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.

Something had to give. Trailing by a pair despite coming with a harder work ethic, a more determined Maple Leaf team stuck with it finally solving Stephen Valiquette scoring a ridiculous five unanswered in a 5:21 span to stun the Blueshirts 5-2 at Air Canada Center on Hockey Night In Canada embarrassing them.

Perhaps now Tom Renney’s club will heed their coach’s advice about giving a more consistent effort for 60 minutes because despite the league best record and 21 points coming in, they hadn’t been playing as well as it seemed. Something which the coach warned about off their fourth straight win the other night.

Hard lesson learned. Coming off a very solid first period in which Dan Girardi setup Ryan Callahan’s fourth with 10 seconds left, the team slowly began to lose steam against Ron Wilson’s younger and faster club who doesn’t seem to miss Mats Sundin or Darcy Tucker much these days.

Despite Blair Betts and his fourth line getting rewarded for their continued diligent work when he slammed home a wide Dmitri Kalinin bank shot, they weren’t playing too well. In fact, prior to Betts’ second from Kalinin and the continued hustle of Fredrik Sjostrom, it was Toronto dictating forcing Valiquette to come up with tough saves.

Maybe they weren’t used to having a rare two-goal lead into the third. Whatever the reason, only one line showed which was far from enough as the Leafs killed off a Ranger powerless play before blitzing Valiquette with five in succession befitting of the kind of game they continued to bring.

Vesa Toskala was forced to make one big save when he stuck out his pads on a Chris Drury try from in the slot off a Markus Naslund setup. The Rangers wouldn’t have been on the man-advantage without the fourth line as the improved play of Colton Orr continued with a stuff try forcing Leaf John Mitchell into a penalty with less than 10 minutes left.

A goal here would’ve iced the game and their fifth straight win. Instead, the comedy that is the Ranger powerless play not sponsored by Con Ed continued. Sure. They actually got a couple of shots on Toskala including a rare Michal Rozsival one-timer which was easily gloved with no traffic in front.

But if they did at least fire a couple, that means they absolutely did nothing else getting severely outplayed and outshot by a wide but accurate 17-4 margin.

Once Mitchell redeemed himself taking complete advantage of a careless Scott Gomez turnover walking out before snapping one past Valiquette for his first career NHL tally, the game completely swung in the Toronto’s favor as a dead crowd finally awoke energizing their club who took it to a very lazy Ranger club that tried to hang on instead of pressing for more.

Not surprisingly, it took less than two minutes for former Isle nemesis Jason Blake to just get a piece of a Dominic Moore shot changing it enough to slip by Valiquette for a tie game with 5:58 left forcing Renney to call timeout. Unfortunately, it was too late as after an initial buzz with a shot fired wide, the Leafs came full attack toying with the Blueshirt D with Tomas Kaberle, Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina playing a game of keep away before the ex-Bolt Kubina ripped a perfect laser upstairs giving the Leafs’ the lead only 52 seconds later.

The Rangers never recovered. Unlike Frank Sinatra’s notorious hit, the worst was yet to come.

First, it was 23 year-old rookie Mitchell continuing a career night by taking a Luke Schenn pass and firing a wrister top shelf for his second of the game 1:12 later. He entered with just two assists in the Leafs’ first 10 games. By the conclusion, he had two goals and an assist.

Completely unraveled, the Rangers then committed their most dubious mistake when D tandem Marc Staal and Paul Mara were caught in a change allowing former fourth liner Moore to get rewarded with an empty net with Valiquette out of position.

Fittingly, Mitchell got the primary and earned the game’s No.1 Star ending an awful stretch of hockey for the Rangers.

Notes: The lone bright spot overall was the continued success of the No.2 ranked Ranger PK which went a perfect 5-for-5 against Toronto. New York only had two power plays running on empty. … With a secondary helper setting up Callahan, Nigel Dawes snapped a four-game scoreless drought. The LW still has only one goal. Callahan’s fourth ended a four-game drought. … Before the Leaf explosion, Ranger netminders held them without a goal during the first 117:35 of the season series dating back to the club’s 1-0 shootout triumph on Oct.17. … Toskala needed only four stops in the third finishing with 18 saves overall dealing local native Valiquette (30 of 35) his first defeat in four outings versus Toronto. … Blueshirts (10-3-1, 21 Pts) look to bounceback at MSG Tuesday versus last overall Islanders (2-7-1, 5 Pts) who blew a three-goal lead in a 5-4 home loss to Montreal.

Three Stars

3rd Star-Sjostrom-Betts-Orr, NYR (goal, assist, 3 SOG, plus-three)

2nd Star-Jason Blake, Tor (tying goal, assist, 5 SOG, plus-three in 13:41)

1st Star-John Mitchell, Tor (first 2 career NHL goals, assist, 5 SOG, plus-four in 15:21)

On All Hallows Eve, maybe it was appropriate that the Rangers finally traded Hugh Jessiman sending the big forward to Nashville for “future considerations.” Trick or treat. Unfortunately for them, they probably wish this incredible folly was a cruel trick considering how rich with talent that 2003 Draft was.

It was five years ago that the organization committed one of its biggest blunders tabbing the Dartmouth product in the first round 12th overall before the likes of Dustin Brown (LA-13th), Brent Seabrook (Chi-14th), Zach Parise (NJ-17th), Ryan Getzlaf (Ana-19th), Brent Burns (Min-20th), Ryan Kesler (Van-23rd), Mike Richards (Phi-24th) and Corey Perry (Ana-28th).

Only one player from that remarkable first round which also included a top 11 of Marc-Andre Fleury, Eric Staal, Nathan Horton, Nikolai Zherdev, Thomas Vanek, Milan Michalek, Ryan Suter, Braydon Coburn, Dion Phaneuf, Andrei Kostitsyn and Jeff Carter has failed to play a game in the NHL.

That would be Jessiman, who’s toiled in the minors having never fully recovered from a high ankle sprain early in his career. He was a project who looked to finally be on the verge of the NHL following a breakthrough 2007-08 with Hartford that saw him produce 18 goals, 24 assists totaling 42 points with 154 penalty minutes in 71 games.

