Battle Of Hudson

Normally I’m coming home from work to relax before the Devils game where more often than not this year I get annoyed with the team, but today I’m coming home from work already ticked off at this joke of a team after their embarrassing no-show on Long Island during a holiday weekend matinee. Yes, you have to say the Islanders were due for a win after fourteen straight games without one and Rick DiPietro‘s getting almost Henrik Lundqvist-like with his ability to shut out the Devils.

All that said, there was absolutely no excuse for this team to come out the way they did in the first twenty minutes. I could have (and did for a while) turn off the radio when the Isles scored inside of two minutes, on a goal where both defensemen got caught up ice according to Matt Loughlin. This is just something that’s not done even if you’re mentally asleep and that told me all I’d need to know about this afternoon’s game. Masochist that I am though, I eventually tuned the game back on and the Devils continued to no-show right through the first period where they got outshot 13-4.

I’m sorry, if you’re getting outshot 13-4 by the Islanders you’re not trying. This is an Islanders team that was way under the salary floor even before injuries hit and is literally icing an AHL roster right now other than goalies DiPietro – who really hasn’t shown the form of his earlier career against any other team – and Dwayne Roloson. If today had been one of ‘those’ games where we outshoot the Isles 45-20 and still lost I would have been annoyed but not disappointed, but to come out like that when you need every game to try to get back in the playoff race is just flat inexcusable.

I hate to go back to this again, but this is the kind of game that gets coaches fired. Just ask current assistant Larry Robinson, who got canned in 2002 shortly after the Devils lost to a still expansion-ist Atlanta team (though they at least had an Ilya Kovalchuk with a pulse). I would bet money on it that something’s going to happen when – not if – the Flyers run us out of the Rock once again tomorrow afternoon, a game I’m unlucky enough to be going to. It’s as if I can already see what’s happened before it actually does. We lose 5-1, 6-2, the near sellout crowd boos for most of the game and starts ‘Fire Mac!’ chants and with a few days off before our next home game against Montreal something’s going to give and I can no longer complain if it involves the coach. When you can’t get your team to show up for an absolute must-win it’s just shameful.

If I have to hear the Devils just aren’t any good talentwise I’m going to scream. Even without Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner and Martin Brodeur right now they’re certainly more than good enough to put out something other than the garbage they left all over the Nassau ice. Right now, and really for this entire calendar year the Devils are every bit the disgrace that the Jeff Torborg Mets were, the ’95 Jets with Rich Kotite and the pre-lockout Rangers. This is no longer a team, it’s a collection of high-priced talent that isn’t doing jack with historically bad results to show for it.

There’s really not much else to say about today’s game except sure enough, the second period wasn’t much better as the Devils gave up another goal and continued to sleepwalk through long stretches, before finally waking up in the third period and as has been their forte, dominating without getting a goal to show for it – which included an embarrassingly inept five-on-three wrapped in the middle of a double major penalty on James Wisniewski (probably the only current Islander defenseman I’ve ever heard of with Mark Streit and ex-Devil Mike Mottau on the shelf, among others).

To call tomorrow’s game a must-win is being too generous of our chances to actually win the game, especially after CALGARY of all teams beat the Flyers in a shootout today. Unlike our team, which seems to enjoy wallowing in misery – they’re not going to stand for two subpar results in a row. They actually have leadership, not to mention coaching (gee, too bad Lou didn’t even give Peter Laviolette an interview when he was sitting out there). However, let’s call it like it is – it absolutely is a must-win for Johnny MacLean. I’m not a betting man but again, I’d wager serious dough the other shoe drops by Monday if we endure the embarrassment I expect.

And from what I’ve seen from this team since January there’s no reason to expect anything different from tomorrow’s game.

How fast is Steven Stamkos? Well, perhaps in hockey terms, he’s the NHL’s equivalent to Usain Bolt. The league’s best offensive player continued to dominate, scoring and setting up two others in a 5-3 Lightning win over the Rangers which wasn’t that close.

Just how bad were the Blueshirts? In keeping with the Thanksgiving tradition which most families will be celebrating, they were turkeys, getting completely outplayed by a much quicker Tampa club that dismantled the PK which came in having killed 24 straight. If there’s such a thing as automatic, it’s the Bolts’ power play which boasts top scorer Stamkos and one of the game’s best quarterbacks, Martin St. Louis. Naturally, our flat team took penalties and watched like Tinmen as they showed them how it’s done. Moving the puck like a magnet, they connected three times, including an identical pair off Stamkos rebounds by Ryan Malone, who proved to be a headache.

The Rangers never established anything, falling behind quickly when Malone was allowed to bang into an irate Henrik Lundqvist and stuff home a rebound. Aside from forgetting to show the first 40 minutes, the road club was treated like garbage by the blind mice in stripes. Fairly appropriate considering how many times our goalie was mugged. Since when is it okay to skate into the crease and bang into the netminder without even attempting to get out of the way? This occurred at least four times and not a darn thing was done. Hell. They even nabbed Henrik for unsportsmanlike conduct (diving). They already stunk, getting only seven shots on Mike Smith the first two stanzas including a measly one the first 13-plus of the second.

