks by going for cheaper alternatives giving him more space to address the lack of finishers on the roster. Unless Nigel Dawes snaps out of it and Petr Prucha remembers where the back of the net is, this group will be hard pressed to score a ton.

-One other thought. Enough with playing Nikolai Zherdev with Brandon Dubinsky. He should be on Scott Gomez’ line. Poor Gomer looks lost because he has no one to pass to. He tried to do too much last night. Best passer and best finisher belong together. Right? Aaron Voros has stone hands. The five goals he got were mostly off deflections with his back in front of the goalie. He can’t be relied on for big offense.

-Former Islander Mark Parrish gets one more shot with the Stars. At this point, considering how bad things are going for them, why not take a chance? He always had decent hands around the net. Kudos to Garth Snow for giving him a professional tryout with Bridgeport so he could be looked at. He went 1-1-2 in three games before the Stars signed him. Funny but don’t you think a guy like that could’ve worked with say the struggling Chris Drury here? But hey. They’d rather tie up extra money on an overrated defenseman who has a “nice first pass.” How could you argue with such logic?

-I saw Devil blogger Hasan reference it the other night and I’ve gotta second what he said regarding the little ice-time former top picks Petr Vrana and Nicklas Bergfors got from Brent Sutter. What? Are they too allergic to actually giving skilled young forwards enough shifts to maybe at least help Zach Parise a little? What’s the worst that can happen? That extra shift from Mike Rupp isn’t winning you many games. They’ve already lost their franchise goalie. It’s time for a change!

-Now that Barack Obama’s been elected President, does this mean no more special visits to NHL Arenas for “hockey Mom” Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin? I highly doubt Manny Legace or any Philadelphia sportsfan will be shedding a tear. Do you?

-And finally, with all the rumors about Brendan Shanahan possibly winding up on Broad Street and Ottawa actually considering making Mats Sundin a turncoat, isn’t it about time the NHL makes a rule not allowing this stuff to go on. How much time do these guys need? Comebacks like the one Peter Forsberg attempted with Colorado last year shouldn’t be allowed. There needs to be a deadline which all teams and free agents must agree to. This is just a crack showing.

Bending the rules isn’t fair. If a player can’t make up their mind by Dec.1, then good riddance. That should be the cutoff. End of discussion!

And with that, I’m out a whole lot quicker than Chinese Democracy.

With the news coming down yesterday that Devils icon Martin Brodeur will miss at least the next 3-4 months due to injury, many questions now surround the team.  To wit:

A) Will they acquire a goaltender to at least share some of the load with Kevin Weekes?  Possibly, since Scott Clemmensen is not an NHL-caliber goalie and odds are he - or whoever’s backing up Weekes - will have to play at least 8-10 games.  After all, Weekes has started six games in twenty-two months.  It’s unrealistic to expect him to rip off a Marty-like streak of 29 starts in 30 games, especially given his own recent injury issues - he missed most of the last half of 2006-07 for the Rangers and unbeknownst to him played through a similar injury to Marty’s during 2007-08. 

If the Devils make any trade for a goalie at all look for a stopgap option like Johan Hedberg or (shudder) Martin Gerber to back up Weekes.  The bigger-name goalies on the market such as Nikolai Khabibulin and Dwayne Roloson really aren’t that much better than Weekes anyway and would take too much cap room, even with half the Devils’ roster currently on LTIR.  Plus they would expect to start half or more of the games, so I doubt the Devils would make a big splash for a goaltender, especially if Marty is indeed back by early-late February and if Weekes proves he’s still a quality NHL goalie.

B) Will Lou make any other improvements to the team (say adding onto the offense or a D-man) to compensate for not having Marty and the recent spate of injuries?  I doubt it, especially since we seem to be an organization that’s become allergic to finding a way to improve the offense - Brian Rolston signing notwithstanding. 

Plus there just aren’t enough trading chips right now with all the injuries, some of the few trading chips we have (say, Petr Vrana or Niklas Bergfors) are in the lineup now as it is.  Granted they’re not playing very much but trading forwards off the active roster won’t solve much and with so many people up here, there once again is a lack of Lowell farmhands to use in trade. 

C) Assuming the roster pretty much stays as is, what’s the short and long-term prognosis for the Devils?  That’s the great unknown, nobody knows.  It’s been a long time since the Devils have had a look at post-Marty life.  Brodeur missed two weeks in 2005-06 due to a knee injury and the results were mixed, with Clemmensen going 2-2-2 but struggling in his last few games. 