There was even talk he might get serious consideration for a roster spot but once Glen Sather began signing the likes of Patrick Rissmiller along with Sean Avery replacement Aaron Voros and then trading for Zherdev and Dan Fritsche while re-upping Fredrik Sjostrom, it became apparent that Jessiman had no realistic chance of making the cut.

At age 24, the New York native who grew up a Ranger fan had to realize his dream was dashed after making two brief cameos during a crowded preseason. Truthfully, in the few minutes he got, Jessiman wasn’t bad nearly scoring on a stuff try. But how could he have gotten so little time with even recent pick Dale Weise getting more of a glance?

The blame goes yet again on an organization which outside of drafting Marc Staal, has an awful recent first round track record.

RANGERS FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS (Last 10 Years)

1999-Pavel Brendl (4th), Jamie Lundmark (9th)

2000-None

2001-Dan Blackburn (10th)

2002-None

2003-Hugh Jessiman (12th)

2004-Al Montoya (6th), Lauri Korpikoski (19th)

2005-Marc Staal (12th)

2006-Bobby Sanguinetti (21st)

*2007-Alexei Cherepanov (17th)

2008-Michael Del Zotto (20th)

*died

Looking over this list, it’s incredible to think of how awful the Rangers’ luck has been with even the highly rated Cherepanov dying tragically during a KHL game after collapsing next to Jaromir Jagr.

There also was Blackburn’s nerve damage which ended his career. The botch of epic proportions drafting Montoya probably due to Slats’ penchant for Cuban cigars. The past few drafts look to be better with Del Zotto impressing during camp and much expected from Sanguinetti. We’ve also gotten a taste of Korpikoski, who seems to possess some skill but became the odd man out on a crowded roster. So, they sent him down to Hartford to get valuable playing time.

The good news is that at least it looks more promising. But just imagine what a Cherepanov could’ve done for a roster deep on centers but thin on scoring ability? A line with him, Gomez and Zherdev might’ve been electric to watch. Now, we’ll never really know how good the Russian could’ve been.

If there’s a flaw in the current team, it’s that lack of finish which could prove detrimental next Spring assuming the club which has matched its best start in franchise history qualified for a fourth consecutive postseason.

There’s plenty of work to be done in the mean time starting with the lowly Thrashers who come in off a 7-0 home rout at the hands of the Flyers. Figure them to be sharper. It’s still a game the Blueshirts should win. We’ll see if they remember not to take their opponent lightly.

Could Stephen Valiquette get the nod in the final game of what’s been a great month? We’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Jessiman becomes Nashville property and will probably never see the light of day though I wish him well. He was mistreated by the organization this Fall after his best pro season. It very much reminded me of how they mishandled Manny Malhotra and Lundmark screwing them over. The only huge difference is that this is a playoff team looking to contend and was much deeper across the board.

I have always believed the Rangers don’t do a good job developing players. Though former second round steal Brandon Dubinsky along with late grabs Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes are doing their best to change that reputation. There’s also King Henrik in net. Possibly the biggest theft of all-time. Who could’ve known? Petr Prucha still is here but for how long? He’s not in the lineup tonight as Tom Renney has again switched things up.

Here’s the lines:

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Fritsche-Callahan

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Didn’t Renney try the first combo before with no success at all? What gives? If I were constructing the lines, it’d go something like this:

Naslund-Gomez-Zherdev

Dawes-Drury-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Prucha/Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Dawes and Callahan worked well with Drury last year doing damage against the Devils. They are smart two-way complementary wings comprising a nice checking line which can score. Sjostrom could also see time with Dubi. His skating is good enough and he’s scored double digits before. People forget he was a first round pick with Phoenix.

Sticking our best two finishers with our No.1 playmaking pivot makes too much sense. Perhaps the coach needs to try it. These lines would provide more balance moving foward.

Chris Drury was 0 for 11 despite the Rangers’ quick start. However, the Blueshirt team captain’s fate changed with one visit to Long Island for an ultimate rivalry game with the Islanders.

The veteran center scored twice snapping the worst start of his career leading the Rangers past the Islanders 4-2 at Nassau Coliseum Monday night. The win improved the Rangers to 9-2-1 with the 18 points matching the franchise’s best ever start- something only the 1978-79 and 1989-90 teams achieved.

Drury got help from center teammate Scott Gomez (goal, assist) and defenseman Michal Rozsival (2 assists) as the Rangers took the first of six meetings from their bitter rival.

Despite a lineup which excluded four defensemen along with injured starter Rick DiPietro, Scott Gordon’s Isles still fought hard battling to a 1-1 draw after 20 minutes. The game didn’t begin well with Drury catching a bit of a break for his first of the season. Following brilliant stops from backup Joey MacDonald including a denial on Nikolai Zherdev, the Ranger captain beat an Islander to a loose puck behind the net and banked it in off the Islander netminder for a 1-0 lead at 1:15.

The Isles though fought back creating numerous chances forcing Henrik Lundqvist to come up with some strong stops including a glove save of a Mark Streit one-timer during a power play labeled. Their aggressive attack also forced Zherdev into a blind giveaway with Trent Hunter missing upstairs.

MacDonald wasn’t without some good ones as well just getting to Gomez’ redirect try on a Blueshirt power play snuffing it out.

Despite outworking their more expensive Broadway foes, the Islanders looked like they wouldn’t be rewarded. But all that changed when rookie Kyle Okposo broke free of a check for his first tying it with 7.3 seconds left. The talented 20 year-old former 2006 first round pick was left open in front following a Drury win in which Richard Park beat Dan Girardi to a loose puck centering for Okposo, who buried it for his second in three career games against the Rangers.

The second saw the action pickup with both teams looking for the go-ahead tally forcing each goalie to stand on their collective heads as both MacDonald and Lundqvist took turns keeping it tied sending the frustration to a feverish pitch. MacDonald’s best stop came on a Brandon Dubinsky rebound when he got across kicking it out. Meanwhile, Lundqvist was called upon by his club to deny two pointblank Isles’ chances including a Jeff Tambellini rebound which he shut off.

Afterwards, a scrum finally broke out eventually resulting in Aaron Voros challenging Nate Thompson with the Isles’ energizer accepting. The two enforcers went toe to toe for a few minutes trading glancing blows resulting in a draw to cheers from a mixed bag of Ranger and Islander supporters.

