Fear Zuke: Mats Zuccarello is mugged by Marek Zidlicky following a shift he spent against nemesis Martin Brodeur.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

So much for taking the bull by its horns. The Rangers have no one to blame but themselves for tonight’s humiliation against a hungrier bitter Hudson rival. They didn’t match the Devils’ intensity and lost 3-2 at a quiet Madison Square Garden. Keep pushing those Lounge Seats Dolan. No wonder they can’t sell out and now have to hear “Let’s Go Devil” chants.

It wasn’t so much that the effort wasn’t there. It’s that they weren’t smart. When you play the Devils, undisciplined play hurts. There were too many costly mistakes resulting in a crushing loss. Anyway you slice it, any defeat to the Devils is an embarrassment. Not just because it’s our number one rival. They won without Patrik Elias and down a defenseman with an injury to Anton Volchenkov in the first period forcing them to go with five the rest of the way.

It didn’t matter because they had a pair of 41-year olds who outplayed our team. Plain and simple. Martin Brodeur was the best player on the ice. A month ago, he thought he was done. Not anymore. He was outstanding making 33 saves. Many spectacular in a busy second which the Rangers threw the kitchen sink at him. Say this for the future Hall Of Famer. Nobody lives for these games more. Maybe if Henrik Lundqvist put all his time into what really mattered, he’d be in the same category. I will never put him there again until he takes us to the Stanley Cup Final. Admittedly, the 2012 Conference Final loss still stings. It hurts to lose to that team.

Brodeur wasn’t the only 41-year old who had a good game. Jaromir Jagr reminded us again why he’s still a dynamic player defying father time. Aside from a second minor penalty he took, his imprints were all over the ice. Jagr only finished with an assist but easily could’ve had more if not for some splendid netminding from Lundqvist. With the game hanging in the balance late, Number 68 made the key play that broke MSG hearts. He chipped a puck in the neutral zone past two Rangers allowing Travis Zajac and Dainius Zubrus to break in two on two. Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh played it so poorly, it was humiliating. They totally got crossed up with Girardi foolishly going down taking himself out of the play. A block of a Zajac shot caromed to Zubrus, who buried the winner with 2:55 left.

Brutal. There’s no other way to slice it. I could care less about some of the excuses other bloggers are coming up with. ‘You can’t win every game. You will lose to bad teams.’ Sure. That’s true. But come on. Against a bitter rival, there was no reason for them not to be as determined as the Devils. Not after last month’s 4-0 garbage performance. It’s inexcusable. There are no shortcuts. I don’t spin things like MSG or pro-Rangers bloggers. This was a big game. Especially with what’s coming up. It doesn’t get any easier with Montreal and Los Angeles this weekend and then Boston next Tuesday followed by a five-game road swing.

Give the Devils credit. They were peskier. They wanted it more. Particularly Brodeur, who turned back the clock once more. He didn’t let in any softies like Lundqvist, who somehow allowed fourth line scrub Ryan Carter to score twice. That included a mind numbing backhand with under 50 seconds remaining in the second. A period they controlled. Hank’s one of the best goalies around. I don’t take it for granted. However, that doesn’t excuse him from letting a 2012 ghost sneak two in. Brodeur doesn’t give up such goals when it counts.

The first period sucked. The Rangers came out flat turning over pucks. They played right into the Devils hands. They were quicker outhustling our guys. Somehow, the Rangers still managed to outshoot them 9-7. There were battles like the one Mats Zuccarello had throughout with Brodeur because he has more guts than anyone I’ve ever seen. Zuccarello was in Marty’s face the entire night and had an impact. Eventually in the second, Marek Zidlicky took exception leading to matching roughs.

Despite coming out more aggressively, the Rangers didn’t get the first one. Instead, Brodeur continued to make acrobatic stops that even featured one with his head off a Chris Kreider lacrosse try. Kreider btw had another strong game going after Steve Bernier following a hi-sticking call on Adam Larsson. Kreider had a pair of helpers giving him nine points over the last eight. Out of a timeout, the Devils drew first blood thanks to some hustle from their fourth line. Cam Janssen forced a turnover leading to Andy Greene skating in on Lundqvist. On a delayed call, he let go of one that took a weird bounce right to Carter, who stuffed it in.

