Battle Of Hudson

A bit late to the fray. But also, didn’t see much of the Rangers’ latest loss- by a count of 2-1 to the Blackhawks in overtime. A game in which they got outshot severely and couldn’t nurse a one-goal lead with Jonathan Toews (PPG) and Dustin Byfuglien (OT winner) to make it five losses in six.

Who cares if we got a point? Based on the little we caught, they hardly had the puck with Chicago in an all out attack which led to three power plays that eventually came back to bite the Blueshirts, who basically hoped Henrik Lundqvist would get a shutout because it was the only chance in Hell. Indeed, he was under siege all night and kept the Hawks at bay until he flopped around like a fish, allowing Toews to flip one upstairs with under six minutes left. We’re not saying it was his fault but being down doesn’t usually help keep the puck out. Especially on a goalmouth scramble with our exhausted penalty killers.

Not surprisingly, the Hawks won it after Vinny Prospal couldn’t bury a great chance, which Duncan Keith got a piece of. Keith, who in our view is the best defenseman this season, then passed to an onrushing Byfuglien who did the rest- abusing Matt Gilroy before deking Lundqvist for the decider. Now, Gilroy made an awful read which can sometimes happen for first-year players. Marian Gaborik tried to get back but it was too little too late which leads us to the goalie. Why wasn’t Henrik more aggressive there? If he had come out and pokechecked, Byfuglien never scores and the game probably gets to the skill comp. Just saying.

On a night of little positives, Chris Higgins scored the Rangers’ lone tally from Gaborik and Michal Rozsival, who had a strong game. Wade Redden was decent in his return after missing six games. The problem was they had no attack with John Tortorella irate. Hell. Even Mike Keenan on MSG supposedly blasted the lack of effort. Pretty sad considering the days off they had. I could care less if they hate the coach. When you wear that jersey, you play for New York and all the legions of Ranger fans, who live and die with this team. One Cup in 69 years. Is it too much to ask these overpaid stiffs to earn their keep? When Donald Brashear gets more shots/chances than most in his return, that speaks volumes.

Also of note, as we were headed back from The Slope, Dave Maloney chewed up Tort for having no center out during a Blackhawk sequence where they had our guys on their heels. Sometimes, I really wonder what the coach is thinking. Why doesn’t P.A. Parenteau get more ice-time? And why is Artie Anisimov getting so little along with Erik Christensen? We’re not exactly an offensive juggernaut. One word comes to mind. Popgun.

Well, the Sabres visit MSG Saturday and then the Thrashers. Both of who are much better teams. Will it ever end?

When the Devils jumped up 3-0 on the Hurricanes I was already thinking how sweet taking a victory lap against our dreaded nemesis would be, especially in my own first game off the scratch list (meaning I was there). Already in the hero’s chair was Andy Greene, whose two goals were largely responsible for that lead. It was still too soon to think about shutout #104, but against a now bad Canes team three goals should have been a safe lead.

Yet as if conjuring up the ghosts of playoffs past, the Canes struck back for two quick goals – including one by Brandon Sutter to twist the knife in further – and forced the Devils to scramble late to keep from losing that huge lead with Rob Niedermayer finally applying the coup de grace with an empty-net goal as time ran out on a 4-2 Devils win. While part of me felt this was a bit of a phyrric victory (being up 3-2 to start the third and this time winning only served as a reminder over what should have been last year), it’s always nice to stick it to that team and two points is two points, especially when the Devils are now on their fifth game in seven days.

After an early feeling-out process, things started to heat up when Erik Cole slammed Bryce Salvador into the boards, knocking the defenseman out cold – or so it seemed at the time. I’ve seen far softer penalties get the law of the land thrown at them but inexplicably Cole only got two minutes instead of say, a five-minute major. At least it appeared that way to me from the far end of the ice, maybe the hit itself wasn’t that bad but still Cole (of all people) should know better since he nearly had his career ended by Brooks Orpik on a similar play. While the Devils didn’t score on that power play thankfully Salvador would return to the ice for the start of the second period and play the rest of the night.