The fight just might’ve given the Rangers a lift because it took only another 2:15 before Ryan Callahan put them ahead to stay. Off a vigorous forecheck, the right wing got a bounce when Paul Mara’s shot trickled off Hunter’s skate right to him allowing for an easy stuff in at 16:16 with MacDonald out of position expecting the original shot to get through. Gomez got the secondary helper.

The home club kept coming and tried to find a way to tie it in the final minute buzzing but their opponent wouldn’t break playing better defense taking the one-goal lead to the locker room.

Through 40 minutes, the only difference was on the scoreboard with each team having the exact amount of shots (25) in a high octane contest which has become the norm in this rivalry. However, it was the Rangers who appeared fresher despite their third game in four nights outscoring the Islanders 2-1 and outshooting them 14-5.

They got some key insurance from Gomez when he put in a rebound of a Rozsival shot from a sharp angle for his third at 6:52. The goal came off a faceoff win where the ex-Devil pivot was dominant winning a ridiculous 70 percent (19-of-27). Dmitri Kalinin worked the puck to Rozsival, who fired a low shot off MacDonald which caromed right to Gomez who deposited it for his third.

Trailing by a pair, the Isles got sloppy losing discipline when both Sean Bergenheim (really Bill Guerin) and Doug Weight were sent off for simultaneous high sticks with a double minor handed out to the wrong player. Bergenheim and Guerin were in the same vicinity.

In any event, it put the Isles in a tough hole two men short with less than eight minutes remaining. Awarded a five-on-three, the Rangers actually cashed it scoring their first two-man advantage goal of the season when Drury wired a slap shot inside the right post for his second of the night making it 4-1 with 7:26 to go.

Following a Rozsival wide shot, the defenseman followed up the play legally sealing off an Islander along the boards allowing Drury to take the puck and step in for his second which essentially ended the contest.

Mark Streit did tally shorthanded with 116 seconds left. The defenseman’s third came on a nice play executed by Weight and Park with a pass coming out to the trailer who just got enough to trickle it through Lundqvist closing the scoring.

Notes: The Isles announced prior to the game that Witt would miss at least three to four weeks with an undisclosed injury adding him to a growing list that includes Andy Sutton, Radek Martinek and Mike Sillinger. Freddy Meyer also sat out and is day-to-day with an abdominal strain. In his place, Brett Skinner debuted on the blueline getting only 13 shifts (6:45). … After just an assist in his first nine games, Drury’s got a three-game point streak (2-2-4). He finished with a game high eight shots. … With a helper, Markus Naslund extended his point streak to four straight (2-4-6). … With two assists in a losing effort, Park tripled his point total after entering with just one assist in seven contests. … Both New York teams get the next couple of days off with the Islanders visiting Philadelphia while the Rangers host Atlanta Thursday.

Renney Hits Milestone: Ranger coach Tom Renney reached a milestone winning his 142nd game behind the Ranger bench surpassing Roger Neilson (141 victories) for fourth all-time in club history. He trails Emile Francis (342), Lester Patrick (281) and Frank Boucher (179).

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Kyle Okposo, NYI (1st goal of season, 7 SOG, plus-one in 13:47)

2nd Star-Scott Gomez, NYR (goal, assist, 5 SOG, 19-8 draws in 25:52)

1st Star-Chris Drury, NYR (2 goals, 8 SOG in 21:53)

Quick Hits:

-Isles won the physical battle outhitting the Rangers 32-17 with an active Hunter pacing them with seven. Streit chipped in with half a dozen. The Ranger leader was Marc Staal, who finished with three.

-Isles also had a slight edge in the faceoff circle 36-35 despite Gomez dominating them. Rookie Frans Nielsen was their best finishing 10-for-18.

-Each team was guilty of double digit giveaways with the Isles having 11 with Sean Bergenheim losing three while the Blueshirts had 10 with a pair (Zherdev and Rozsival) losing a couple.

-Special Teams: NYR-1-for-8, NYI-0-for-4

-Lundqvist finished with 28 saves improving his record to 7-2-1 maintaining a 1.99 GAA and .927 save percentage ranking in the top six in all three categories.

-MacDonald was no slouch turning aside 35 of 39 to fall to 2-4-0.

-The game was called very tight with several marginal calls on both sides including a double minor on Guerin for roughing after sticking up for a teammate when Voros got a boarding minor. It should’ve been even.

If this was a litmus test, then the Rangers get a B. Normally, I’d be pretty mad considering that a bogus call led to the defending Cup champion Red Wings tying the game late in regulation.

However, considering that the Blueshirts fell behind two goals before the first four minutes were played and rallied from 3-1 down scoring three straight to at least earn a point, how could I be that upset? Let’s face it. Even without Henrik Zetterberg and Brad Stuart, these are still the defending champs who were coming off two consecutive home losses at The Joe.

So, you had to figure Mike Babcock’s team would be ready to go against a Ranger club that played the previous night. If Tom Renney’s club started dismal allowing an unguarded Mikael Samuelsson to deflect home a Derek Meech point shot 28 seconds in and an untaken Johan Franzen to rebound home a Valtteri Filppula falling quickly two behind, then they sure didn’t play that way the rest of the night in what easily was one of the best games I’ve seen in quite a while.

Thanks in large part to the newly constructed Scott Gomez line flanked by rejuvenated Nigel Dawes and energizer Ryan Callahan, the Blueshirts wouldn’t go quietly. With Detroit threatening to blow them out in a building they’ve had little success in (no wins in Detroit since 1999), the dynamic North American trio worked together on the cycle with a beautiful backhand Gomez pass with three defenders on him getting through to an open Callahan, who made no mistake whipping a wrister upstairs for his second at 7:32 cutting it in half. Dawes might not have picked up a point but his hard work in the corner forced Brian Rafalski to give up the puck allowing his former Devil ‘mate to make a play giving the Rangers momentum.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this well played game was how much skating and chances there were for both sides. Certainly, an attacking Wings team threw the kitchen sink at Henrik Lundqvist, who returned from a night off and had to be extremely good just to get his team to overtime finishing with 40 saves. However, it’s worth pointing out that the faster New York team also tested Chris Osgood netting 32 shots or the most Detroit’s allowed this season.