To the Rangers’ credit, they answered the bell with Marc Staal one-timing a perfect Zuccarello backhand feed from behind the net stick side on Brodeur. It was his first point since Oct. 26 versus Detroit. The point was a milestone giving him 100 for his NHL career. He was much more noticeable throughout. Kreider, who chipped the puck behind the net to Zuke got the other assist. After the goal, they peppered Marty from everywhere. But he was equal to the task robbing Kreider and making a few other big stops. The Devils aren’t used to giving up so many shots. The defense helped out blocking 18 shots and forcing another 10 misses. Despite not giving their best, the Rangers easily could’ve had 60 shots. That’s probably the only positive I can think of.

Carter’s second of the period came following more Ranger pressure. Larsson made a good defensive getting the puck out allowing Carter to go one on one with a defenseman. I forget who. It might’ve been Girardi. Simply put, he flung a backhand from a bad angle that went through Lundqvist. An awful goal to allow. It left a bitter taste because it reminded me of some of the cruddy ones he gave up two Springs ago. He more than made up for it robbing Jagr on a breakaway out of the box. Staal got enough back pressure on him to force Jagr to try a backhand deke, which Hank ate up. Considering how dismal the power play was going 0 for 5 against a stingy Devils penalty killing unit, it was a momentum turner.

Moments earlier on the same shift, Girardi thought he had his first in front but missed. But Kreider got the puck back to him at the point and he let go of a wrist shot, which deflected off Larsson’s skate off Brodeur’s glove with Zuccarello in front. Sometimes, it’s that simple. Zuke was our best player by far. He was everywhere. Why he didn’t get even more than the 18:32 Alain Vigneault is as much of a head scratcher as taking Kreider off the first power play unit. He obviously doesn’t trust J.T. Miller enough to play him consistently. For a second straight game, he didn’t break nine minutes receiving only 5:04 in 10 shifts. He’s been on for a few goals against the last two. Maybe they should send him down. With three days off, it’s coming.

The problem is Brandon Mashinter only took five shifts and Benoit Pouliot is in the doghouse. That means Vigneault is starting to resemble John Tortorella. He’s leaning too heavily on Ryan Callahan and Brad Richards, who was invisible. Callahan struggled to get shots through despite 23:01. Carl Hagelin also had a quite game not registering a shot and a minus-one. With Brian Boyle having an uneven night taking another penalty despite going 9 for 15 on faceoffs, it put too much pressure on the top two lines. On nights like this when you face an opportunistic opponent who capitalizes on every mistake, you can’t get cute. They were and ultimately paid the price.

Zubrus’ goal was not even shocking. Once Jagr made the pass catching our forwards, you could kind of see it coming. Lundqvist had no chance thanks to Girardi going down screening him out. They pulled him late but it didn’t matter because the Devils can protect leads. They earned it.

BONY Three Stars:

3rd Star-Jaromir Jagr, NJD (assist, 4 shots, 4 PIM, +1 in 18:04-dangerous every shift)

2nd Star-Ryan Carter, NJD (2 goals on 3 shots, plus-2 in 14:22)

1st Star-Martin Brodeur, NJD (33 saves incl. 15/16 in busy 2nd-NHL record 674th win)

Game Notes: Zajac had an impact setting up the game-winner while going 16 for 25 on faceoffs. He took a lot of criticism from Devil fans. But they’re a much better team with him healthy. Overall, the Devils held the faceoff edge 37-31 meaning the rest of the club won 21 without Zajac. On the Ranger side, Stepan was 13 for 28. Richards was 5 for 14 despite Joe Micheletti not paying attention. … The game wasn’t overly physical which probably worked to our disadvantage. Callahan had seven of the Rangers’ 27 while no Devil had more than two of their 17. …

Stat Of The Game: Giveaways NJD 4 NYR 11