Battle Of Hudson

Taking a moment to reflect on something other than a Devils’ season from hell, I’ve actually wanted to write about the Winter Classic ever since seeing the first episode of HBO’s 24/7 reality series spotlighting both Pittsburgh and Washington in the run up to the outdoor special at Heinz Field Saturday and its immediate aftermath. HBO usually does a good job with its sports programming and reality shows like Hard Knocks, the recent Lombardi movie and the like. This show has also been very enlightening. Narrated by Liev Schrieber, it shows a side of both hockey teams that you don’t get to see very often – certainly not from my team lol.

Thankfully, while the documentary certainly features Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin it doesn’t overdo their presence and also gives a lot of time to role players such as Pascal Dupuis and recent Caps arrival Scott Hannan as he adjusts to life with a new team. Not to mention Mike Knuble‘s dental work after he recently lost several teeth, as is a hockey player’s wont to do. Plus I haven’t seen the Caps much this season (just one game where we didn’t show up and another where they didn’t) so I was surprised to learn they were tweaking their system after a 60-win season to attempt to be more playoff-ready this year. If anything, the stars of this feature so far have been coaches Bruce Boudreau and Dan Bylsma.

Admittedly I knew little about either going into this series, and the documentary certainly shows contrasting styles between the two coaches. Former NHL grinder Bylsma brings a positive yet businesslike approach to the Penguins and has certainly come off like he’s got an idea of what he’s doing, while Boudreau brings fire and intensity that would make some people blush. After being pillored for his own cursing during Hard Knocks, Rex Ryan joked he was offended by Boudreau’s language. And who didn’t get a laugh over Boudreau’s Christmas shopping excursion with his kids, complete with the morning ice cream, or the Penguins’ monthly shootout competition where the loser has to grow facial hair (and of all people it was ex-Devil Paul Martin who lost this month and had to grow a stache)?

Of course Boudreau had a lot to be worried about at the start of this series, as the Caps were in the midst of a losing streak that reached eight games and Boudreau was searching for answers, whether it was castigating his team such as after the 7-0 loss to the Rangers or finding the positives such as the fact that last year’s Cup champs the Blackhawks actually had a nine-game losing streak at one point last year. Towards the end of the second episode, the Caps finally broke that skid in dramatic fashion, coming from 2-0 down against Ottawa on the road in a game you almost thought was scripted.

While HBO certainly can’t reveal anything strategically that can put a team at a competitive disadvantage, you do get nuggets like Bylsma rating his players on their performances after a recent game with GM Ray Shero or Boudreau remarking about Pittsburgh’s talented Russian Evgeni Malkin that you could goad him into a retaliation penalty, and that wound up happening during the teams’ first meeting – a dramatic shootout win for the Penguins minutes after a no-goal call in overtime frustrated the Caps fans (and provided a rare look into the NHL’s ‘war room’ in Toronto).

That game proved a worthy lead-in to the Winter Classic, scheduled to begin in the afternoon on New Year’s Day but wound up being pushed back to the evening, and the nighttime scenery (and occasional rain) provided a unique backdrop for the most hyped-up Caps-Pens regular season showdown yet. Despite the fact the game was in Pittsburgh the crowd was surprisngly split with broadcaster Doc Emrick estimating that about 40,000 Pens fans and 30,000 Caps fans made up the announced crowd of 68,111. Guess that’s what happens when you have a once-in-a lifetime Winter Classic with two teams that are in such close proximity to each other.

Maybe it wasn’t the best of the Winter Classic games, but the Caps’ 3-1 win was certainly a gutty performance. While stars Crosby and Ovechkin were held off the scoresheet – though Ovechkin did have a goal disallowed late due to incidental contact with the goaltender – the Caps came back after giving up an early second-period goal to Malkin with goals from Knuble and two from grinder Eric Fehr. Washington’s Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves in getting the win, no doubt pleasing his goaltending coach, ex-Shark and Cane Arturs Irbe (now on the Caps’ coaching staff, another fact I learned during the 24-7 series).

Even though I know how the game turned out, I’ll be looking forward to the fourth and final episode of the HBO special in two days, especially with what had to be a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion about having to delay the start time of the game and a result that satisfied those of us who still aren’t big Penguins fans – though admittedly you do get a more human side of them and the Caps in this series.

“What are they doing here? They’re selling. Well, that’s not right.”

That was a classic scene from Trading Places which ironically was just on Comedy Central the other night. If you grew up in the 80’s, then you know it well as both Coleman and Winthorpe proceed to put the crooked Duke brothers out of business, avenging a bet for one dollar. Imagine if that happened today. Ah. But isn’t that what makes movies cool or in this case cruel, turning into quite the plot for actors Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd to showcase their talent in this sinister comedy about the New York Stock Exchange and cornering the market on frozen orange juice.

Why do we bring such an epic scene up in the first place? Well, when it comes to the Islanders it most certainly applies. Finally playing better hockey that produced a riveting 4-3 overtime win over the mighty Red Wings thanks to a great set up from John Tavares to P.A. Parenteau for the club’s third consecutive triumph over Detroit (no joke), the franchise isn’t keeping everyone. Despite winning six of eight (6-1-1) entering tonight’s visit to Calgary, the Islanders have already traded away James Wisniewski and Dwayne Roloson. The Wiz went to Montreal where he already has four points helping boost the Habs’ back end.