Anyone who watches the Winged Wheel knows they don’t give up many shots or chances because of their fast attacking puck possession style. What last night showed me was just how dangerous they can be with the kind of precise passing that makes them more dangerous than any other NHL opponent. It seemed like all game when they were in attack mode the puck found a Wing stick who always seemed to be rightly positioned for an opportunity. They really put pressure on the D and looked very good even without one of the game’s elite players.

Trailing 2-1 in the middle stanza, the Rangers got more aggressive attacking the Wings looking for the equalizer. Particularly the Gomez unit which was buzzing all game with Osgood stopping Dawes and Callahan.

A mistake by Michal Rozsival led to Detroit restoring their two-goal lead. Thinking the Wings had iced the puck, the Ranger defenseman slowed down and misplayed it resulting in a turnover. Eventually, Detroit worked it around to Nick Lidstrom, who wound up and saw his seeing eye shot go off Tomas Holmstrom and Wade Redden’s skate past Lundqvist for a 3-1 lead at 10:57.

The bad break didn’t demoralize the Rangers who instead responded by working the puck in deep with Gomez finding a wide open Dawes for his first of the season less than three minutes later. Marc Staal kept the play alive with an effective pinch swinging the puck down low to Gomez, who quickly passed out for Dawes, who made little mistake.

Remarkably, there were no penalties called through that juncture demonstrating just how little was going on in the neutral zone in a cleanly played skating game. That’s when three straight penalties were called with two in a row on the Rangers suddenly handing the Wings a brief two-man advantage late in the second.

However, the Ranger PK was up to the task wisely anticipating Detroit passes and getting clears. They killed off the remainder at the start of the third and carried momentum forward by tying it.

Off a solid forecheck, Brandon Dubinsky worked the puck back to Rozsival, whose one-timer was credited to a screening Aaron Voros to tie it at 1:45. I’m still trying to figure out how cause it sure looked like he missed it. Maybe Rozsival will eventually get credit. Only would seem fitting since he made up for his blunder. For now, it reads Voros from Rozy and Dubi.

The Rangers continued to play well even getting a fortuitous bounce with Dmitri Kalinin’s deflected wide shot caroming off the back board to Voros, who wisely banked the puck in off Osgood and a Detroit defender for what reads as his second of the night suddenly putting the Blueshirts in front 2:14 later.

Babcock wisely called timeout regrouping his team, who then came out and played very aggressively seeming to attack from every angle. They tested Lundqvist often outshooting the Rangers 17-14 in a very exciting period.

For most of it, King Henrik was up to the challenge steadying his rebound control freezing the puck. However, the bogus call would then come when the officials wrongly nabbed the Rangers for a too many men bench minor. Rookie Lauri Korpikoski was a couple of steps from the bench about to get off when the puck was passed in the direction of the changing Ranger who hadn’t come close to touching it when the whistle blew.

As they went to commercial, an uncharacteristically irate Renney was seen red and screaming at the bench. MSG replays showed he had a legit beef. Chalk it up to the home team getting the edge. The Wings have been known to have a couple of calls go their way at crucial points of games. Just ask our Devil blogger Hasan. Jay Pandolfo/Robbie Ftorek ring a bell?

Whatever the reason, the Rangers were shorthanded and couldn’t kill it off. They did the job for more than half until the Wings got their own lucky break when a Niklas Kronwall point blast went off Redden right to Jiri Hudler, who had an open net with Lundqvist anticipating something else. He made no mistake burying it past a lunging Henrik to tie it at four with 3:39 left in regulation.

The Wings pressed for the win but couldn’t get it forcing the contest fittingly to OT. However, it didn’t take long to decide as too many Rangers didn’t listen to me yelling at the TV not to all go to Pavel Datsyuk. Naturally, they did go to the dangerous Wing pivot behind the net who quickly threaded the needled to an open Marian Hossa for a one-time blast past a helpless Lundqvist 23 seconds in giving the Red Wings an exciting 5-4 home victory over the Rangers.

Rafalski netted a secondary helper on the winner.

I can’t really complain about this one cause you had to figure this would be a loss. However, the Blueshirts worked hard fighting back and were within grasp of coming away with two points. I’ll take the point and move on.

Next are the struggling Stars who lost again 5-4 to the Avs with Marty Turco continuing his poor start. You have to figure they’ll be ready to go Monday night when Sean Avery visits his former teammates.

So, it should be another good early test.

THREE STARS:

3rd Star-Mikael Samuelsson, Det (goal, 2 assists, 4 SOG in 17:43)

2nd Star-Scott Gomez, NYR (2 assists, 4 SOG, plus-one in 20:45)

1st Star-Pavel Datsyuk, Det (primary assist on OT winner, 4 SOG, plus-one in 20:36, 9-9 on draws)

Ranger Lines:

Dawes-Gomez-Callahan (4 pts- 2-2-4)

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev (4 pts- 2-2-4, +6)

Naslund-Drury-Korpikoski (0 pts, minus-6)

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr (0 pts, 3 SOG, Even)

Redden-Rozsival (1 A, minus-2)

Staal-Mara (A, +2)

Kalinin-Girardi (A, Even)

Scratches:

Dan Fritsche

Petr Prucha

Patrick Rismiller

Quick Hits:

-Against one of the league’s best, Rangers held the edge in faceoffs 29-27 with Drury going 9-3 and Dubinsky 6-6. Detroit’s best was Kris Draper (7-4).

-Each club combined to block 19 shots: NYR-10 (Redden-3), Det-9 (Draper-3)

-There were only 11 giveaways: NYR-4, Det-7

-Rangers outhit the Red Wings 27-19 with Dubinsky and Mara pacing them each with five while Darren Helm had three for the home side.

-Detroit missed the net 17 times while New York missed only six shots.

-The checking unit of Sjostrom-Betts-Orr was once again superb all forechecking well and creating chances. They were rewarded with more ice-time finishing with over 11 minutes apiece.

