East meets West when King Henrik battles Roberto Luongo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naslund-Drury-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Korpikoski-Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Girardi

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Rozsival

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

Ovechkin got out slowly but has been on fire lately:

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

Enjoy the night’s action.

The recipe was a similar one. Fall behind against a Northeastern foe. Get timely stops from Henrik Lundqvist. Come up with a tying third period goal to force overtime and then pull out all the stops to win another shootout in dramatic fashion exciting home supporters.

It’s true that the Rangers repeated all these characteristics which led to a thrilling comeback win over Boston over the weekend. But they also had to contend with cheapshot artist Jarkko Ruutu who throughout last night’s 2-1 shootout triumph over the last place Senators was up to his usual tricks trying to get a disciplined first place club off their game.

No matter what bush league garbage the renown pest pulled including firing a second offering at Lundqvist after fanning on his attempt in Round Two of the skill competition, ultimately the Blueshirts did what they had to do to get their third straight win improving to 14-5-2 good for 30 points proving they have staying power.

They didn’t play a poor game by any stretch but got the Sens’ best effort with the struggling club desperate to end a four-game slide with a little added incentive facing former defenseman Wade Redden. Not surprisingly, Ottawa aggressively attacked the net forcing Lundqvist to come up with tough saves in traffic. It still took a perfect play to beat the Ranger netminder who started for the 13th time in 14 games playing another strong game finishing with 27 saves to earn First Star.

With the game scoreless late in the second, Lundqvist’s former Swedish Olympic Gold teammate Daniel Alfredsson struck scoring off a broken play at 16:13 to snap a 10-game goal drought. With the puck along the left wall, the dangerous finisher used a legal pick from Dany Heatley to escape Michal Rozsival beating Fredrik Sjostrom to the slot before patiently shooting one through a screen low past Lundqvist. Heatley and Alexandre Picard tallied assists.

Without Scott Gomez who remained out with an ankle injury which looks to be more serious than first thought, the Ranger offense stagnated for a second consecutive game until the third period. They again saved their best for last with coach Tom Renney making some subtle line changes by sitting out Nikolai Zherdev and Aaron Voros for long stretches. In their place skated Nigel Dawes and Dan Fritsche who worked alongside Brandon Dubinsky with improving rookie Lauri Korpikoski shifted to the checking line with Sjostrom and Blair Betts.

The moves paid dividends with Korpikoski continuing his impressive play generating chances along with Betts and Sjostrom who all worked the puck in deep playing a straight line north/south game taking the body and winning the board battles. Some continued diligent work by the trio led to Sjostrom’s tying goal.

With the new line buzzing down low, a wraparound attempt deflected out to Marc Staal, whose shot was stopped by Alex Auld but a hustling Betts dug out the rebound passing to an open Sjostrom, who with the Ottawa goalie down went upstairs to tie it with 12:43 remaining. It was Sjostrom’s second of the season and first in 17 games. A deserving reward for a guy who never takes a shift off.

He was able to knot the contest thanks in large part to Lundqvist, who was splendid all night keeping the deficit at one with sparkling saves on Ruutu denying a two-on-one and a stone job on Antoine Vermette’s shorthanded bid getting the pad out.

The Rangers continued to need that kind of clutch goaltending just to earn a point with Lundqvist stopping an Ottawa barrage with under 10 minutes left denying Jason Spezza twice and Alfredsson right on the doorstep. He also shut the door on another Spezza opportunity when the Ottawa top pivot had a step on a Ranger for a mini-break.

The game went to OT where neither team could get much during the four-on-four with only the Rangers registering a shot which Auld repelled pushing it to another shootout. In Round One, Renney sent back out Zherdev, who did see a couple of late shifts with Voros in the third after being in the coach’s doghouse.

The fiery Russian who didn’t register a shot in 13:21 atoned making no mistake going five-hole on Auld to give his team the lead. With Lundqvist in net, that was enough to hold up with the King stopping Spezza, Ruutu and foiling Vermette’s backhand deke.