Meanwhile, as the Bolts were celebrating an OT win over the Rangers in St. Pete, they’d just acquired 41 year-old vet Roloson in exchange for D prospect Ty Wishart. This trade made no sense for either side. Especially with Tampa now having four goalies on the roster if you include injured Mike Smith along with Dan Ellis and rookie Cedric Desjardins. For the Islanders, they just traded their most reliable goalie sending panic on Twitter and the blogosphere. Sure. Rollie is not getting any younger. But are they really going to trust Rick DiPietro, who returned to end Sidney Crosby’s 25-game point streak by jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store? You gotta admit it was funny for a guy who’s had every injury known to an athlete or so it seems. Considering that he just missed five games, yikes. It was Roloson who backstopped the Isles to a big win over Detroit, making 38 saves with many high quality.

On a club that’s won just 11 games, the affable former Cup Finalist on Edmonton (’06) has accounted for half their wins (6) along with a respectable 2.64 GAA and .916 save percentage. This despite a 6-13-1 record on one of the lowest scoring teams. It just seems unfair. Though we’ll bet Roloson would say otherwise now that he’s been bumped up in the standings to the contending Bolts. A team which can score goals in bunches needs a steady vet presence who can hold the forte. Especially if management has decided that Desjardins is legit.

While the Lightning figure out who their top dog is in net, the Islanders have decided that rookie Nathan Lawson will back up DiPietro. The undrafted 27 year-old from Alberta made one start making 32 saves in a 4-3 overtime home loss to the Coyotes a couple of weeks prior. Is this really the way the franchise wants to go? No disrespect to Lawson. But what if DP goes down again? Then what? Are they going to field two minor league goalies for potentially the rest of the season? In the bizarro world of Charles Wang and blog credential destroyer Garth Snow, do you even have to ask?

How can any team operate this way? It’s absurd. They better pray DiPietro is finally totally healthy and able to carry the workload because if he can’t, this could be another jarring decision which drives their fanbase even more nuts. If only John Tavares had more help. It’s not all bad. At least a few of their prospects are performing admirably in Buffalo at the 2011 WJC with Calvin de Haan and Casey Cizikas trying to lead Canada over defending champ USA later tonight against Brock Nelson. The action can be seen on NHL Network at 7:30 ET. Don’t ya dare miss it.

The future remains bright for the Islanders but there still are some dark clouds hovering over Uniondale. When that changes we’ll never know.

The weekend in South Florida wasn’t too kind to the Rangers, who fell to the Lightning for the third straight time this time 2-1 in overtime on a Nate Thompson goal 19 seconds in from David Tyrell. Seriously. Thanks to outstanding netminding from Henrik Lundqvist, they shutout Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vinny Lecvalier. However, it took a Marian Gaborik goal with the King pulled to finally solve rookie Cedric Desjardins, who was superb in his second career start. The same Gabby then failed to take Thompson for the winner with Matt Gilroy sliding out of position.

A day later, the Blueshirts were blanked by of all teams Florida 3-zip, making it one goal in their last six-plus periods. Something that must change when the red hot Hurricanes come to town Wednesday for a pivotal match. Carolina is making some headway, having reeled off three in a row to climb to 40 points- trailing eighth Montreal by five and us by seven. Boasting a star goalie Cam Ward in net and Eric Staal and hot shot rook Jeff Skinner up front, the Canes are the one team to fear in this playoff race. With Carolina also hosting the Panthers tonight, they could be within five 48 hours from now.

In other words, the Rangers need to buckle down this week with a challenging back-to-back on the road that starts at Dallas and ends in St. Louis, who manhandled them earlier this season. And with the Cats ending the perfect 9-0 mark in the second of back-to-backs, it’s time for John Tortorella’s group to reestablish the success that’s made them road warriors. Perhaps for the first time since he went down, they miss key ingredient Ryan Callahan. Losing Erik Christensen doesn’t help either even if he’s not steady. Ruslan Fedotenko left nicked up after blocking a shot yesterday. However, a healthy 1-12 up front is a team strength that’s now being challenged with Dale Weise getting his second look.

There’s no shame in losing to Tomas Vokoun, who plays in obscurity. However, sloppy play has crept up into the club’s play and that trend can’t continue this week. This is a very tough month ahead with next week proving to be no easier with two games versus the Habs sandwiched around the sizzling Canucks at MSG. In Week 3, they’ll see the Canes again with the Flyers, Leafs and Thrashers on the horizon before concluding January with a back-to-back against rejuvenated Washington and Florida. Essentially, these next three weeks could determine what kind of year it will be for a team that’s big on heart and low on skill. That means a few more goals off Gabby’s stick.

In another piece of news, the Rangers sent down struggling defenseman Mike Del Zotto to Connecticut and recalled Ryan McDonagh. The big part of the Scott Gomez cap relief trade is 1-7-8 with a plus-one rating in 38 contests with the Whale. The 21 year-old defenseman who was originally selected by the Canadiens 12th overall in the ’07 Draft gets to reunite with former Badger teammate Derek Stepan. With Gilroy sitting out last night, it looks like McD is set to make his NHL debut against Carolina. Unless Tortorella sits vet Michal Rozsival, Hobey looks to be the odd man out for now. Mike Sauer has gained the trust of the staff, rewarded with more responsibility.

For Del Zotto who a year ago took the city by storm with his electrifying rushes and whirlwind playmaking, it’s been a sophomore slump. He’s followed a 37-point (9-28-37 in 80 GP) ’09-10 with only nine points (2-7-9) over 35 contests often looking timid. On the second Florida tally by one-time Blueshirt Christopher Higgins, he took himself out of the play entirely. Poor reads that have led to odd-man rushes and goals against like a Tyler Seguin crusher earlier have been the trend for a gifted player who must regain his confidence. Down in the ‘A,’ he’ll get the chance to work on breaking the habits that have seen his game slip.