Aside from our top line (Frolov-Anisimov-Gaborik) taking the night off, the Lightning had the puck most of the game due to total faceoff domination. I forget the numbers but I think we won like 22 and they had more than double. Do the math. It just doesn’t compute. Our faceoffs have been an issue all year but they’ve escaped due to a great work ethic. Something that wasn’t there.

From the goal out, it was a nightmare. To be fair, Lundqvist was left to fend for himself. He did let up a bad rebound on Malone’s second PPG and should’ve had Steve Downie’s one-timer from 40 out which ended all doubt, putting Tampa up 4-zip. It would late be credited to Brett Clark, who was to Lundqvist’s side. Maybe he snuck a stick in but eh. It wasn’t a good goal. Perhaps John Tortorella’s decision to rest our franchise backstop backfired. He had a five day layoff. Whatever the reason, Lundqvist again wasn’t what he needs to be allowing three-or-more for like the ninth 10th time. Disturbing.
I didn’t even see the fifth goal but I’m assuming there wasn’t much he could do. He is a stand up guy and admitted there were at least two he felt he made the wrong plays on but otherwise felt good and liked the way he responded in the third, including denying Malone’s bid for a hat trick. Too bad nobody kicked the stuffing out of him.

With the Islanders and Devils more interesting, we kinda went away from this one. I also picked up a futuristic honoring my friend Lyndzay who’s no longer with us eight months now. His family came in from Atlanta for Turkey Day. Getting back to the game, before I left Steve Eminger out of all people scored snapping the shutout off a nice setup from Derek Stepan. One of the few Rangers who competed. You can figure out the others. Tort threw his top line under the bus. Particularly Gaborik, who must be better. Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky always show as do Eminger, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, who deserves to be an All-Star. Too bad he won’t get a sniff while Sean Avery racks up votes in the meaningless exhibition. If only Avery contributed on the score sheet. When the hell is the last time he drew a penalty? I know Tort doesn’t use him properly but come on. He’s underachieved. Besides, he’s got a target on his back which apparently hit again because he had the audacity to stand up for a fallen teammate. So, the dopes tossed him (17 PIM). Probably was phoned in by the NHL Police.

At least they made it interesting late thanks to a Brian Boyle shorthander while I was out, texted by my Dad. That’s TEN!!!!! TEN GOALS for Brian Boyle while a dog like Frolov is stuck on five. Congrats to the Boston kid. All the hard work has paid off. What a year. One other point which I mentioned in pre-game tweets. I wouldn’t have matched the Arty line against Stamkos. Tortorella screwed up using them against the best line in hockey. Not shockingly, they got exposed. Why not try Boyle’s energy do everything unit with Ruslan Fedotenko and Brandon Prust? God forbid we match our scoring lines against lesser lites giving ourselves a chance. The strategy made zero sense.

I know our D didn’t play great but this was more a product of too many guys up front mailing it in. Sloppy turnovers and lazy penalties doesn’t add up. Combine a lethal PP and it can get bad in a hurry. I know he hasn’t gotten much of a shake from the coach but Matt Gilroy has played well. I’d really like to see him stay in the lineup when Michal Rozsival potentially returns in Friday’s match at Florida. He probably won’t because they refuse to sit Mike Del Zotto, who if he’s not contributing is still a project in his end. I wish Joe Micheletti would just shut up already!

One miracle did take place in this travesty in the form of a five-on-three goal. Yes, this happened when Gabby setup Stepan, who ripped his fifth cutting it to 5-3 with like a minute and change left. D-Step now has eight points over seven games and got rewarded with 21+ minutes while Anisimov (9+) and Frolov (12+) rode the pine. That’s what I admire about Tort. He will make examples of guys. Arty hasn’t been good lately. They need better. And Fro has been a mystery all season. At least in Jersey, it’s understood why his Russian comrade Ilya Kovalchuk can’t score.

Trailing by two with under 60 seconds remaining, Tort pulled Lundqvist for a six-on-four. Gabby nearly cut it to one but his shot was blocked, allowing the Bolts to finally escape.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Derek Stepan, NYR (PPG plus assist)
2nd Star-Ryan Malone, TB (2 power play goals)
1st Star-Steven Stamkos, TB (league leading 20th of season, 2 helpers)

Yeah, I know there’s no such thing as an ugly win – especially when you’re 6-13-2, beggars can’t be choosers. That said, color me unimpressed by the team’s performance tonight on home ice two nights after a dominant win over Washington. It wasn’t so much that the game was tough (a 1-1 tie before the shootout), I kind of expected that. What I was dissapointed in was the team’s approach, particularly once we got the lead it seemed as if we played to hold on to a 1-0 lead and you really can’t do that with two AHL defenders and Andy Greene, whose plus-minus is indiciative of his scary defensive play right now. Also, towards the end of regulation we were definitely playing for overtime with multiple icings down the stretch. Somewhat embarassingly, we didn’t even muster a single scoring chance in the entire third period.

