The second Hudson Battle is two hours away. Though I won’t see any of it due to a Procal Harum concert in Westbury with Dad. They’re a great 60’s group that’s part of that British wave. Should be fun.

As for tonight, the Devils look to make it two in a row. Can the newly formed Kovalchuk-Zajac-Langenbrunner line do damage? They’ll be banking on their top two lines, including Elias-Arnott-Clarkson if they want to get a ‘W’ against the visiting Rangers, who enter off a 4-1 disappointment at the hands of the Flyers. With King Henrik in net and Tort disliking his team’s effort, figure them to be ready.

It will be odd without Martin Brodeur, whose bruised elbow suffered the other night keeps him out against his favorite nemesis. Johan Hedberg gets the call. Don’t be surprised if he plays well. He has a history of stoning the Rangers. By no means will it be easy. The Devs are also without Colin White but get Anton Volchenkov back. That’s a nice trade even if White is still a good team guy who plays hard. Andy Greene notched his second in the win over the Hawks. Keep an eye on him and rookie Matt Taormina. Either Stephen Gionta– younger brother of Brian- will make his NHL debut or Patrick Davis will be in for John MacLean.

With the Rangers waiving Todd White (no shock), it looks like they’ll go with the same lineup as last night with the Boogey Man back in fresh off his scrap with one-time Ranger Jody Shelley. Unless Ruslan Fedotenko can’t go following Dan Carcillo’s hit, there won’t be any changes. Another game for Evgeny Grachev, whose size is evident. Can he provide a spark for slumping Derek Stepan? The Devils will concentrate on blanketing the Homegrown Line (Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan). With Avery-Stepan-Fedotenko broken up, there’s not much else to concern themselves with. Especially as Russian enigma Alex Frolov continues to be stuck on two goals. One player to keep an eye on is Erik Christensen, who’s been shooting more and playing better. Thus far, Dan Girardi and Michal Rozsival have been the club’s best on the blueline. Is this the game Mike Del Zotto explodes?

We’ll see. Figure it to be heated, intense and physical as well as emotional in the stands. Can’t wait to catch the replay.