DZ is a big piece of the future. This is an important time in his young career. He’s only 20 and we must remember that. Hopefully, the time spent with the Whale will benefit him, making the ’08 first round pick a better player. In the mean time, this is a real test for the Rangers. We’ll see if a few fresh faces are up to the challenge.

Despite their loss on Wednesday to the Rangers, for the first time in weeks the Devils played a competitive game and Friday they followed that up with a nice 3-1 win over Atlanta where ex-Thrashers Johan Hedberg and Ilya Kovalchuk played key roles, with the latter getting a crucial breakaway goal late in the third period to sew it up, a rare good moment 5-on-5 this season for the one-time goalscoring threat. With those two games under their belt it looked like they were starting to make progress under Jacques Lemaire, who did caution that it would be a long process and pointed out that Atlanta was playing a second game in two nights on the road.

Lo and behold, the next night we would be the team playing a second game on the road, at Carolina of all places which is par for the course considering we always seem to travel there on the back end of two games in two nights. In less than fifteen minutes, the Devils proceeded to throw away whatever good came from the prior two games as they fell behind 4-0 with Martin Brodeur getting pulled in what seemed like record time (for him) after giving up three in the first eight minutes. Brodeur stormed off the ice and didn’t talk to the media afterwards, in both respects very unlike the affable legend. Then again his play on the ice has been very un-Brodeur like this year, as his record stands at 5-18-1 with a 3.15 GAA and .882 save percentage and he’s been pulled several times already this season.

Sure, a lot of the Devils’ problems in allowing goals can be blamed on a green defense which includes players like Anssi Salmela, Matt Corrente and Mark Fayne who are simply not NHL players, to be kind. Overall backup Johan Hedberg‘s numbers aren’t much better than Brodeur’s, as he has a 5-7-1 record, 2.93 GAA and .899 save percentage although he’s been strong in most of his limited starts, like the previous day against Atlanta. However Hedberg does seem to struggle in relief and actually got saddled with the loss in Carolina when the Devils put on a late spurt to get three goals in an eventual 6-3 loss.

That said, Brodeur’s play has been disconcerting as he’s allowed seemingly at least one bad goal a game. Not to mention for a player who’s played in big games his whole NHL career, it’s gotta be hard to get up the motivation at 38 years of age to just play out the string, especially after you have all the individual records and can’t even chase that for motivation anymore. Whether Marty’s disinterested, playing hurt (since he did miss the better part of a month with an ‘elbow bruise’) or just plain showing the effects of his age, it’s clear time is running out for the eventual Hall of Famer in a figurative sense, though he’ll surely finish out his contract and be here going into next year.

Not that he or the defense is alone in poor performances though, even though the offense finally managed to put together back-to-back three goal games, before that they’d scored a grand total of one goal in each of their prior six contests. Kovalchuk continues to be a dissapointment, bloating his plus-minus to a ghastly -28 while still being under double digits in goals. Sulking captain (who decided not to come out for the second star after a rare good game Friday) Jamie Langenbrunner has four goals and fourteen points in 30 games, with a -14 to go along with it.

And our power play, which ironically had been the only aspect of our game that had signs of life under John MacLean, has gone back to dreadful under Lemaire in no small part due to the fact that he’s replaced Travis Zajac – one of the few forwards actually playing well – with Kovy as the power play quarterback. Also, despite spending most of the season getting significant time on the power play, David Clarkson has managed to not put up a single point on the man advantage.

If that wasn’t enough bad news for Devil fans, more contreversy erupted last week when Brian Rolston was placed on re-entry waivers and still went unclaimed, despite the fact any team could have had him for only half of his $5 million cap hit. I admit being surprised that the Isles didn’t put in a claim for him after trading James Wisniewski and just before also dumping Dwayne Roloson. Apparently they’re still above the salary floor, but only because of bonuses (and likely not all of them will be hit). Either way, Rolston’s been in limbo the last few days and is now starting to bellyache about it, complaining that GM Lou Lamoriello made a mistake by not fixing the cap situation before the season and bemoaned being the ‘sacrificial lamb’ of the team.

Well gee Brian, I might have a little more sympathy for you if you hadn’t you know, sucked as a Devil. In his prior two seasons since returning as a FA signing, Rolston managed 32 points in 64 games and 37 in 80, hardly great numbers for a supposed top six forward making $5 million and this year’s been his worst yet with two goals, three assists and a -12 in 21 games. Of course it has to be disconcerting to realize you’re so bad teams won’t even claim you at half your contract value. Yes I feel for the man’s family, they have nothing to do with this and they’re getting affected by his limbo status but that’s it. He certainly doesn’t deserve any personal sympathy.

At least the Devils could finally bring a dreadful 2010 to a close, which saw them go 30-42-8 in the calendar year, including last season’s playoff exit. Obviously there’ll be no playoffs this year but it would be nice to see a modicum of consistency and actually resembling an NHL team for more than a one or two-game stretch, followed by another seven games of awfulness. Incredibly, my Jets still have more wins than the Devils do (11-10).

Too bad 2011 began much the way 2010 stayed for most of the year, but the team’s next chance to start taking steps forward comes Tuesday against the Wild.

As I sit here in this Huguenot Library, thoughts of the Islanders ending Sid The Kid’s 25-game point streak are still fresh. Who’d have thought when I mentioned that the other day that it would be the once proud franchise which Sidney Crosby has victimized over and over that would finally put a halt to the streak and silence all the discussion prior to tomorrow’s superhyped Winter Classic showdown versus Ovi’s Caps?!?!?!?!?! Well, you know Mats Sundin is happy.