Afterwards while teammates congratulated him, club enforcer Colton Orr who got a rare power play shift along with Dubinsky and emerging team leader Paul Mara skated over in Ruutu’s direction giving him fair warning about his lack of respect firing another shot at their goalie which was a no-no. The same pest who only got two games for a blatant elbow last week from the league tried to go high on Staal during the first. Good thing the second-year defender got his head up before Voros stuck up for him.

This ain’t over. Not by a long shot. They might’ve silenced the 33 year-old Finn who always pushes the envelope with his cheapness. But you just know he’ll try something else when the same two teams faceoff four days from now for a 3 PM matinee up north.

It might just be worth watching.

Notes: Aside from Ruutu’s usual antics, both teams played very disciplined with each getting just three power plays with neither able to cash in. … In his first game versus his former club, Redden played a steady game logging 22:43 with one shot on goal, two takeaways while taking the body with four of the Rangers’ 53 hits. In an oddity which might explain why Zherdev sat, he was the only player who didn’t register a hit with even Rozsival credited with five. … One of the reasons Auld was so tough to beat was due to his teammates sacrificing their bodies by blocking 19 Ranger shots with Chris Phillips (4) and Anton Volchenkov (3) paving the way. By comparison, the home club got in the path of only five with Rozsival blocking a pair. … Blueshirts edged the Sens in faceoffs 30-28 with a big game from Chris Drury, who went 13-of-19. … Making his 11th start in 12, Auld had 26 saves on the losing end.

THREE STARS:

3rd Star-Blair Betts, NYR (assist, SOG, 2 hits, 2 takeaways, 8-8 draws, plus-one in 16:28)

2nd Star-Fredrik Sjostrom, NYR (tying goal at 7:17 3rd, 4 SOG, 2 hits, 1 blocked shot in 15:14)

1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (27 saves, league leading 12th victory)

Battle Of Elite Goalies Set For Wednesday: If Lundqvist is the top goalie in the East with Martin Brodeur out, then Roberto Luongo just might be the best out West. The Canuck No.1 has bounced back so far leading the league with five shutouts. It certainly wasn’t his fault his team lost in a shootout 2-1 to the Islanders with Luongo making 34 saves while Joey MacDonald stood tall with 31 denying all three Canuck shooters to give the Isles a third consecutive win.

As of right now, Lundqvist ranks first in wins (12), third in GAA (1.92) and tied for fourth in save percentage (.931) while Luongo is tied for second in wins (10), tied for seventh in GAA (2.14) and eighth in save percentage (.928).

Would it shock anyone if it amounted to a highscoring game?

Well I was going to give the recap as much effort as the Devils put forth in the final two periods - nada, zip, zero and zilch.  But since Derek already took care of the nuts and bolts I might as well just put down a few thoughts:

Offense - Well, two goals is an absolute bushel for this team, especially against Henrik Lundqvist.  That said, the power play is still useless and other than Patrik Elias (who’s been Mr. Invisible since his first game on the checking line) and Zach Parise, the Devils absolutely refuse to shoot high on Lundqvist.  Whether it’s Jamie Langenbrunner or Brian Gionta burying partial breakaways right in Lundqvist’s XXX-pads tonight or John Madden doing the same on a penalty shot in Game 5 last year, it’s just mind boggling.

Defense - What defense?  I literally lost track of the shots against…I think it was 47 or 48 that our Paul Martin-less D allowed.  To a Ranger team with a suspect offense themselves and one that had no Scott Gomez mind you.  Imagine how bad it would have been had he played (shudder).  And what, exactly has happened with the Devils’ penalty kill?  Even without the great defensemen of seasons past they’ve still managed to maintain a top ten or close standing in the PK - but now they give up seemingly at least one or two PP goals a game.  Maybe the only power play the Devils’ PK can stop anymore is their own. 

Goaltending - Yes it’s only been a week, but the last few games have proved my worst fears; Kevin Weekes is simply not good enough to compensate for a substandard Devils D and Scott Clemmensen doesn’t even belong on a roster.  Granted only one goal Weekes allowed was really bad (though it was the go-ahead goal, which was key) but if you allow one stoppable goal a game with this defense your GAA is going to be 3.5.  And that’s not NHL caliber. 