-Despite finishing a combined minus-six, the Drury unit with rookie Korpikoski replacing Fritsche was okay using their speed to forecheck. Naslund was a bit more visible getting four shots through. I might keep them together giving it a couple of more games.

-Both Staal and Mara played big games defensively and physically. This is slowly turning into the Rangers’ best pair.

-Redden had a tough night with a couple of goals going off him and a bad read on Hossa’s winner with Rozsival there covering. Rozy was better than his partner who needs to be a little better.

-Though he had no points, Zherdev was very good all night skating extremely well and paying attention to the small details.

-Dawes earned another game with a strong night. That line looks like a keeper.

-Despite just an assist, Datsyuk was the best player all night dangerous everytime he had the puck making unbelievable reads once leading Hossa shorthanded who was thwarted by Lundqvist. The guy is arguably the top center in the game but never gets the due of a Crosby or Malkin.

-Gomez was the second best player playing extremely well flying all night setting up and creating chances.

-Both goalies played well with Osgood finishing with 28 stops while Lundqvist turned aside 40 of 45.

They chanted his name at the Garden much the way they do for King Henrik. Ranger backup Stephen Valiquette heard plenty of “Val-ly, Val-ly, Val-ly” chants and why not. All he did was blank the Maple Leafs in his first home start of the season stopping all 21 shots to lead the Rangers to a 1-0 shootout triumph- their sixth win in seven.

With his team facing a tough second part of a back-to-back visiting the defending Cup champion Red Wings later tonight, Ranger coach Tom Renney opted to give his starting netminder the night off and play Vally, who has developed into a capable backup under the tutelage of goalie coach Benoit Allaire.

Coming off a flat performance against Buffalo, the Rangers played a more steady defensive game cleaning up all the miscues against a younger Toronto club who didn’t bite the first couple of stanzas where only 29 total shots reached each goalie with New York holding a 17-12 edge.

Both Vesa Toskala (32 saves) and Valiquette were good when called upon including a key sequence in the final 30 seconds where the Ranger fill-in shut the door when his team got a little sloppy. Despite an inspired shift, Niklas Hagman couldn’t convert keeping it scoreless.

If the first couple of periods were like a chess match, then the third sure wasn’t with the Blueshirts turning it up in search of that first goal by getting the first 10 shots on a busy Toskala, who had the help of a couple of posts on some close calls.

One such flurry saw the Rangers come at the Leafs in waves with first a Ryan Callahan deflection off a Scott Gomez shot clanging both posts going directly across the goal line without going over as replays concluded three minutes later. That’s cause they kept at it with Dan Girardi’s right point shot hitting the far post with under 10 minutes left.

With nothing happening, Valiquette had to remain focused and was up to the task when Toronto’s Jiri Tlusty got off a tricky shot testing him but the cool 31 year-old Toronto native kicked it out.

While he repelled all four sent his way, Toskala was denying 13 shots including a tough stop on a tricky Nigel Dawes shot. Neither goalie budged forcing the contest to OT. In fact, it was the first time since Dec.8, 1956 that the two Original Six clubs had battled to a 0-0 score through regulation.

Of course, these days there’s overtime and a shootout to decide such matters. It was the Leafs who had a great chance to win it when Michal Rozsival was sent off for a tacky holding minor. They worked the puck around on the 4-on-3 but never forced Valiquette to be spectacular with him able to see their shots and thwart them.

Valiquette also got defensive help from Dmitri Kalinin, who twice broke up passes across in front bouncing back from a shaky game against his former club.

Once they killed it off, the Rangers got their own late man-advantage but also couldn’t cash in forcing it to the skill competition. Kinda predictable considering how well both goalies played.

Through two rounds, Nikolai Zherdev (five-hole) and talented Maple Leafs rookie Nikolai Kulenin (double deke forehand) traded goals setting the stage for Renney wildcard Freddy Sjostrom who supposedly was good in practice. It also might’ve been a reward for how well he’s played. Whatever the reason, Renney was validated when the 25 year-old Swede moved in, deked and just slipped a forehand off Toskala and the post putting the Rangers ahead 2-1.

All that was left was for Valiquette to stop Jason Blake. The former Islander came in and aimed high but Valiquette got a piece of it with his stick pushing it off the outside of the post for his third career win over Toronto.

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Fredrik Sjostrom, NYR (deciding shootout goal, 2 hits, SOG in 13:21)

2nd Star-Stephen Valiquette, NYR (21 saves in first home start, 3rd career win vs Leafs)

1st Star-Vesa Toskala, Tor (32 saves including 23 in 2nd and 3rd)

Ranger Lines:

Dawes-Gomez-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Naslund-Drury-Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Girardi

Scratches:

Lauri Korpikoski (injured)

Petr Prucha

Patrick Rismiller (injured)

Quick Hits:

-Special Teams were blah with both teams combining to go 0-for-12: Tor: 0-for-4, NYR:0-for-8

-The Leafs controlled faceoffs finishing 33-for-57 with ex-Ranger Dominic Moore going 10-7 and Matt Stajan 6-2. The Rangers’ best was Blair Betts, who was 8-8. Gomez had an off night losing 13 of 21.

-One of the reasons the Blueshirts couldn’t score was cause 44 of their attempts never made it on net with a preposterous 25 misses along with 19 more blocked by hustling Leafs. A word you never used to describe their previous teams. Ron Wilson has them playing more responsibly and it showed. Eighteen year-old rookie D Luke Schenn blocked five while Pavel Kubina got in the path of four. The Leafs had 22 attempts which never hit the net with 12 wide and another 10 blocked with Rozsival, Betts and a more active Chris Drury sharing the Ranger lead with two.

-Rangers outhit the Maple Leafs 42-32 paced by Aaron Voros’ six with Dawes and Paul Mara each chipping in four. The Leafs hit leader was the impressive rookie Schenn with five.

-Each club did alright in takeaways/giveaways with Toronto plus-five (7-2) where Mikhail Grabovski’s three led them. Drury paced the Rangers (14-9/plus-five) with four takeaways.

-Both returning forwards Dawes (2 SOG in 10:34) and Fritsche (4 SOG in 9:26) played well.

-The checking line of Sjostrom-Betts-Orr again played well doing the job on both ends. Orr’s skating has really improved and Betts earned his 14:20 with another superb effort.