In all seriousness, it was a great run by the game’s best player, propelling his Pens to the top of the league despite no games from Jordan Staal, who just might debut tomorrow in a unique setting at Heinz Field. Considering that the forecast calls for sub-50 temps with rain, there’s still some doubt to whether it gets played. Does NBC shift it to tomorrow night or possibly Sunday? Per Twitter pal ScottyWazz, that’s the window the network has for getting the 4th Annual Classic played. While Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have been front and center in the greatest rivalry known to mankind, not one iota about the 2nd Hockey Heritage Game to be played in Alberta with Calgary hosting Vancouver. It doesn’t seem right. Especially how little respect our Canadian franchises get despite overwhelming support.

We get the importance of the Classic, becoming a larger than life signature event where the NHL gets to showcase its best in a unique setting, the way hockey was meant to be played. I also understand why NBC would want the two biggest stars going head-to-head for a ratings bonanza when they’re going up against college bowl games. Canadian eccentric DanoSpun has been up in arms over the shocking development that the game again features teams in American markets. But if you’re NBC as Battle originator Steve Lepore has mentioned, you must do what’s best ratings wise. Though for such a marquee event, I do believe that an All Original 6 between the Rangers and either the Canadiens or Maple Leafs would work due to the classic rivalry along with the game’s popularity. It’s gonna draw. Whether the Rangers, Devils or Islanders get the game is another story. Especially in light of the dismal response to a blizzard that dumped over two feet of the white stuff.

With both the Devils and Islanders having early New Year’s Eve games to close out 2010, what are your New Year’s resolutions? Let’s take a look at our list:

1.Martin Brodeur-a time machine
2.Henrik Lundqvist-a punching bag
3.Rick DiPietro-esurance
4.Jacques Lemaire-Big League Chew
5.John Tortorella-his own HBO show “Fonz The Hockey Coach”
6.Jack Capuano-a healthy roster
7.Charles Wang-a new arena
8.Ilya Kovalchuk-a DVD of his Thrasher highlights along with a new stick
9.Marian Gaborik-goals
10.John Tavares-a healthy Kyle Okposo
11.Garth Snow-a guide to good PR
12.Glen Sather-a Cuban for not screwing up yet and an Al Montoya bobblehead
13.Lou Lamoriello-a lifetime supply of Smuckers
14.Sean Avery-relevancy
15.David Clarkson-a DVD of highlights from last year and Anti-Avery Anxiety Med
16.Chris Drury-spiked Kool Aid
17.Patrik Elias-DVD from ’06 1st round
18.Ryan Callahan-a Superman cape
19.Zach Parise-a much healthier 2011 and a raise
20.Brian Boyle/Brandon Prust-co-stars in the real life hockey version of Twins
21.Mike Del Zotto-DVD of rookie year and Bobby Orr DVDs
22.Travis Zajac-Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner (ZZ Popps)
23.Mark Streit-make his season debut
24.Michal Grabner-more goals and a shout out to the Canucks for letting him go
25.Marc Staal/Dan Girardi-1st All-Star selections
26.Brandon Dubinsky-the creation of his own Dubi Dubi Doo line
27.Jason Arnott-Game 6 ’00 SCF at Dallas
28.Kyle Okposo-some luck so he can finally breakout
29.Derek Stepan-the Calder Trophy
30.Mattias Tedenby-a center who can get him the puck
31.Michal Rozsival-Game 3 ’07 Conf Semis vs Sabres along with shot tutor
32.Alex Frolov-a pep talk from Alexei Yashin and Valeri Kamensky
33.Derek Boogaard-a new chin and pair of pom poms
34.Dainius Zubrus-some hands to go with his heart
35.Islander fans-new owner who cares about on-ice product
36.Devil fans-’95, ’00 and ’03 DVDs along with Adam Larsson
37.Ranger fans-a free game for blizzard and a run to the Conference Finals
38.Gary Bettman-a voice therapist
39.Colin Campbell-Tom Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee to grill him with Joe Pesci watching intently
40.Pierre McGuire-an iron trap sent from Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice character
41.NHL-HBO to cover a team entire season further illustrating why hockey is the best sport
42.WJC-for more people in The States to care about one of the greatest tournaments
43.Darren Pang-a photo op with Scott Hamilton and a chance to call the Stanley Cup
44.Kevin Weekes-a job with NBC
45.Jack Edwards-a bottle of Jack Daniels
46.Sam Rosen-Versus games during playoffs
47.Doc Emrick-a new book entitled, “Doc-Isms” featuring the unique terms he uses to describe our game
48.Howie Rose-a winning team and a press agent
49.Joe Micheletti-a full mirror
50.Chico Resch-a buffet along with role in hockey version of “Back To School”

They skated. They forechecked. They took shots. They finished checks. They got big saves. These are all traits that made the Devils one of the best teams in the game spanning two decades. Despite all that, it still didn’t matter in their latest defeat- a tough 3-1 loss to the Hudson rival Rangers last night in Newark.

Maybe Jacques Lemaire finally got his team’s attention because they were a different club in the latest installment of the Hudson. Even if the affable vet coach declared it wasn’t a rivalry until his team started winning. Despite outshooting the Rangers by a healthy margin (44-25), they dropped their sixth straight in the traditional carnival atmosphere at The Rock.

“There were a lot of positives,” a frustrated Jason Arnott expressed after narrowly missing a potential tying tally with over two minutes left. “We played hard. It just didn’t go our way. We started doing more things that Jacques has been telling us and it paid off. If we play like that, we are going to win hockey games.”