So how did we win? Look no further than our young-old Swedish connection of 38-year old Johan Hedberg and 20-year old wunderkid Mattais Tedenby. Hedberg was strong again in goal, making 25 stops in regulation and overtime, as well as stopping all three Calgary attempts in the shootout. Tedenby was largely responsible for the Devils’ lone goal of the game when his shot glanced off of David Clarkson, who was credited with his fourth goal of the season at 13:06 of the first. To his credit, Clarkson has continued his strong play of late, going to the net more and finally looking like the player of two years ago again.

And while I’m praising the Swedes, a tip of the cap for Henrik Tallinder, who’s played 25+ minutes the last two games and been matched up against Alexander Ovechkin and Jarome Iginla, helping to keep both off the board. Perhaps his learning curve of the system has finally been overcome. Paired with Colin White and with a forward core of Brian Rolston, Travis Zajac and Clarkson the fivesome have become our newest version of the ‘checking line’. With Tedenby combining with vets Patrik Elias and Jason Arnott to give us a semblance of a scoring line, at least things are starting to come together a little bit up front – though goals weren’t much a part of the equation tonight after our five-spot against the Caps Monday.

Still, the team as a whole played prevent offense too much and though Hedberg held the fort for the longest time eventually the Flames were going to get a goal, and it came early in the third when Rene Bourque‘s deflection found its way through at 1:18. With the game tied, it was all the Devils could do to hang on and force overtime, taking numerous icings late and finally getting a much-needed point. In overtime, the Devils had a glorious chance to get two when Mark Giordano‘s penalty gave New Jersey an overtime power play. Despite several quality chances though, the Flames and backup goalie Henrik Karlsson stood tall (pun intended with Karlsson’s size) and killed off our power play.

Finally, it came to the shootout and deja vu as Ilya Kovalchuk was selected to go first for us. Our last shootout attempt came at home, with Kovalchuk’s well-documented flub against the Sabres becoming highlight fodder on sports shows around North America. This time however, he kept the puck and rifled one of his patented wristers past Karlsson for the first, and as it turned out only goal of the shootout. Ironically Tedenby lost the puck on the second shot, leading me to wonder aloud if someone else’s shooter would ever lose it during a shootout. Thankfully we didn’t need them to, as Hedberg stopped all three attempts from Niklas Hagman, Alex Tanguay and Brendan Morrison to preserve a much-needed win.

With a matchup against the Islanders Friday afternoon on Long Island comes an opportunity to extend our modest streak further, since the Isles are working on a whopper of a losing streak – fourteen in a row and counting, though a couple of those were OT/SO losses. Either way, I’d gladly take another two points. Hopefully the team shows a little more willingness to play in the offensive zone against a ridiculously undermanned opponent. Especially with a game against the Flyers Saturday that I don’t expect us to get anything out of, then again I didn’t expect diddly-poo from the Caps game either.

Funny, with all the hulabaloo about Brent Sutter‘s return to the Rock in the media this week I don’t feel much like commenting on it now. I hate to admit this but I will…I think Sutter handled everything about as well as he could have this week given the circumstances – not ducking the tough questions, heaping praise on GM Lou Lamoriello and coach John MacLean, calling Lou a father figure and stating he thought Johnny Mac would be a good coach for the organization and that he still talks to both here and there. He even cracked a joke with former teammate Chico Resch in the pregame, after Resch’s comment about being old friends, Sutter quipped, ‘well you’re old, I’m not’.

Everyone knows the circumstances of Sutter’s departure and quick arrival in Calgary to work under brother Darryl, but I’m not bitter at this point – though admittedly it’s largely because Sutter’s tenure in Calgary hasn’t gone all that great with the Flames missing the playoffs last year for the first time in six seasons and having a losing record so far this year. Plus unlike the other turncoat coach in my sporting life, at least Sutter didn’t trash the Devils every which way on the way out the way Bill Belichick has the Jets for the better part of a decade (nor has he won as much as Billy B, of course).

All that said, I didn’t care much for Chico calling the criticism of Sutter a media creation and saying it’s not a big deal with the fans. Okay he wasn’t booed by a sellout crowd a la Scott Gomez or Sean Avery, but let’s face it – a midweek game against Calgary isn’t going to be an attendance magnet anyway. Plus you only get to boo the coach once, in the pregame introductions and not everyone’s in their seat by then. There is a lot of bitterness and rightly so, especially since Sutter did take an NHL job less than two weeks later. Not that I don’t expect Chico to defend his friend and former teammate, but it got a little much at times. I don’t care what the Flames need to do Chico, we’ve got our own problems.

At least our first winning streak since early April provide a bit of relief for everyone associated with the Devils going into Thanksgiving, for the moment.