-Callahan was definitely good in this one contributing three hits and his usual energy along with that near miss off both posts. He meshed very well with Dawes and Gomez.

-Drury was better in this game getting chances but missing a couple of deflections and rebounds wide. He was more active back at center and had good chemistry with Fritsche. Markus Naslund was again fairly quiet getting just two shots through. He just isn’t finding any space.

-Marc Staal got into a brief scrap with Leaf enforcer Jamal Mayers after laying a clean shoulder on one of Mayers’ teammates. It wasn’t much of a fight and he sure didn’t win.

-Both Rozsival (26:47, 2 SOG, 2 wide, 2 hits, 2 blocks) and Girardi (19:30, 3 SOG, 4 wide, 3 hits) had strong games.

-Most impressive Leaf outside of Toskala was the aforementioned Schenn, who didn’t look like an 18 year-old. The former 2008 first rounder got nearly 26 minutes skating very well while playing responsibly in his end with five blocks and five hits. Looks like Toronto has a keeper.

-Also thought Jonas Frogren (22:35) was good playing the body where he had three hits and two blocks with Kubina (4 blocks, 3 hits in 23:32) also having a solid game.

-Grabovski was pretty visible while Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky weren’t.

-Former Ranger Ryan Hollweg sat out serving part of a three-game suspension.

-In other league action, the Sabres stayed perfect winning 5-2 over the Canucks. The sizzling Thomas Vanek had a goal and two assists and Ales Kotalik added a pair. Jaroslav Spacek netted a goal and assist. They’re now 4-0-0 outscoring opponents 17-5. Getting a chance to see them live, they were a lot more aggressive than the Devils and catching some of tonight’s game, they again were flying scoring twice on the power play. It looks like many including myself have underrated this team.

-The Sens doubled up the Coyotes 6-3 with Jason Spezza posting four points (2-2-4) and Jarkko Ruutu scoring twice. Daniel Alfredsson returned with a pair of assists. Olli Jokinen notched two helpers in a losing effort.

-It was Columbus over the Predators 5-3 with Rick Nash (2 goals) and Kristian Kuselius (2 A) combining for four points. Also in his NHL debut, 2008 sixth overall pick Nikita Filatov scored on his first and only shot in 9:10. Congrats to him!

-In the Battle of Alberta, the Oilers held off the Flames 4-3 at The Saddledome with Lubomir Visnovsky tallying a goal and assist and new Oiler Erik Cole scoring his first on the power play. Sheldon Souray added two assists. Todd Bertuzzi scored his fourth for Mike Keenan’s club which is off to a rocky 1-2-1 start. The rematch is later tonight with the Flames looking to prevent the Oilers from starting 4-0.

-The Ducks finally picked up their first victory blanking previously unbeaten San Jose 4-0. Francois Beauchemin, Travis Moen, Chris Pronger and Samuel Pahlsson each scored. Rob Niedermayer notched two helpers and Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded 38 saves for his 30th career NHL shutout.

-And finally, the Kings rallied from a 3-1 deficit posting a 4-3 overtime home win over the Hurricanes with Michael Handzus netting the winner unassisted at 3:21. Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar each scored their first to tie it while Handzus notched the other pair making a winner of Jason LaBarbera (23 saves). Ex-Rangers Dan LaCouture and Matt Cullen tallied for the Canes.

Sabres Andrew Peters and Ales Kotalik during warmups.

They started good getting the first three shots against Ryan Miller including Michal Rozsival’s which Scott Gomez got a piece of for a 1-0 lead before the seven minute mark.

But then came the rest of the period where they couldn’t do anything as Sabre after Sabre swarmed them in waves taking away time and space while attacking with vigor getting the last five shots on Henrik Lundqvist. Despite being behind, they were just getting warmed up continuing to take control against a lethargic Ranger club which was playing its fourth game in six nights and looked every bit of that getting outscored 3-0 the final 40 minutes in a 3-1 home loss to the still unbeaten Sabres (3-0-0)- the only team now without a defeat this season.

So much for making history. At least Tom Renney’s club matched their best ever start coming out of the gate winning their first five. Last night just wasn’t their night. That was made clear by a much superior Buffalo team who were faster to the puck in every facet which included Lindy Ruff’s new tight checking defensive scheme that’s now held their first three opponents to a grand total of three goals.

If the Rangers had two more shots (20-18), that had to be the most useless stat ever because maybe six forced Miller to make good stops. They couldn’t muster much. Not against this Sabre team which had fresher legs maybe from playing only twice and blowing out the Islanders a few hours before the Blueshirts engaged in a physical contest against the Devils that included a combined 80 hits.

The Sabres not only were better but stronger on special teams where these new look Rangers had made their mark thus far. Buffalo earned its third power play early in the second and finally solved New York’s PK which till that point had been 23-for-23. They got a boost from Lundqvist, who let Ales Kotalik’s shot from the left wing trickle through his pads to tie it at 5:03. It was his second in two games.

Buffalo had been playing well but got some help from Ranger defenseman Paul Mara, who had enough of Patrick Kaleta’s cheapness with a second high hit delivered a tad late after he had kept a puck in at the blueline. Mara, who recalled a similar incident last season decided to drop his gloves and pound Kaleta, who essentially turtled refusing to go resulting in a five-minute major and game misconduct leaving New York a man short the rest of the way.

The Sabres took advantage when Lundqvist allowed another klunker letting Derek Roy’s routine slapper go off his glove right to Thomas Vanek, who deposited it for his first of the night for a 2-1 lead at 12:30. Jason Pominville added a secondary helper.

Needing a spark after registering only nine shots through two, the Rangers got an early power play thanks to some hard work by one of their better players Ryan Callahan, who caught an errant Craig Rivet high-stick drawing blood for a double-minor. But instead of cashing it like they had the first five contests, the Rangers botched the opportunity instead with poor passing and hardly any shots.

Eventually, an aggressive Buffalo penalty kill resulted in a two-on-one rush with Daniel Paille using his speed before beating a sliding Wade Redden passing across for a vacated cutting Vanek, who had an open side for his second shorthanded marker in two games. He scored an identical one versus the Islanders. The coverage was brutal and Redden’s ole play reminded me of a similar softy against the same team allowing the Sabres to eliminate the Senators three years ago. Nobody covered for Rozsival, who pinched. There was plenty of time for one of our forwards to get back.