It’s been that kind of year for the Devils, whose anemic offense contributed to getting John MacLean fired. Despite a plethora of chances, they could only muster one goal on Henrik Lundqvist, who kept his teammates afloat finishing with a season high 43 saves. That included 20 stops in a busy second that saw the Devs at one point lead in shots 32-12 before the Rangers picked it up.

“It feels better than playing well and losing,” said Lundqvist after his team improved to a league best 13-6-0 on the road. “As the game went on, I felt better and felt I had a chance to get to everything. I knew that in no way it was going to be an easy game. They’re not a bad team, despite their record.”

A couple of days removed from dominating the Islanders with a season best 52 shots, the Blueshirts saw the tables turned with a hungrier Devil club getting an early Travis Zajac goal while taking seven of the first eight shots. Zajac got to a loose Mattias Tedenby rebound scoring his second in three games. The No.1 center has had a rough season since losing linemate Zach Parise but has points in four of his last five- playing a strong game yesterday. But before they blinked, Brian Boyle responded with his 14th caroming off Martin Brodeur’s glove to tie it 47 seconds later.

After outshooting the Rangers 16-5 in the first, the rejuvenated Devils continued to pour it on. However, Lundqvist was equal to the task stopping them in their tracks. Eventually, his strong play allowed teammates to settle in. Once they did, it became a really intense game with both netminders called upon to make strong saves. As fate would have it, it was an innocent looking shot that doomed New Jersey. Off a faceoff win by rookie Derek Stepan, Brandon Dubinsky came around the net and dished for a cutting Michal Rozsival, whose one-timer deflected off Devil defenseman Andy Greene and in. It was heading wide but the unfortunate bounce was the latest sequence to beDevil their close rival.

“That’s par for the course for this year,” Brodeur said after the harmless shot went off Greene’s arm for the bitter decider. “Just another bad goal, a bad bounce to bad us.”

The third was a battle from start to finish with each team going after each other like a couple of boxers. Speaking of which, it was prior to Rozsival’s tally that Boyle fought Dainius Zubrus following a scrum. That was the turning point for the Blueshirts, who still drew praise from John Tortorella about how this team finds a way even when things aren’t going well. In the final 20, nobody had to tell them what to do with the penalty kill coming up big three different times. Lundqvist finally got help with Boyle and do everything linemate Brandon Prust making life miserable for Ilya Kovalchuk. Marc Staal was strong, clearing numerous pucks out.

The Rangers had a big opportunity to put it away when Arnott took an extra for unsportsmanlike following a hold. To the Devils’ credit, they did a good job killing it off with much more aggressive play than we’ve seen. On one shift, Henrik Tallinder had more positives than the entire season. Brodeur still had to make a couple of critical stops during the second half and also caught a break when Matt Gilroy’s laser rang off the crossbar. Speaking of Gilroy, he had another strong game- looking particularly dangerous after Tortorella stuck him out for power play shifts.

Still nursing a 2-1 lead, the Rangers protected it well with strong play in the neutral zone. It was on the cycle that Chris Drury got nabbed for holding, giving the Devils one last chance to tie it. It was the Ranger PK which got the job done, albeit with a little help from the post after Lundqvist sprawled out to deny a pointblank chance- leaving Arnott looking to the heavens.

Tortorella used a timeout with over a minute left to stick Boyle, Prust and Ruslan Fedotenko out along with Staal and Dan Girardi. The sound strategy paid off with the Devils unable to get a sniff. Artem Anisimov and Dubinsky were out for the final shift, breaking up plays and forcing the Devs to go offside. Finally, Dubinsky salted it away off an Anisimov draw at center ice, sending his team best 16th into the open net with six seconds to spare.

“We knew that they had their struggles this year, but they’re still capable of turning it on,” said Dubinsky. “We didn’t want it to be against us. We expected them to come out hard. We can’t play our best every night, but with Hank back there, we found a way to steal this one.”

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Brian Boyle, NYR (career high 14th goal, game best 6 SOG, fight)
2nd Star-Martin Brodeur, NJD (23 saves incl.11/12 in 2nd)
1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (season best 43 saves incl.20/20 in 2nd)

“I’ll be home for Christmas,” never seemed more appropriate for most of the Northeast than the day after Santa delivered goodies for everyone. Well, unless you were Jewish. While many of us were celebrating this special time of year at home with family and friends, it was business as usual for our hockey teams.

For the Islanders and Devils, that meant braving the naughty weather to play a game in Newark before many empties on just a brutal Sunday you won’t soon forget. Whether it was watching the two New York (New Jersey) football teams drive you nuts though at least for Hasan there was better news on the way, or dealing with the more than predicted snow that dumped over two feet in our area, it wasn’t the best of times. Especially for the New York Sanitation department who were blindsided, making it a miserable few days for most. Here in Staten Island, we got 30 inches or roughly an identical amount to the great ’96 storm that saw school canceled for a week. What I remember most is having to wake up early the next day with Dad and somehow put together Sunday papers in my old stomping grounds. We managed.

Tell that to the Islanders who had to play consecutive days following the monstrosity- traveling on bus to Madison Square Garden for a Monday game against their archrival Rangers. A night removed from dealing the Devils another forgettable loss, they managed alright playing to a 2-2 tie in a seesaw first which saw Henrik Lundqvist turn into Mister Softee. Never a term any goalie wants to be associated with. Never the less, the franchise Blueshirt netminder recovered, stoning John Tavares with the game still knotted despite a flurry of activity for counterpart Dwayne Roloson. Perhaps the seasoned vet finally succumbed to a 34-8 barrage the final 40 minutes as his weary teammates had, finally losing their legs and wits from a sleepless journey. It probably explained Matt Gilroy’s knuckler sinking under Rollie followed by Selke candidate Brian Boyle’s harmless backhand that we’ve seen Lundqvist allow more than he should.