                                        Another highlight from Monday took place in Newark where the Devils exploded for three goals in the first en route to a 5-0 blanking of the Capitals, getting a much needed win for John MacLean. Jason Arnott tallied twice and Patrik Elias had a neat power play redirect of a Mattias Tedenby shot as New Jersey got 30 saves from Johan Hedberg for his 15th career shutout. However, the play of the game took place late in that first when Ilya Kovalchuk sprang the Swede rookie for a breakaway. John Erskine took him down leading to the most exciting play in hockey. The penalty shot! As he had in a Saturday loss at St. Louis, Tedenby made no mistake flying in before going to his bread and butter, sneaking a backhand deke past Braden Holtby for his second consecutive game with a goal. In only six games since being recalled from Albany, the 20 year-old speedy wiz is showing why the Devils took him in the first round two years ago (2008-21st overall). With a goal and helper, he’s 3-2-5 thus far and has taken 20 shots. He’s been used mostly with Arnott and Elias but might Mac try the gifted right wing with Kovalchuk and Dainius Zubrus? It might be worth the risk if it helps the Devils’ $100 million man get going. The Devils host Benedict Arnold’s Flames tonight in what should amount to a very intriguing match. You know the fans will be ready for Brent Sutter. Can the Devs finally win two straight? We’ll see.

In case you missed it during Monday’s 2-1 Ranger win over Calgary, Marc Staal caught Matt Stajan flush with a clean shoulder KOing the Flame center with 10:21 left in the third. As Stajan makes a backhand pass with his head down, the fourth-year Ranger defenseman follows through with a left shoulder across the ex-Leaf’s right shoulder, connecting with the chin. The refs got it correct not calling a penalty on the play which in no way was malicious. Simply put, Staal caught him and made certain it was from the front. No question it was lethal. However, there was nothing wrong with it and reminded us of classic Scott Stevens across the Hudson. You hope Stajan will be okay going forward. But for Staal, this is exactly what we need to see more of. We’re not advocating injuring guys here but just playing physical. It’s the way this team plays and why they’ve had success. Tonight, they get tested by leading scorer Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. We’ll see if Staal, Danny G and Co. are up to the challenge on Turkey Eve in St. Pete.

Even two hours after the Devils wasted the defending President’s Trophy winners 5-0 I’m still at a loss to explain where this performance came from. After all, the Caps – despite being down to their third-string goaltender Braden Holtby – still led the NHL with 30 points in their first 20 games while the Devils had only mustered twelve in their first twenty (avoiding last only thanks to the Islanders’ thirteen-game losing streak), with most of our roster on IR or MIA. Our coach has been under fire, and our superstar hasn’t been living up to his contract. Plus the game was in New Jersey, where the Devils had exactly one home win this year, which came in OT against one of the few teams even worse than us.

So naturally the Devils picked tonight to throw up their most dominant performance of the season, scoring all of their goals in the first 27:48 of the contest. In fact, our three first-period goals represented as many as we scored total on our most recent three-game road trip (all losses), and as far as I can remember our first three-goal period of the entire season. Last night, I wasn’t kidding when I told my friend I was worried we’d lose this and the Flyers game on Saturday by three goals at best.

Before the game, the Devils honored the late Pat Burns with a video tribute to the tune of Sarah McLachlan’s ‘I Will Remember You’ followed by a moment of silence. During the intermissions they played the Hockey Night in Canada tribute to Burns during the first and the MSG+ one from Saturday night during the second. Of course, the Devils wore a black patch with the initials ‘PB’ on their jerseys – with the intent of using the jerseys for four home games before auctioning them off and donating the proceeds to a cancer hospice in Burns’ memory.

Despite yet another tough loss in St. Louis on Saturday, the Devils came to play tonight, in a big way – getting on the board at 5:49, when a beautiful deflection from Patrik Elias off a Mattais Tedenby shot gave us that rarest of accomplishements: an actual power play goal! Not to mention just having the lead, those have been few and far between this year too. Perhaps that goal loosened the team up as they had maybe their best period of the season, holding the high-flying Caps to just four shots on net and scoring three goals on our nine. Jason Arnott would score our second of the game and his seventh of the season on a wraparound at 16:15 after defenseman Tyler Sloan got tangled up with Holtby in front of the net.

Just two minutes later, Caps defenseman John Erskine hauled down Tedenby on a breakaway, resulting a penalty shot – which the young Swede converted with poise, giving him his third goal in a six-game old NHL career thus far. Early in the second period, Arnott got his second of the game off a rebound from an Elias shot at 2:43, with Andy Greene getting his second assist of the night. Danius Zubrus concluded the scoring just over five minutes later, getting his third of the season and the rout was on. When the score got to 5-0, Caps coach Bruce Boudreau finally used his timeout. Too little, too late.

In general, the rest of the game became about goaltender Johan Hedberg, as the Caps outshot us 26-14 in the final two periods but Hedberg stood tall under pressure, including a nice glove save on Alexander Semin that was Brodeur-esque. Sure, most of his saves came after the game was out of hand but really Hedberg was under a different kind of pressure from the start, after being benched for third-stringer Mike McKenna in St. Louis on Saturday. McKenna played well in that game, only giving up the flukiest of goals – a goalmouth scrum where the ref should have blown play dead five seconds before the goal, a fluky bounce off the boards and a brilliant deflection of a shot that was several feet wide – and Hedberg was getting no guarantees from coach Johnny MacLean that he would play by rote while Martin Brodeur was out.