That said, why Brent Sutter pulled Weekes down by three in favor of Clemmensen with a power play to start the third period is beyond me.  Bringing in the human white flag solved absolutely nothing and only exacerbated things when he gave up a back-breaking goal in the third period after Langenbrunner had somehow managed to pull the score within 4-2. 

Speaking of the coaching…

I’ve got about a million problems with Sutter right now.  Two I’ve already articulated - sticking Elias in checking line purgatory (on his off wing no less) when this team has no offense to begin with other than Parise and Zajac, and the goaltending decision in the 2nd intermission.  Also, there should have been a timeout called at some point during the second period while the Rangers were going bang, bang, bang, bang especially with all the power plays and two-man advantages that the PK’ers were on the ice for.  And wtf is Sutter and this organization doing with Niklas Bergfors?  Playing seven defensemen in the lineup when maybe two or three of them are any good to start with?!  Just send the kid down already, it’s like they’re trying to punish him for some unknown reason.  Sutter’s put him and Petr Vrana in positions to fail when they have been in the lineup.  And I don’t even want to mention Sutter’s preferential treatment of Langenbrunner.  The only time he ever gets off the ice anymore is when he’s inevitably in the box for his critical minor penalty every game.  God forbid if any other player on the roster (particularly Elias) had committed the string of critical late-game penalties that the captain has. 

Intangibles: Yes, I know this team’s not very good at this point.  I can deal with losing but the team quit in the final two periods and this early in the season against their biggest rivals, that’s a terrible sign.  The question has gone from whether the Devils should make a move to improve the team to is it really worth it?  Why burn assets trading for a Nikolai Khabibulin or a Dwayne Roloson if it’s not going to make a difference?  That might be a hard truth for Lou Lamoriello to accept, but Martin Brodeur is not walking through that door anytime soon.  If they can get something for FA’s like Gionta and they’re 10-12 points out of a playoff spot by February it needs to be explored and the kids need to get a real shot and not 4-5 minutes a game.  Then maybe something can come of what’s fast looking like a lost season and the team can retool for a last stand over the next couple years with a healthy Brodeur.

Oh, and one addendum - I guess I was too hard on Clemmensen above, the goal he gave up was not on him, but rather the fault of a deflection by Mike Mottau after seeing the replay.  For as good as the Rock’s sightlines are sometimes it’s still hard to see every tip of the puck when you’re all the way in the upper corner on the other side of the rink.  I still wouldn’t have changed the goalie at the end of the second period though.

He made a good play to setup the Devs’ first goal by Zajac but he’s allowed to crosscheck Dan Girardi without being sent to the box. What kinda officiating is that? And to make matters worse, they gave Brandon Dubinsky the only penalty when Parise’s cheapshot started the whole thing as the goal was being scored.

I don’t care how great a player he is. He entered with not one single penalty. But that’s complete horse crap. That was cheap. Nice to see Girardi standup for himself.

Another thing. I’d like to see Colton Orr knock Mike Rupp out. He’s running roughshod out there. Send him a message.

Just a note, Scott Gomez is out with a leg injury. He’d been playing through it.

Ranger lines:

Naslund-Drury-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Korpikoski-Fritsche

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Aside from that, soft play by Redden allowing Zajac to get around him which started the whole thing. He is such a waste.

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.

The Rangers have to get rid of this guy and soon. He’s god awful and makes Marek Malik look Norris caliber. Speaking of which, Malik finally signed with the Lightning.

Dmitri Kalinin quite possibly is the worst defenseman Slats has ever signed. His awful misplay led directly to Jakub Voracek’s unassisted tally which is what the score is after one at the House of Horrors.

The Blueshirts did nothing that period despite the 9-6 SOG edge. Chris Drury had the only quality chance getting stopped by Pascal Leclaire.

Meanwhile, former Ranger first round pick Manny Malhotra dominated everyone of his shifts against Scott Gomez making great defensive plays and hitting everything that moved. He now wears an ‘A’ on the Blue Jackets and has evolved into a shutdown checking center who kills penalties well and wins a majority of big draws.

Think the Rangers wish they could do that over? He’s better than Blair Betts. Unless the other two lines do something, it looks like it’ll be another lost cause in Columbus.