Despite John Tortorella’s legit point about his team being sloppy in the middle stanza, the third may as well have been Roloson hit by heavy snow flakes. Rangers drifted everywhere as the poor affable goalie was left to fend for himself. There was little he could do as Derek Stepan improved his Calder candidacy followed by Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko. It all added up to a 7-2 blowout with the Rangers registering 52 shots to the Isles’ 20.

Pretty predictable considering the trying circumstances for a franchise that continues to have bad luck. Even top prospects like Calvin de Haan and Brock Nelson are leaving World Junior games hurt, adding to a list that’s seen Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo out all year with franchise goalie Rick DiPietro once again playing Bill Murray’s recurring role as Phil in Groundhog Day. Or in this extreme case, Scrooged. Another Murray classic. ‘Tis the season.

With the club off, yesterday Garth Snow made a move sending defenseman James Wisniewski to Montreal for an ’11 second round pick and conditional sixth. So, the well traveled blueliner moves again with the Islanders getting good value back. At least they got a day off before hosting Sidney Crosby and the Pens tonight at The Coliseum. Not much of a reward with Sid The Kid continuing his assault on the league, extending his point streak to 25 in a row with a two-goal, two assist performance in a 6-3 win over the Thrashers. During the amazing run that’s the longest since Mats Sundin hit 30 with Quebec, the league’s leading scorer has tallied 26 goals and 22 assists- sparking Pittsburgh to a 19-5-1 record atop the standings with an NHL best 52 points. Mission impossible it would seem for the Islanders.

Considering what they’ve been through already, at least it will be a return to normalcy. Something we all can relate to with streets finally being cleared. A chance to get back to our busy lives in time for the New Year. It could always be a lot worse. Something Long Island native Matt Gilroy noted in the MSG postgame when asked about how he’s handled being out of the Ranger lineup, pointedly remarking how he visited a sick child at a hospital for Christmas. Keeping proper perspective, the former Hobey winner knows he has it good, getting to play the coolest game on Earth.

We aren’t sick or cold, have roofs over our heads, food on our plate and also get to watch our favorite teams play hockey, cheering them. Next time, warm the spirit of someone who doesn’t have it so good.

If the Devils’ nightmare of a season has become boring on-ice, it’s getting interesting off it once again after today’s announcement that winger Brian Rolston would be assigned to Albany with the intention on exposing him to re-entry waivers. Once Rolston reports to Albany he can be placed on re-entry waivers starting tomorrow at noon. If Rolston is claimed on re-entry, it would allow the team taking him to only be responsible for half the cap hit and salary on the 37-year old’s $5,062,000 contract for the remainder of this season and next year.

Clearly his on-ice production this season (two goals, three assists and a -12 in 21 games) didn’t merit anyone taking him off the initial waivers but perhaps someone will take a flyer on a former 30-goal scorer at half the price. If not, then the Devils have a decision to make – either keep him off the team and banish him to Albany or put him back on the Devils’ roster. Either way, the Devils would be responsible for the full cap hit since Rolston signed his contract at the age of 35+.

Personally I wouldn’t mind just leaving him in Albany for the year and trying to trade him as an expiring contract this offseason to a team like the Islanders that might need his salary to get above the floor, especially since with the uncertainty over Bryce Salvador ever returning and the latest setback on Zach Parise (he won’t be skating until early March) it doesn’t seem like the Devils even need to make a move to get under the cap this year at all. That said, I can understand just ending the Rolston saga now and Lou not wanting to send a two-time Devil to the minors outright. Having an additional $2.5 million of dead cap space next year isn’t ideal but with the cap increasing and salaries coming off the books it can be managed, assuming Rolston does eventually get claimed.

Speaking of the Islanders, perhaps a strong clue to Rolston’s next destination came today when the Isles traded defenseman James Wisniewski to the Canadiens for second and fifth-round picks. They’re gonna need to replace his $3.125 million salary just to stay above the cap floor so anyone can predict the next logical step, especially with the Isles being first on the waiver claim list among the other 29 NHL teams.

Replacing Rolston in the lineup is a familiar face – Vladimir Zharkov – who was a Devil for some forty games last year and earned the distinction of doing all the ‘little’ things right (forechecking, backchecking, drawing penalties) except putting the puck in the net, which he still hasn’t done in his NHL career. The young Russian is clearly a Jacques Lemaire favorite though since for some reason he was banished in Albany as career minor-leaguers like Stephen Gionta and Tim Sestito were called up before him by prior coach John MacLean, but after two games in Lemaire’s return behind the bench ‘Zharky’ is back too.

Also, some contreversy was caused by the league’s decision to play Sunday night’s home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs (another desultory 4-1 loss) despite a blinding snowstorm that paralyzed the East Coast for two days – even shutting down a football game in Philadelphia! Various reports have anywhere from 2500 to 3000 fans braving the weather Sunday night and showing up for another dreadful loss where the Devils fell behind 3-0 by the end of the second period against the 28th place team in the NHL, one game after losing 5-1 to the 29th place team. Officially the attendance was listed as 5500, but who really knows.