Perhaps someone else would have taken the benching Saturday as a snub, or sulked when the crowd jeered him during his first (disasterous) start of the season against the Sabres, giving up four goals on twelve shots. To his credit he took the high road both times, not criticizing the fans or the coach. Maybe he had no other choice – despite improved play since his ill-fated first start, Hedberg still came into the game with just one win, a 4.53 GAA and .855 save percentage overall. Still though, Hedberg is a proud veteran and you couldn’t help but feel good for him in the final minute when the crowd alternated ‘Hedberg!’ chants with moose calls as the veteran Swede finished off his 15th career shutout.

At least tonight was a reprieve from a nightmarish season so far, but if the team’s ever going to turn it around perhaps this kind of dominance against a good team will spark it. Three of our other wins came by one goal against bad-mediocre teams and our 3-0 shutout of Montreal a few weeks back was nowhere near as dominant as this one (especially with being outshot by a wide margin in that game). With games against a subpar Calgary team Wednesday and the aformentioned Islanders on Long Island Friday come our best chance of the season to actually put together a win streak. Finally, they know they can score goals – well except Ilya Kovalchuk , whose subpar game was the only blemish on a near-perfect night at the Rock.

Now it’s time to stick it to Brent Sutter and the Flames Wednesday and try to at least see if we can start to turn this thing around in the right direction.

They chanted Mar—rrtttyy, Mar—rrtttyy at the Garden tonight. Who says backups don’t get love? Make it two in a row for Martin Biron. Indeed, the backup put on a show, making 31 saves in lifting the Rangers to a 2-1 win over the Flames for their second consecutive win.

In a 5-2 win over Minnesota, he got plenty of support. This time, Biron had little margin for error. The 33 year-old from Quebec was strong in netting his third straight victory on home ice. Amazingly, he has three of the five wins at MSG. Think Henrik Lundqvist is jealous? I don’t think he cares as long they win and thankfully, John Tortorella made the right decision, giving his starter a couple of extra days to prepare for leading sniper Steven Stamkos, who added to his total with No.20 in Tampa’s 21st game. Something tells us Henrik will be on his toes Wednesday in St. Pete.

While Lundqvist got another night off, he watched Biron stand tall against a gritty Calgary team intent on mixing it up with our guys. In the first, rookie defenseman Mike Sauer boarded Stefan Meyer from behind and immediately was challenged by Tom Kostopoulos. A few minutes after matching minors, the two squared off. It was the first of two scraps for Sauer, who also accepted Meyer’s challenge and gave as good as he got. He later played another stellar game making some key defensive gems. In between the fisticuffs, the Rangers carried much of the play once leading in shots 8-1 before Calgary found their legs. The game remained scoreless after one.

Matt Gilroy gives kudos to Brian Boyle for his ninth goal.

Brian Boyle snapped the scoreless tie 2:08 into period two when his centering feed for Ruslan Fedotenko banked off Brendan Mikkelson and in past Miikka Kiprusoff. Defensive stalwart Dan Girardi started the play with a good defensive read forcing Calgary into a turnover. He then sprung Boyle and Fedotenko on a two-on-one. Boyle faked shot but his pass turned into goal No.9, ending a four-game drought. Coincidentally, the longest of the season. The look on Fedotenko said it all. That line with former Flame Brandon Prust was tremendous, getting pucks in deep while also being defensively responsible. The scrappy trio really have become a fixture. They all play physical and do little things that win.

Before the crowd could settle in, the Flames assumed control with their tenacious forecheck pinning our D in much of the second. However, it would be off a turnover in the offensive zone that led to Jarome Iginla staying hot, tying things up. The power forward who got off to such a miserable start entered with five goals in the last two including a hat trick in a rout over Detroit. He continued his tear when all three Ranger forwards got caught deep, including Ryan Callahan. Skating three-on-one, Jay Bouwmeester dished across for an Iginla layup, responding 3:08 later to Boyle’s tally. Matt Stajan added a helper. Unfortunately, his night ended abruptly later courtesy of a clean Marc Staal hit.

With Calgary continuing to get chances off their cycle, Biron held the Blueshirts in making 10 saves to give his team a chance. The stanza turned when Callahan landed a thunderous check on Bouwmeester that drew the ire of Curtis Glencross. No stranger to rough stuff following last year’s dangerous cheapshot that concussed Chris Drury at The Saddledome, he twice went after Callahan. It was the second dopey shenanigans where he crosschecked Cally high from behind that cost his team. Sure. He got two minutes but that was the kind of play that doesn’t belong in the game. There was nothing wrong with Ryan’s hit. Even Sean Avery had to answer for a similar hit before igniting a brawl against Edmonton. Remember when clean hits were respected? Not anymore.

Callahan, who simply was firing up his team, drew a penalty. On it, the Rangers took full advantage. Off a clean faceoff win (not a misprint) by emerging rookie Derek Stepan, Girardi stepped into a wrist shot which went off Kiprusoff and in for a power play goal. It was Girardi’s first PPG and first goal in 19 games. Stepan’s assist gives him six points over the last six games. When he came out of the box, Glencross warned to Callahan that it wasn’t over. A punk move. He was probably just sulking because his stupidity wound up being the difference.