Meanwhile, the Devils are in front of the Flyers 3-2 having no problems scoring with Travis Zajac, Dainius Zubrus and Zach Parise all tallying with the Devils’ best scorer putting one past Antero Niittymaki with 19 seconds left in the first. Given how porous the goaltending has been, maybe the Flyers would be better off icing six with nobody in net. It might actually be an upgrade.

The Flyer goals came off the sticks of Jeff Carter and Mike Knuble.
Second period should be starting soon in Ohio.

Former Ranger Sean Avery looks on during warmups.

They waited during warmups and booed Sean Avery even calling him names. Those that did embarrassed only themselves in the process. So much for getting the last laugh.

Avery and his new Star teammates did just that coming away with a well earned 2-1 road win at the Garden last night sending the Rangers to their second consecutive defeat.

Being that I discovered that my car wasn’t starting which meant contacting AAA service which came quickly (wow) and then dropped by a buddy to hangout the past three hours, I’m not going to do a full synopsis of this game cause it really doesn’t deserve that.

To put it mildly, what a borefest. The Stars were focused needing the win much more than a Blueshirt team which gave a bland effort following Markus Naslund’s name reappearing on the scoresheet instead of a milk cartoon. He actually showed up.

Naslund scored his second via an early power play off a wide Scott Gomez’ one-timer which caromed right to him for a tap-in less than a minute in. Instead of building on it, the Rangers got lulled to sleep by a very patient Dallas team that did a solid job defensively and warmed to the task becoming the better team as it wore. Forget the shots on goal which favored the home club by a couple. Sometimes, that stat is completely meaningless.

I can count on my hand who gave good efforts. Gomez was flying all night while linemates Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan were good but blew chances which the playmaking center setup. Brandon Dubinsky dominated most of his shifts coming high on Avery once knocking him down to the crowd’s delight. He also nearly pulled off a highlight reel goal turning a defender inside out before a sharper Marty Turco stoned him.

Who else played last night? Avery’s replacement Aaron Voros was very good in the corners working diligently and linemate Nikolai Zherdev was active. Misplaced “fourth liner” Fredrik Sjostrom used his speed again but didn’t have anyone to pass to.

In a game the Rangers couldn’t find offense, somehow our coach thought it was a novel concept to play 15th forward Patrick Rismiller in place of Lauri Korpikoski on a scoring line with dying captain Chris Drury and Naslund. At this rate, poor Drury will be stuck on no goals and one assist for another month before Tom Renney figures out that playing a stonehands guy with two scorers doesn’t make any sense.

I’m just not in the mood. Especially after the Rangers decided they’d rather preoccupy themselves with pounding Avery every time he was on the ice in the third of a 1-1 contest than try winning it. So, they got the undesired end result with the Stars franchise Mike Modano cashing in the winner off an errant pass by Henrik Lundqvist which trickled off our worst defenseman Dmitri Kalinin (why on God’s earth did Slats sign this guy? He suuuuuuuuckks!!!!!) with the puck passing out to No.9 who has one of the best one-timers in the league. So, you can pretty much guess where the puck went. Where most of Modano’s 531 career goals have gone. Upstairs.

Find me another player who has as pretty a shot as the classy 38 year-old American leading goalscorer. When the puck arrived, I knew where it was headed and just watched in admiration before getting disgusted because there wasn’t a doubt that the way Dallas played compared to ours, they may as well have just stopped the game right there and run out the last 11:57.

The real Stars finally showed up instead of the one which had allowed an NHL worst 23 goals their previous five games. And so, they got their Eastern swing with stops in Newark and the Island on the right foot.

Kudos to them. They were the superior team.

Sean Avery and Star teammates skate during warmups.

THREE STARS:

3rd Star-Scott Gomez, NYR (assist, 3 SOG in 20:31)

2nd Star-Brenden Morrow, Dal (tying PPG, 3 SOG in 20:48)

1st Star-Mike Modano, Dal (GW goal, 5 SOG, plus-one in 16:18)

Ranger Lines:

Dawes-Gomez-Callahan

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Rissmiller-Drury-Naslund

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Rozsival

Staal-Mara

Kalinin-Girardi

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).