I’m surprised it was even that high to be honest. I wasn’t one of the crazy souls that risked life, limb and NJ Transit delays to show up to a Sunday night game between two last-place teams. Not when this storm was big enough to cause the entire state to shut down the next day. Even the players had a hard time getting out of the arena that night, with the Leafs’ team bus getting stuck on the road, not to mention Devils Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac literally having to spend the night in Elias’s car when they got stuck on 280 West. Fellow Devils Rod Pelley and Jason Arnott managed to get home really late at night – 2:30 for Pelley (who also helped other stranded motorists on the road Sunday night) and 4 AM for Arnott. A bemused Zajac had this to say about his strange night:

“This wouldn’t have happened in Winnipeg,” said Zajac, a Winnipeg native. “The entire state doesn’t shut down because of a little snow. We kind of got stuck a little bit. (Route) 280 got shut down and we were stuck in the middle of it when it happened. So, it was something where we couldn’t go anywhere and just slept in the car until 7 (a.m.).”

I understand why the game was played, NHL rules state that if both teams are in town on gameday then the game must go on but in the future maybe that rule should be amended a little, at least when you’re dealing with a night game and all the potential problems that could ensue from train delays and road closings. I mean how much of an inconvenience can it really be to reschedule a December game with all of the off days built into the NHL season? Baseball has to reschedule dozens of games a year with far fewer off days to work with.

Then again, the NFL and Eagles got made fun of by mayor Ed Rendell for moving their Sunday night game to Tuesday, in part because of fan safety concerns. So maybe you can’t win either way but there’s got to be some way to have better safeguards in for the fans, players and arena workers. Particularly the latter two groups since they have to be there, fans really don’t – they have a choice to not deal with the weather.

To their credit at least the Devils allowed the fans who were in attendance to sit in the lower bowl from early in the second period on, and also gave everyone with tickets – whether they were there or not – the option to exchange them for freebees to a future game this month (either next Tuesday or Sunday when we play the Wild and Lightning or on the 23rd against the Panthers). Even if that isn’t particularly useful to season ticket holders who already have tickets it’s more than they offered last year for a snowstorm against the Flyers, when you only got discounted prices to one of three upcoming games.

It took 11 rounds to decide. Unfortunately for the Rangers, they couldn’t send the home crowd totally happy for the holidays. Despite a highlight reel game tying goal by impressive rookie Derek Stepan, who somehow managed to tuck a puck past Dan Ellis with little wiggle room, the MSG hosts couldn’t get that one big shot or save needed to win the shootout- falling 4-3 to the Bolts.

Their second consecutive loss (0-1-1) against a top eight seed though disappointing, wasn’t that bad. Not when you consider that the Blueshirts dictated most of the match with a consistent forecheck, outshooting the Lightning 37-24. Credit Ellis, who outplayed Henrik Lundqvist to the tune of 34 saves and one more stop in the skill competition for giving Tampa Bay their second straight win over Gotham in the season series. Not that it’s a rip at our goalie who for the most part, was solid despite just 21 saves, including a few money stops in sudden death on Steven Stamkos, Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Remarkably, it was Victor Hedman, former Ranger Adam Hall and shootout hero Ryan Malone who solved King Henrik in only his second shootout. The club’s third this season. A sharp contrast from recent years where they relied too much on it.

The game also marked the debut of 23 year-old Norwegian Mats Zuccarello-Aasen. John Tortorella didn’t shy away from playing MZA, starting him on the top line with Stepan and Brandon Dubinsky, who was instrumental in setting up the big goal that earned our club a point. Dubi played a strong game, around the puck on both sides making solid defensive reads against Bolt duo Stamkos and St. Louis late in regulation. As for Zuccarello who got nearly 18 minutes, he drew high marks from a pleased Tort who had a good chuckle when the gifted Olympian pulled off a triple deke to keep the shootout alive. MZA used his superb skating and skill to generate chances, including a shot from the left circle late which Ellis gloved. Despite his St. Louis-esque frame, the mighty mite didn’t back down, even having a classic staredown with Hedman, who looked like a giant next to him. That kinda fight will benefit Zucc, who goes back down to Hartford to play the day after Christmas. It isn’t known when he’ll return due to the roster which largely depends on Marian Gaborik.

The club which has proven they can win without him played well enough to win. But a couple of mistakes wound up in their net from Stamkos and St. Louis. The Blueshirts fought back, scoring their two goals in 12 seconds off the sticks of Ruslan Fedotenko and resurgent Alex Frolov who finally seems to be getting it. With the game still tied late in the second, Lecavalier steered Tampa in front when he escaped a check to put home Pavel Kubina’s feed. With Ellis standing tall, it looked like the Lightning would hold on. But Dubinsky and Stepan had other ideas, combining on the tying goal. A Matt Gilroy dump was turned over by a Bolt, allowing Dubi to free the puck and pass across to an open Stepan, who managed to tuck it in using the net and sliding it across the right post just passed the red line. A very poised play by the emerging Calder candidate. Our team doesn’t score many great goals but that one should make NHL Network’s Plays Of The Week just for the dynamic skill alone. Plus it came at a crucial moment.

Neither team could get another past either netminder with Lundqvist making two strong denials on Teddy Purcell late, forcing overtime. The four-on-four was exciting but both goalies showcased their skills forcing extras. Hedman (hi glove) and Erik Christensen (ridiculous Jussi Jokinen backhand deke tuck assisted by laughing Martin Biron) split a pair early. Then Hall beat Lundqvist stick side. A Stepan miss forced Henrik to keep the Lightning from making it three-for-three, setting the stage for Zuccarello. MZA didn’t disappoint coming in fast before deking forehand, backhand, forehand putting it home with little real estate. A tremendous move which had Tort showing a rare grin. The goalies then took over with too many players going for moves instead of shots. Especially our guys who maybe got caught up in what our more skilled shooters did. Even Michal Rozsival tried a backhand deke. Gilroy also did but was rejected. Marc Staal’s try was worse. Finally, Malone went conventional taking advantage of Lundqvist hanging in his crease- firing a perfect laser off the crossbar and in, allowing excited teammates to pour off the bench and mob him.