Though Vanek’s league leading fifth came only 1:10 into the final stanza, there was little doubt who was coming away with the two points. The Rangers lacked energy and mentally weren’t sharp.

Once again, Markus Naslund (14:11, 1 SOG) was MIA even getting benched by Renney a couple of shifts. He was replaced by Callahan on the Gomez line. Even the Brandon Dubinsky line couldn’t generate much. They tried but there seemed to be Sabres everywhere either defending or getting in the path of Nikolai Zherdev shot attempts.

Petr Prucha had the only two real good chances with his club trailing by a pair on the same man-advantage but was stopped once by Miller and then fired a juicy rebound high and wide to groans.

That’s the kinda game it was. A perfect display of skating and attention to detail by the Sabres, who were the better team. They won’t go winless against the Blueshirts this season.

Sabred to death.

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Daniel Paille, Buf (assist, 2 SOG, 2 hits, 2 takeaways, plus-one in 17:34)

2nd Star-Ales Kotalik, Buf (PPG, 2 SOG, 2 takeaways in 16:49)

1st Star-Thomas Vanek, Buf (PPG, SHG-2nd in 2 games, GW, game high 7 SOG in 18:10)

NYR Lines:

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Prucha-Korpikoski-Callahan

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Girardi

Healthy Scratches:

Nigel Dawes

Dan Fritsche

Patrick Rissmiller

Video:

Afinogenov gives puck to fan

Teppo Numminen watches on.

Quick Hits:

-The Rangers attempted 30 shots which never reached the Buffalo net missing 12 and having another 18 blocked by sprawling Sabres. Buffalo’s Andrej Sekera paced them with four blocks while Toni LydmanAdam Mair chipped in with three apiece. By comparison, the Sabres had less than half missing the net five times with the Blueshirts getting in the way of just nine with a hustling Petr Prucha getting two. That’s a differential of plus-16 in favor of Buffalo.

-Special Teams: Buf: 2-for-5 PP, NYR: 0-for-4

-A weird night on draws saw NY control the circle 27-23 but also saw Roy finish 13-9 and Mair go 7-1 for Buffalo while Dubinsky was 8-2 and Betts was 6-2. So, it was fairly even.

-Despite one early scrap between enforcers Colton Orr and Andrew Peters with Orr getting a decision, there was hardly any physicality with the teams combining for only 27 hits (Buf-11 NYR-16). Callahan and Aaron Voros each shared the lead with three.

-With Mara tossed out, Redden, Rozsival and Girardi all logged heavy minutes each getting more than 24.

-Buffalo was plus-nine in the takeaway/giveaway category going 10-1 while the Rangers were plus-three finishing 9-6.

-As effective as Vanek and Kotalik were, Paille played extremely well which was why I gave him third star. He was very active on the forecheck utilizing his speed to setup Vanek’s backbreaking SHG. The former Sabres’ No.1 pick continues to improve. Keep a close eye on him if you’re in a fantasy league. He could be a sleeper free agent.

-What has happened to Maxim Afinogenov? The most visible he was in this one was during warmups when he donated a puck to a lucky fan.

-Drew Stafford was also pretty silent.

-Most of the Buffalo D played great with Teppo Numminen (20:59, plus-one) steady in 27 shifts matching his jersey No. and Sekera logging the most minutes (22:17) while blocking four shots.

-Despite an 11-4 SOG edge in the third, the Rangers hardly had any big chances as the Sabres protected the lead well by taking away the inside forcing most shots from the perimeter.

-Aside from Naslund’s continued disappearing act, team captain Chris Drury (20:39) continued to struggle despite increased ice-time. He’s just not doing enough out there and needs to be shifted back to center or on another line. That top line only has one guy going and that’s Gomez, who again skated well and was involved. It’s time to give him better complements. Zherdev should be one. I’m not sure about the other.

-One other wise suggestion to our coach. Go with the hot line to start the power play. He kept starting off with that cold top unit which hasn’t gotten much done lately killing precious time. For pete’s sake, send the Dubinsky line out there to start it when things aren’t working!

-Prucha was one of the best players getting almost 12 minutes in his return with three shots while hustling. I’d keep him in and maybe try him with Gomez and Zherdev.

-Fredrik Sjostrom, Orr and Betts all came to play again as did Lauri Korpikoski. The problem is they’re not going to score much. Korp deserves linemates who can finish cause his speed and instincts are noticeable. I’d like to see him try that shot while flying down left wing instead of going around the net trying to make a play.

-Marc Staal also struggled on D turning over the puck a couple of times forcing Mara to cover for him once and take a penalty another instance. He saw 22 shifts (19:39).

-One other note: While I was downstairs taking in the pregame festivities, my brother Justin and his friend Mike had the pleasure of bumping into legendary Buffalo play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret. He took a photo with Mike which came out nice. At least they had something exciting to discuss cause the game wasn’t all that fun to watch. It actually was like watching paint dry :-P. Oh well. Ya can’t win ‘em all.

-Rangers are back at it tomorrow night when the Maple Leafs pay a visit with a trip to Detroit Saturday night before returning to MSG for Sean Avery and the Stars in what should amount to a barn burner next Monday.

-In other games, it was the Canadiens trading three goals with the Bruins in regulation before besting them in the shootout 4-3 thanks to Alex Tanguay. Marc Savard had a pair of markers in the third including the tying tally with 48 seconds left to earn the B’s a point. Carey Price finished with 31 saves.

-The Stars got the better of the Predators 6-4 led by rookie Fabian Brunnstrom’s first career NHL hat trick. Where do they find these guys? Mike Modano added two goals and a helper. Martin Erat netted a goal and an assist for the losers.

-The Blackhawks finally picked up their first win with a 4-1 home triumph over previously undefeated Phoenix. Martin Havlat had a goal and assist while teammates Duncan Keith and rookie Kris Versteeg each had two assists. Nikolai Khabibulin was in net making 29 saves for the victory. Stat of night: Chi-35-for-52 on faceoffs.