Since then the D’s lost Brian Rafalski and has a diminished Colin White, while the offense has lost Scott Gomez and has a diminished Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta.  At least Weekes is an upgrade now over Clemmensen then but it’s long been suspected that the Devils - especially the last two years - were a non-playoff team carried there by Marty’s brilliance.  One thing’s for sure, the rest of the walking wounded (Rolston, Paul Martin - who will also miss tonight’s game, etc) better get back asap or the Devils aren’t a playoff team no matter who the goalie is.

D) Will the Devils Legion (a.k.a the fanbase) completely implode?  Early returns were not promising, as the Devils barely cracked 10,000 in attendance for Monday’s game against the Sabres, the first of what is now many without their franchise goalie.  With ticket prices being the highest in the league, don’t look for weekday numbers to be much better from here in and quite possibly worse tonight. 

But in some respects it might actually energize the die-hards now that the Devils (particularly Weekes) are in a relatively new role of underdog.  Weekes got a healthy ovation when he was announced and cheers throughout for his brilliant performance Monday.  Of course that won’t last if he suddenly starts giving up 3-4 goals a game.  

Not to mention it should be a huge wakeup call for spoiled fans who feel that it’s our entitlement to make the playoffs every year like one co-worker who is a Devils fan and was actually glad to hear about the Marty injury because in his words, ‘at least he’ll be rested for the playoffs’.  All you need to do is watch the Mets or the Jets - like I do - to not take the playoffs for granted. 

In any case, the answers start tonight when the Devils host the Lightning.

Let me first say that anytime you root for your favorite team, there can be that one player who becomes someone special which you separate putting them up on a pedestal. Nothing can take away that awe kinda feeling you have for that player because of how great they are and what they mean to your team.

As a kid growing up here, that player was Don Mattingly. Nobody was better than Donnie Baseball. I’d imitate his batting stance with my hands playfully and even play a game tossing a blue ball off our porch. The imagination can go a very long way when you’re young. Life was more simple and easier than the world we live in now where on Election Day, it could become the most historic due to circumstances.

I’m not here to talk about how that plays out. What I am here to do is tell you that when I first was told about Martin Brodeur’s elbow being a bit more serious, I didn’t want to believe it. It was close friend Brian Sanborn who cut and pasted the 3-4 months portion from TSN.CA. Still, I wasn’t totally convinced because I’d just been to that site minutes earlier and nothing. So, was this another classic trick from the man known as LOTCB (Legend of The Clown Banner) on njdevs?

We’ve been close ever since college when we went to St. John’s and sat in a basement for three hours. And one of the big parts of our friendship was always duping each other. Brian also had Brodeur on his fantasy hockey team. So, I just figured:

‘He’s gotta be kidding. Besides, the guy never seriously gets hurt.‘

Odd thing was that when he then told me he already IR’d Marty, only then did I start taking him seriously. Cause I was like, you can’t just IR a player unless there’s news. When I finally went back to tsn.ca, only then did I see it for my own very eyes that Brodeur- the man chasing idol Patrick Roy for most wins and games and Terry Sawchuk for most shutouts- is going to miss significant time for the first time in his brilliant career.

We’re only talking about one of the all-time greats in net. Love or hate him, Brodeur has been remarkable for the New Jersey Devils franchise carrying them to great heights with three Stanley Cups, half a dozen Atlantic Divisions and a playoff contender every year. Sure. He’s been ousted early before but how many goalies where you recite their name do you get that feeling with that they can take their team deep? Marty’s why you never discount the Devils.

I think he’s proven that much since Scott Stevens’ retirement along with the defections of Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski and Scott Gomez. Everytime his team was written off, Brodeur elevated his game to new heights showing no signs of slippage despite getting older. The 36 year-old Montreal, Quebec native who Lou Lamoriello swapped picks with Calgary to get stealing him at 20th overall in 1990 while the Flames wound up with <gulp> Trevor Kidd has been a rock in goal for almost two decades.

That in itself is hard to believe. Brodeur’s done it all. We’ve already cited the Cups but how about the four Vezinas which would’ve been a lot more if not for Dominik Hasek. There’s also Olympic Gold with Canada which means everything to his country. Who could forget another showdown against Mike Richter in Salt Lake City for all the marbles? Granted. Marty had better support but weren’t those battles what we grew up on in the New York, New Jersey and even Connecticut area?