Nursing a one-goal lead, the Rangers played a spunky third against the feisty Flames who tried virtually everything to tie it. Biron was outstanding, stoning Iginla three separate times on the doorstep leading to chants of his name. The closest Calgary came was a dangerous sequence that saw Biron down and out after a couple of saves. But Brendan Morrison partially fanned on his shot hitting the side of the net to even more cheers. The Flames threw 15 shots at Biron and he got them all. When he wasn’t busy, his teammates helped him out with solid defensive plays with both the D- particularly Steve Eminger– and forwards coming back to break up opportunities. The Blueshirts got their sticks in passing lanes and Eminger took a hard Iginla one-timer on a power play by laying out. He really has risen since Michal Rozsival went down.

The highlight of the third though came when Staal absolutely leveled Stajan drawing oooh’s and ahhh’s. After making a pass, Stajan didn’t have his head up and Staal made him pay by coming across with a clean right shoulder knocking the former Leaf to the ice. Prust played peacemaker. The hit wasn’t delivered with malicious intent. Staal made sure to direct it from in front and not the side. Not shockingly, Stajan didn’t return. Hopefully, he’ll be alright. On the next shift, Iginla ran Staal as the physicality increased. Considering that these two teams rarely see each other, there was plenty of intensity making for a chippy and entertaining affair. One of the better 2-1 games you’ll see.

With less than nine minutes left, Tortorella sent out Derek Boogaard for one whale of a shift. He was looking to go with Tim Jackman and took and landed some heavy hits. With a buzz in the air, Jackman tried to sucker Boogey into taking a penalty but he only dropped his gloves before retrieving them and backing off. Very sensible by the big man who’s gaining notoriety.

The Rangers came close to making it 3-1 but Callahan’s wraparound was thwarted by a sliding Kipper. As the final couple of minutes hit, the crowd energized sensing the moment. Their heroes wouldn’t break on this night, playing smart defensive hockey. In particular, Brandon Dubinsky helped seal it with some great work and one last break-up at the blueline made it official. A well earned ‘W’ on home ice.

3rd Star-Jarome Iginla, Cgy (9th of season, 5 SOG, 4 hits, 6-2 draws, +1 in 21:50)
2nd Star-Dan Girardi, NYR (2nd of season-1st PPG, assist, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 3 blocked shots in 24:28)
1st Star-Martin Biron, NYR (31 saves incl. 15/15 in 3rd for 3rd home win, 5th of season)

Martin Biron gets the nod again in net when the Flames pay a visit to MSG tonight. The vet backup’s done an admirable job thus far, allowing John Tortorella to rest Henrik Lundqvist more. As noted, King Henrik wasn’t sharp the last two outings letting in a few questionable goals in losses to Boston and Colorado in which he got yanked.

He understands the decision and how he must perform when he gets back in against dangerous leading scorer Steven Stamkos and Tampa Bay when the Rangers hit the road for three games beginning on Turkey Eve.

“I don’t want to be selfish. It’s about the team. Marty played well the other night and we won. I think I can be more consistent,” Lundqvist told The Record’s Andrew Gross via Twitter. “It’s about making better decisions. It starts in your head.

With Tort going with the hot hand, it allows our franchise netminder to get more rest and also work on technique with goalie coach Benoit Allaire. As Elissa (sarcasmpucktail) alluded to in her post, the last time they rested him two straight he came back with his best effort, stoning the Pens in a wild 3-2 overtime win in which he shut them out for 57 minutes. With the annual Thanksgiving trip to the Sunshine State with stops in Tampa and Florida before traveling to Music City for a date with the Predators, it’s understandable why Lundqvist is being saved. The schedule is picking up and we need him to be mentally fresh.

For Biron, it’ll be a good test against the inconsistent Flames who can go from blowing out teams like in their 7-2 rout of Detroit to losing games badly. You never can tell with Brent Sutter’s club. Jarome Iginla is finally hot scoring five over two games including a hat trick versus the Wings. Alex Tanguay has turned back the clock, putting up points in bunches. So, they present a stiff challenge for Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. How much will Steve Eminger see of the duo?

As for Olli Jokinen and Ales Kotalik, neither will play with the Jokester serving a three-game suspension for a cheapshot while Ally remains sidelined with an injury. But the best player in the trade Brandon Prust, who battled through a charley horse to play a whale of a game the other night, gets to face his former ‘mates. The rugged winger called the trade the best thing for his career where he’s seen an increased role, also serving as a PK fixture. Good for Prusty.

I’ll catch what I can after basketball scrimmages in Park Slope and maybe the gym. See ya later.

They played better but it still wasn’t enough. Dustin Byfuglien’s big blast at 1:30 of overtime proved the difference in the Thrashers’ 2-1 win, extending the Islander losing streak to an unlucky 13. At least they earned a point. Only the second time during their worst stretch of hockey since a 14-game winless slide 20 years ago (2/13-3/15, 1990).