-And finally, it was the Oilers coming back to beat the Ducks 3-2 thanks to goals from defensemen Sheldon Souray (1st at 18:23 of 2nd) and Lubomir Visnovsky (1st, PPG at 2:41 of 3rd). Mathieu Garon was strong stopping all 15 his way in a busy third en route to 33 saves outdueling Anaheim backup Jon as Hiller (25 of 28).

All On Broadway before teams take ice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THREE STARS

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

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

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

NJ LINES

Elias-Rolston-Gionta

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner

Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson

Zubrus-Holik-Rupp

Martin-Salvador

White-Oduya

Mottau-Salmela

Healthy Scratches:

Andy Greene

Sheldon Brookbank

Petr Vrana

NYR Lines

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Fritsche-Korpikoski-Callahan

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Girardi

Healthy Scratches:

Nigel Dawes

Petr Prucha

Patrick Rismiller

The Rangers warmup during pregame skate for Devils.

Video:

Moment of Silence for Alexei Cherepanov

Both teams take ice

Each team warms up during pre-game skate

The Rangers take the ice for warmups

Quick Hits:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Considering that my left index finger is jammed from something I did at the game in an electric MSG atmosphere, well at least the title kinda fits. I can’t really think of anything else except that the darn ice didn’t help much. Oh well.

Onto what was a successful Rangers home opener with a 4-2 win over the Original Six Blackhawks last night in which the newly acquired Aaron Voros had a big game notching his first goal as a Blueshirt and tallying an assist for a multi-point night playing alongside super soph Brandon Dubinsky and Russian lightning rod Nikolai Zherdev.

The newly formed trio combined for three goals and four assists in a well earned victory over a game Chicago squad which really has no more excuses for not qualifying for the postseason. With young talent like new captain Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Martin Havlat, Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien, this team is loaded up front and was dangerous when they attacked the Rangers.

The good news for Tom Renney’s club was that a jittery start which saw a few too many turnovers with speedy Hawks getting behind the D didn’t result in any goals against due to some shots fired wide and the clutch play of Henrik Lundqvist, who was busier than in the first two wins making 30 saves including some timely stops like one on Sharp in close denying him.

Despite the Hawks’ speed, it was the Rangers who drew first blood when the 25th captain in franchise history Chris Drury wisely floated a low shot at new Chicago No.1 goalie Cristobal Huet which he couldn’t control caroming out to Wade Redden, who blasted into the top portion of the net for his second in two games 6:47 into the contest. Markus Naslund also picked up an assist.

The goal didn’t deter Denis Savard’s young squad as they picked it up carrying the play by attacking the Rangers with an aggressive forecheck leading to some neutral zone turnovers. However, they couldn’t get one past Lundqvist until late in the period when Kane was left alone behind the net to find a Brian Campbell rebound tying the game at 17:18.

Playing a more up tempo style which even was against Renney’s liking due to it favoring Chicago, the Rangers managed alright getting the only two markers of the second. Both came off their own attack forcing the Hawks into bad decisions.

First, a couple of Chicago players had trouble playing a puck due in large part to the aggressive forecheck of Voros, Dubinsky and Zherdev with the trio taking it away before the second-year pivot handed off to the ex-Wild grinder who buried the chance from 15 feet for his first as a Ranger at 5:15.

Before Dubinsky tallied his second of the season 10:21 later on an outstanding solo effort showing strength before blasting one upstairs, the Hawks forechecked vigorously getting their chances including an excellent one for defenseman Duncan Keith, who couldn’t beat Lundqvist as King Henrik got his blocker up brushing it aside. The play of the fourth-year 26 year-old Swede was the difference. He was just a little better than Huet, who by no stretch was bad in turning aside 25 of 29.

Trailing by a pair, the Blackhawks came hard in the third and it paid off when they kept the Rangers pinned in allowing converted forward Byfuglien to dish off to a cutting Keith in the slot who made no mistake ripping one top shelf to slice it to 3-2 with 12:47 remaining. Sharp also registered an assist.

However, just when it seemed the younger club would make the climb all the way back, some more heady play from Dubinsky, Voros and Zherdev resulted in huge insurance when the trio combined in the neutral zone to setup Zherdev on a three-on-two with the exciting 23 year-old ex-Jacket making no mistake wristing one top shelf for his first in True Blue, making it 4-2 just 2:20 later. Where Mama hides the cookies to quote legendary Buffalo play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret.

Most impressive on the well executed play was the perfect cross-ice feed from Voros, who notched 16 points a season ago with Minnesota. I knew he was a hard worker and liked the addition right away because of his energy and forecheck ability. What I didn’t realize was his ability to read plays. A great pass from an underrated player who fans will really grow to appreciate.

No question this Voros came to play in front of a fun atmosphere debuting well much like the other Voros. He earned No.1 star with Dubinsky getting No.3 while rookie center Lauri Korpikoski earned second star logging 12:43 in his third NHL regular season game. Not bad for the hard working Finn who looks to have promise. He played alongside Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan with the speedy trio providing solid energy with a couple of near misses from Korp’s linemates.

If Renney wasn’t satisfied with the track meet his team prevailed in, he had to at least come away pleased with how his club protected a two-goal lead. Despite Chicago outshooting them 13-7 in the final 20 and 32-29 overall, the Blueshirts were sharper in the last 10-plus minutes following Zherdev’s goal keeping Hawks outside and limiting opportunities.

All in all, I’ll take it.

Three Stars

3rd Star-Fredrik Sjostrom, NYR (11:23 TOI, two hits)

2nd Star-Brandon Dubinsky, NYR (goal, two assists, plus-two, 5 hits, 4 SOG in 16:15, 11-4 on draws)

1st Star-Aaron Voros, NYR (goal, assist, plus-two, 4 SOG in 14:38)

Ranger Lines

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Korpikoski-Callahan

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Girardi

The Rangers warm up for home opener

Both teams during pregame skate

Quick Hits:

-The Rangers are 3-0 to start a season for the first time since 1989-90.

-In his first game this season, Fredrik Sjostrom played well in 11:23 demonstrating good speed while playing fourth line, killing penalties and nearly had his first on a great effort with a forehand stuff tr