There was always something extra special about seeing No.30 in Devil red and white against No.35 in Ranger blue and red ever since they battled in one of the greatest Conference Finals in NHL history. Thankfully, my team prevailed or only God knows how long The Curse would’ve lasted. But it was also during that intense seven-game series with the sudden death chilling conclusion provided by Stephane Matteau that I realized just how special the opposing netminder was.

We were clearly getting a taste of the future which is why it wasn’t much shock that Brodeur led his team to its first Stanley Cup the following year after shedding tears and heartache. The guy was a winner proving he could backstop his team to a championship learning from how close they were the Spring before.

All these years later, he’s won a couple of more turning the Devils into one of the most respected franchises in any sport. The numbers speak for themselves:

978 Games

544 Wins

2.20 GAA

98 Shutouts

.913 Save Percentage

It don’t get much better than that. And so, for now, the record chase has been put on hold with Marty still seven wins shy of matching Roy’s NHL record and five shutouts within reach of Sawchuk’s once thought unbreakable 103.

I could be like many Ranger fans and smile about a guy I hate being out for such an extended period. But no. I never root for injuries in sports and don’t wish them on even the bitter enemy. Sports are supposed to be fun. Part of what makes it what it is are special stars like Brodeur who you might hate facing but love going up against because you’re facing the best.

To me, Brodeur will always be a dynamic part of the Battle of Hudson rivalry. I always want to see the Rangers go out and beat the best. If you’re facing No.30 with the usual “sister n law” references being mentioned as if the guy committed murder, it’s just part of the tradition of how intense this rivalry is.

So, yes. It’s going to be weird the next time the Rangers visit Newark and Brodeur’s not in net replaced by respectable backup Kevin Weekes. Brodeur versus Henrik Lundqvist has always been a fun battle of two great No.30’s with usually King Henrik’s team prevailing. Still, anytime our emerging star netminder faced Brodeur, it’s never taken for granted that the Rangers will prevail. It’s just how the rivalry has gone lately. I’ve been on the other side of the fence plenty when our team couldn’t get out of its own way.

So, it’s always nice to beat Marty. The fans sure love giving it to him. But through that hatred comes respect. If they didn’t chant, he wouldn’t be who he is. If the Rangers ever get to that next level with Lundqvist backstopping them, in some weird way, we’ll have Brodeur to thank. He changed the way the game is played and how you build a winner which is now from the goal out.

Injuries are part of sports. If your best player hasn’t suffered a serious one which sidelined them a significant period, consider it lucky. With Brodeur, he never gave you any sign he’d ever get hurt which is why we must remember he’ll turn 37 next Spring.

Sometimes, injuries come when you least expect. Given how many Devils have fallen victim to the IR bug, maybe it was a sad tale of things to come. Devil fans can at least take solace knowing they still have a healthy Zach Parise cause if they didn’t, then they’d really be doomed. I saw injuries cut Richter’s career short. The concussions didn’t allow him to ever see the playoffs again since that run to the Conference Final in 1997. Fortunately for New Jersey supporters, Brodeur’s elbow can be repaired and you know he’ll work extremely hard to get back.

Now, we get to see Weekes earn his paycheck. He certainly was very good last night keeping his club afloat despite being outshot 20-3 after a period in what amounted to a 2-0 home defeat to Buffalo. This is his chance to rally his teammates. In the mean time for myself, it’s gonna be odd not seeing the familiar No.30 in Devil colors take on the Rangers in upcoming match-ups like Nov.12, Dec.12 and probably Dec.27.

You just never expect the man who’s become the one constant in the rivalry to not be there in net. That’s why even for this fan, Election Day has already been a big disappointment.

Get well soon Marty. Even the fans who boo you will miss ya.

Brodeur to undergo elbow surgery -TSN.CA

Brodeur out 3-4 months with torn bicep. Same injury that Kevin Weekes suffered last year.

This latest news was reported by TG on his http://njmg.typepad.com/devilsblog/2008/11/brodeur-out-three-to-four-months-with-torn-biceps.html#comments

The hits just keep on coming for Devils fans. After seeing injuries to Rolston, Holik, Greene, Martin, and now Brodeur, the team has been decimated by forces outside of their control.

Bottom line: This may be the season the Devils miss playoffs.

There isn’t much to say here folks. The worst thing that could have happened to the Devils has just happened.