“We had several chances to win,” club leader Matt Moulson said after calling out some teammates during Saturday’s 4-1 home loss. “We have to score goals. … You can’t take comfort in getting just one point.”

The team’s offensive woes have seen them score just 12 times over the last 11 games. On a night Rick DiPietro returned to the net for the first time in 18 days and was surprisingly sharp, only Michael Grabner lit the lamp late in the second, deflecting home a Frans Nielsen shot for a 1-0 lead with a period left. But they couldn’t hold it with one-time Ranger Nik Antropov blasting one past DiPietro on the power play 2:25 into the third.

DiPietro, who finished with 33 saves for his most in two years, came up large with under seven minutes left in regulation when he stoned Jim Slater on a breakaway, flexing his right pad to keep it tied. Unfortunately, a breakdown during OT allowed Byfuglien to get loose in the slot and bury the winner. On the play, John Tavares fell down at the blueline which gave Big Buff plenty of room to use his wheels to skate in and step into a perfect laser high blocker that sent Atlanta fans home happy.

“I’m not sure what happened,” DiPietro said. “He made a nice shot. … It’s unacceptable for us. We need to win games. There are no excuses. … It’s frustrating, because we know what we’re capable of doing.”

“He [DiPietro] was our best player,” praised interim coach Jack Capuano who slipped to 0-3 since relieving Scott Gordon. “He was outstanding. He was what I thought he was going to be.”

The Islanders have been outscored a preposterous 48-18 during the futile stretch which interrupted a 4-1-2 start. Under Capuano, the offensive woes have continued with the team only able to muster four goals while giving up 10. At some point, it has to stop. Their effort was much better yesterday. Unfortunately, they ran into a hot goalie in Ondrej Pavelec who’s allowed just three in three straight starts. His best save was a highlight reel one on P.A. Parenteau with under five minutes to go in the third. The Isles were on a power play and a Mark Eaton shot rebounded right to Parenteau, who quickly fired for what looked like a sure goal only to see a sprawling Pavelec somehow reach with his glove to snatch it away. The former Ranger could only look skyward in disbelief. The Atlanta goalie made 28 saves in posting a second consecutive win.

DP expressed even more to MSG’s Rob Carlin via Twitter on how difficult it’s been on the team:

“This eats at us. This is keeping guys up at night and making us sick to our stomachs.“

The Islanders also lost vet defenseman Mike Mottau to an eye injury. The ex-Devil was struck by a puck in the right eye and taken off on a stretcher to an Atlanta hospital where he remained before returning home this afternoon. Hopefully, he’ll be alright.

“First off, you pray that (Mottau) is alright and that it’s nothing career-threatening or anything like that,” concerned teammate Mark Eaton told Newsday. “Hopefully we’ll get some idea pretty soon that he’s alright.“

If he does miss time as expected, he’d become the fifth Islander regular on the blueline to sit out joining top D Mark Streit, Milan Jurcina, Jack Hillen and Andrew MacDonald. It’s hard to compete when you are injury-plagued. This happened last year too. Makes ya wonder if there’s a curse.

In the mean time, the Islanders get two days off before hosting the improved Blue Jackets on Thanksgiving Eve followed by the equally struggling Devils on Black Friday for an early 1 PM start. Hopefully, they’ll finally score enough to get the monkey off their back.

Marian Gaborik’s return to Minnesota was a success with the former Wild star notching a helper while playing with more edge in the Rangers’ 5-2 win at Minnesota, ending a two-game losing streak.

Resilient. That’s how I’d describe this team. What we got the night before in Colorado wasn’t who these guys are. In John Tortorella’s brief postgame in which Dolan crony Sam Rosen kept pushing the envelope, he indicated that they had another game the next day and would try to play much better. That they did with even some improvement from Mike Del Zotto, who actually scored on the power play in a 5-2 over the Wild at Excel Energy Center- making Marian Gaborik and Derek Boogaard’s returns a success.

“You’d like to think we’re developing a little bit of mental toughness in trying to grind through and stop the bleeding after a game like last night,” a much happier coach expressed.

“We’ve had tough training camps and it shows,” pointed out Del Zotto who snapped a 19-game drought with his power play goal only his second goal and first since Oct.11. “Our conditioning is at peak level right now, and it’s been working for us.”

What I liked most was that much like the season, many different Rangers contributed with five different scorers and 12 of the 18 players dressed making the score sheet. Quintessential hockey from our team in a game they had to have, ending a two-game skid. Both Gaborik and Boogaard factored in equally. This isn’t a misprint. Boogie played an inspired game against his former club, finishing checks and even laying a big hit that set up the first goal by Artem Anisimov. As for Gabby, the former Wild star heard the boos as expected but didn’t let it affect him, playing aggressively throughout despite little room. He assisted on Alex Frolov’s winner to put an exclamation point on a great second that saw our heroes outscore the Wild 3-zip while outshooting the St. Paul hosts 17-4.

“Great feeling. Now this is kind of over with,” No.10 said after it was over. “I had been thinking about it for a while. Quite frankly, I was nervous to be on the other side.”

 “It was a different kind of nervousness,” he added after hiking his season point total to nine in nine games. “When I got that first shift under my belt it was fine for me.”

