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If this were Groundhog Day, Ranger fans would’ve understood. Despite outplaying the Devils for a good portion, the Rangers saw their collective shadow again. Martin Brodeur made 24 saves in the Devils’ 3-1 win at a loud Prudential Center. Ultimately, the ageless Marty was the difference making several big stops including a highlight reel glove save on Carl Hagelin.

It doesn’t seem to matter how old Brodeur is. He looks fresh and has been better than Henrik Lundqvist in 2013. Brodeur extended his personal winning streak against Lundqvist to four dating back to last year’s Conference Final. He’s the biggest reason the Devils improved to 5-1-3. Brodeur stopped 16 of 17 the final two periods when the Rangers controlled play. He also stopped all eight in an odd first period that saw the Devils take advantage of lousy turnovers for two goals.

Skating without top defenseman Dan Girardi, the Rangers were flat. Even an early power play couldn’t help. Instead, the Devils got a boost out of another lifeless power play. Their aggressive penalty kill created two shorthanded chances, forcing Lundqvist to stop both. Pathetic. A word that’s been used over and over to describe the Ranger futility. They were 0-for-5- falling to a miserable 3-for-35 on the season. That included a horrific four-minute man-advantage after Andy Greene’s high stick on Arron Asham drew blood. Instead of squaring the game, they failed miserably and then let the Devils go up two in the final minute.

Mike Del Zotto had perhaps his worst game. He turned over the puck repeatedly and lost every battle. His misplay of a Marc Staal pass behind the net led directly to Adam Henrique scoring the first of the game. He lost the puck to David Clarkson who cycled it to Patrik Elias. Elias’ no look pass found an open Henrique who ripped one by a surprised Lundqvist. In two games, Henrique already has as many goals (2) as Rick Nash. Speaking of which, he wasn’t bad in his first taste of the Hudson rivalry. He created opportunities after a dismal first, missing an open side on Brodeur. However, it was another Del Zotto hiccup that saw Nash fumble a Stephen Gionta back pass right to Clarkson, who scored his first of two to put New Jersey ahead 2-0 at 19:07.

The awful goal summed up a lost period for the Blueshirts. They responded with a much better effort the rest of the way. Most of the second was spent in the Devils’ end. However, they couldn’t solve Brodeur. Some of the best chances came from rookie J.T. Miller. In his first NHL game, the ’11 first round pick didn’t look out of place one bit. Wearing number 47, the 19-year old center worked his way up from the fourth line to playing with Brad Richards and Chris Kreider, who also returned from an ankle injury. Miller used his speed to get to some loose pucks and found room. He also went hard to the net getting a piece of a Carl Hagelin shot which Brodeur covered up. Miller took 20 shifts (14:25) and saw over four minutes on the power play.

Despite outshooting the Devils 9-4 in the second, the Rangers still trailed 2-0. However, special teams continued to be dreadful. The alarming trend continued when Arron Asham was forced to hook down a Devil. The Devils haven’t exactly lit it up either. But their power play cashed in to effectively end the game. Off a draw Jeff Halpern won, Clarkson forced a turnover. Elias quickly fed Greene up top for a routine shot that Lundqvist couldn’t control, allowing Clarkson an easy put away for his seventh. On the play, Del Zotto never took Clarkson. The rebound was awful. The kind Lundqvist can’t allow. It was Elias’ third assist of the night. He never has had four in a game.

With nothing going right, Nash took a penalty right after Clarkson scored. This time, our PK got it killed off. Darroll Powe looked alright in his first game. Wearing Brandon Prust’s old No.8, he took 14 shifts including nearly three minutes shorthanded with two hits. He’ll play more than Mike Rupp and should be a nice fit with Brian Boyle, who was benched in the third.

The Rangers finally broke through thanks to Kreider, whose wicked snapper beat Brodeur short side. It was his first NHL goal in a regular season game. He scored before last postseason but never during the season. Kreider took a Richards pass and made no mistake, beating Marty to cut it to 3-1 with 13:32 left. The release of the shot and velocity is what has the Rangers excited over Kreider. He does have talent. A big time plus in a game they lost. Especially with it being his first one back. He played over 10 minutes including three and a half on the power play.

They had opportunities to get within one. But Brodeur wouldn’t allow it with his best save a lightning reflect glove to deny Hagelin. Derek Stepan also had chances but couldn’t bury any. He foolishly made the mistake of passing to Del Zotto for one of his wide rockets. The guy never hits the net when they need him to.

In somewhat of a fitting conclusion, with Clarkson searching for his first hat trick, Del Zotto closed his hand on the puck to give the Devs a power play with 27 seconds remaining. It was that kind of night for the Rangers. They don’t see the enemy again until mid-March.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-J.T. Miller, NYR (2 SOG, hit, faceoff win, +1 in 14:25- a real bright spot)
2nd Star-David Clarkson, NJD (2 goals-6, 7- plus all the dirty work)
1st Star-Martin Brodeur, NJD (24 saves- some highlight reel stuff)