It was a well played game with only two minors. The Rangers see the Lightning again on New Year’s Day following the Winter Classic. They’ll hope the third time’s a charm against the more skilled team they’re battling for playoff position.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Artem Anisimov, Rangers (assisted on Frolov goal and played most spirited game)
2nd Star-Derek Stepan, Rangers (tying goal-10th of season forcing extras)
1st Star-Dan Ellis, Bolts (34 saves, 9/11 in shootout)

If I haven’t already had it with everyone and everything associated with the 2010-11 Devils tonight was definitely the tipping point. Or rather this entire twelve-hour stretch which saw the Devils fire John MacLean, re-hire Jacques Lemaire for the third time and then get embarassed by the lowly Isles for the second time this season, dropping into sole possession of last place in the entire NHL. And for the coup de grace, word on Zach Parise is he won’t even begin skating till March and might not come back at all this season. All of this in twelve hours, and this 5-1 loss coming on the heels of successive 7-1 and 5-1 defeats. Even AHL teams would be more competitive at this point.

Where to begin, well might as well begin with the predictable sacking of MacLean. It was only a question of when at this point, given the Devils’ hideous record and MacLean’s own inability to show any emotion or get his team to play any semblance of a system. I admit I had no use for him as a coach, and I’m not going to get all indignant about firing the man two days before Christmas. Yeah, it looks bad from a PR standpoint and brought back memories of the Jets sacking Joe Walton two days before Christmas way back when but let’s be honest, everyday people get laid off around the holidays all the time. I figured it would happen at the end of the year when you could get a long-term replacement in here but if management wants to make a move based on the fact that we have six home games coming up in the next fifteen days and you want to appease the fans somewhat (along with the fact we’d fallen into last place as of this morning), well whatever.

What rubbed me the wrong way about this firing is once again a coach gets changed before any players get fired. WHEN IN GOD’S NAME IS LOU GOING TO START FIRING PLAYERS?!?!?! If he had even just traded someone like a Jamie Langenbrunner before making this move I’d be all in favor of it but without changing any of the players it comes off as more ‘status quo’, Lou’s stock answer for most of this offseason when asked about the Ilya Kovalchuk saga. How many coaches does this group get to fire? In the last thirty years of professional sports, the Devils are literally the most unstable head coaching job, with an average of 1.2 years for each Devils bench boss. And most of that has been with Lou Lamoriello as the GM.

Not to mention Lou’s replacement was Lemaire, the same coach who had been run off by this group just several months ago after the team played disinterested in most of the last four months of the season, specifically the playoffs. This same group that tuned him out is all of a sudden going to listen to him again?! Having Lemaire back in the same room with our ‘captain’ is just asking for disaster after all the problems that existed between the two last year. Yeah I know Lemaire will bring more of a structure than Johnny Mac and at least cares enough to yell at the refs or his team unlike our former coach but come on. This is just taking a bad situation and making it worse.

Just look at how the Devils responded to the firing tonight, with a disinterested first period against the league’s second-worst team that saw them fall behind 3-0 with only three shots on net for the majority of the period. Apparently someone snapped in the locker room during the first intermission cause the Devils came out and actually gave effort (for the most part) the rest of the game, outshooting the Isles 32-6 in the last 40+ minutes. Of course the Devils being the Devils, the margin of defeat actually increased as they gave up a ridiculous shorthanded goal in the second period with hideous backchecking by Kovalchuk, who threw Josh Bailey right into goaltender Martin Brodeur, leaving a loose puck and a wide-open net for Frans Nielsen to put in a backbreaking shorthanded goal, just when it looked as if we might turn the momentum after Travis Zajac‘s early second-period tally.

To say the fans were on edge is putting it mildly…the boos for the team after their wonderful first period started with twenty seconds left. Marty was getting a ton of Bronx cheers after allowing the three in the first period (to go along with four in less than half a game in Atlanta and five against the Caps) and even Kovy was getting booed after his bad play on the shorthanded goal, and with expectations not even being close to met for the $100 million player offensively. Kovy’s only impressive number is a negative one – a league worst -24 on the season. I wigged out on our captain after his hideous giveaway led to the Isles’ first goal by Bailey, barely three minutes into the game. He looked uninspired by the coaching change, big surprise. Even Brodeur looked disinterested at times, allowing a couple of bad goals and making some Brett Favre-like who cares passes late in the game.

For his part, Lemaire was befuddled at the team’s struggles.

“It looked like they had lost their ability to play the game, which is very strange,” Lemaire said after watching the Devils lose their fourth straight game and for the ninth time in the last 10. “I have never seen this in the past. Never.”

Join the club, Sherlock. At least he seems to understand the one thing that is definitely missing from the team right now:

“There is one thing that we can take care of and that is we are going to work,” Lemaire said. “I felt and I could see that it was hard because they had something else, that (look of) defeat that they have right now. I am not a psychologist but I can see things, I feel things. I could feel it.”

Recognizing that and actually getting a group that for the most part hasn’t played hard in a year to do so are two different things. Until that happens, things are only going to keep getting worse before they get better.