Though he didn’t score against his former team thanks to Niklas Backstrom making a couple of good saves on half his team-leading four shots, Gaborik played with purpose, landing two hits on former ‘mate Greg Zanon while helping out defensively. He also drew plenty of attention at the blueline, which helped Frolov sneak a wraparound by Backstrom with a minute left in the middle frame. That kind of assertiveness helped the Rangers improve to 5-0 in the second of back-to-backs this season.

“We always play well in the second game because I think the will and commitment to stay with the system in how we play remains strong,” noted Boogaard after his physicality resulted in a goal along with three hits in eight shifts along with a plus-one. After a tight first which saw each team test the goalies, the Boogey Man went to work with a clean takeout of Robbie Earl keeping the puck alive for Minnesota native Mike Sauer, who dished across for Matt Gilroy, whose shot rebounded out to Anisimov for a layup. It was his sixth goal and first point in four games with Tort flipping him with Erik Christensen, who actually showed a pulse between Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan.

“Boogey made the play that made the first goal,” said winning netminder Martin Biron who got the start for Henrik Lundqvist, making 26 stops for his third win in four starts . “He crushed that guy [Earl] along the wall and he brought the physicality we were looking for in our game. He might have played one of his best games. It’s great to see.”

Mike Del Zotto receives congrats after scoring on the power play.

In a period they dominated, the Rangers also got an assist from the refs when they wrongly sent Brent Burns off for a phantom trip. The brutal call led to rookie Derek Stepan making two great plays before setting up Del Zotto’s goal. With Gaborik on dropping the puck for Dan Girardi at the point, Stepan dragged his skate to stay on-side to collective groans. A play that looked offside initially wasn’t with another kid from Minnesota making good in his return home with a great cross-ice feed for an open Del Zotto, who took his time burying it for a two-goal lead at 14:54.

“Not too many times am I going to get back to play in Minnesota and play at the Xcel, so every time I do it will be something special,” the former ’08 second round pick mentioned after improving to 2-0 with Mom watching in the stands. “(Tonight) is something I won’t forget.” Of his 10 points, nearly half (1-3-4) have come in front of family with also the memorable NHL debut in which he became the third player to record a hat trick in the season opener at Buffalo. Even more uplifting is that D-Step’s got five points in the last five games and is fitting in nicely with Gaborik and Frolov- giving the coach no reason to take him off the top line.

Speaking of Frolov, he finished off his fifth (1st in four games) thanks to Gaborik and Girardi, who combined on the crusher with smart plays. First, Gabby drew three Wild defenders at the blueline. Then Girardi pushed the puck down for the crafty Russian, whose stuff try banked in off a Wild stick.

Dubinsky increased to 4-0 thanks to a great individual effort. The third-year Alaskan blocked a Cal Clutterbuck shot and forced him at the blueline, then slipping through for a clean breakaway in which he deked Backstrom forehand for his team-leading 12th. A good sign as it was just his second over the last eight after starting on fire with 10 in the first 13. He’s still managed four points over the past four (2-2-4) for a club best 19 points (12-7-19).

Leading by four and on another power play, the Blueshirts sagged. On a night he mostly stood out for the right reasons, including stronger defensive play even if Joe Micheletti drove us nuts with his banter, Del Zotto made a poor read at the point missing a hip check on attacking Minnesota penalty killer Kyle Brodziak. Brodziak made no mistake centering for one-time Ranger Matt Cullen, who buried his fourth for the first shorthanded goal allowed by our team. Exactly the kind of mistakes Del Zotto must stay away from. Easily correctable in practice. Cullen’s fourth from Brodziak and Burns gave the crowd life. But a damaging blow came 80 seconds later when Brandon Prust, Brian Boyle and Ruslan Fedotenko put together an impressive shift leading to Feds’ fourth.

Prust, who was a game-time decision following a charlie horse that saw him limping during the morning session- played with vigor all game. He was even struggling in warm-ups but still convinced Tort to play him. The throw in in the Olli Jokinen trade has turned into a player, always working hard and becoming a fixture on the improving PK which blanked the No.1 power play in four chances. He epitomizes what this team is about. On the goal, he worked the puck to Boyle who then got it to Fedotenko, whose quick backhand beat Backstrom, restoring a four-goal lead with 5:52 remaining. Though Martin Havlat got one back from a bad angle on Biron 63 seconds later, there was little doubt about the outcome.

“It was great to get that kind of win for all the guys we have that had ties to this area,” Biron diplomatically said of Gaborik, Boogaard, Stepan, and Sauer with the improving first-year defenseman having as many as 35 supporters in attendance. “And it was good to stop the bleeding after the way we played (Friday) night.”

3rd Star-Brandon Prust, NYR (assist, 2 hits, +1 in 19 gritty shifts-16:03)
2nd Star-Mike Sauer, NYR (assist, 3 blocked shots, +1 in 22 shifts-15:55)
1st Star-Dan Girardi, NYR (2 assists, 3 blocked shots, 6 hits, +1 in 33 shifts-24:34)