By that time the Devils had already started to make life uncomfortable for Canes’ goaltender Cam Ward, returning off of IR just in time for this game, though perhaps they caught a break on their first goal when a Patrik Elias attempt on net appeared to glance off of Aaron Ward and in the net for Elias’s fourth goal at 11:11. Nicklas Bergfors – who I initially thought had touched the puck himself – and Zach Parise would get the assists on the goal, which put the Devils up 1-0. Six minutes and forty-two seconds later, Greene would get into the act for the first time when he went to the front of the net to deflect a Jamie Langenbrunner shot home for his fourth goal of the year, with Jay Pandolfo also getting a secondary assist on the goal which put the Devils up two after the first twenty minutes.

Greene’s second of the game would be an even more jaw-dropping display of skill as he moved the puck in the zone, faked one shot and then advanced further, avoiding traffic and throwing a wrister through traffic that got by Ward at 6:05. Though Parise would get an assist on that goal too, it was all about Andy and the Devils were now up 3-0 as a result. Before we could dream about a similar ending to Monday night though, the Canes struck back quickly – per usual against us. Sutter scored just 43 seconds later on a shot that deflected off of Mark Fraser, souring the mood in the crowd. Among the 12,000 plus in the arena, the boos carried a little extra oomph when the goalscorer was announced. Too bad we don’t get a chance to take out our venom at daddy Sutter this year but that’s another NHL schedule rant for another day.

Now, the Canes started coming hard and the struggling Mike Mottau took a penalty, leading to a Tuomo Ruutu power play goal at 8:46, when Ruutu rifled a short-side shot past Martin Brodeur. In near-record time the game went from a nice, stress-free night to ‘uh oh…not this crap again!’ Even though the Devils outshot the Canes 13-9 in the period and 23-16 for the first two, they were lucky to get out of the second still ahead when Johnny Oduya appeared to block an open-net chance in the final minute.

Even Devils fans were struggling on this night, as a few rows behind me in 208 they had one of those potential giveaways (I didn’t see of what but noticed something AC/DC among them which might have been nice). In kind of a silly contest, some other fan gets asked a question and you have to guess whether the fan got the question right or not. Now this one seemed to be a no-brainer – would the fan know how many skaters were on the ice for a team when the goaltender gets pulled? Predictably the guy in 208 says yes and much to everyone’s horror, the guy on the jumbotron hemmed and hawed and finally said…seven. Oy vey, talk about a Charlie Brown miscue. The only reason I was glad that row didn’t win was that Devil Boy from a few sections over who wears the paint and horns magically appeared in our section for the first time like ever, just to be part of the row in the prize giveaway. Evidently he got tipped off on it, pays to be a celeb fan I suppose. Except last night.

While the Devils weren’t quite as bad as the fan who thought there were seven skaters on ice in the third period, it was close. My fear of losing grew with each off-the-wall turnover and nervous pass. This wasn’t sitting back to protect a lead hockey, it was ‘oh my god we might blow this lead’ nervousness. Ironically the Devils actually looked better protecting a 3-2 lead last year – at least until the final five minutes and the ill-fated prevent. Yet, thanks to a couple of Brodeur saves, some gasp-inducing misses by the Canes and nice last-second scrambling plays by the Devils’ D they somehow managed to maintain that lead, even through the dreaded 80 second mark.

Of course Carolina being Carolina there had to be some dramatic action in the final minute, with Ward pulled the Canes kept the puck in the zone for forty seconds and nearly scored when Ray Whitney got open in front with a wide-open net in front, but he couldn’t get his stick down in time to tap in a pass. Greene proved he was more than one-dimensional by deflecting away another centering pass that might have resulted in a good scoring opportunity. However, the Canes did make one fatal mistake when Salvador took a penalty they didn’t give up the puck to get a two-man advantage, instead running off 15-20 seconds as it turned out. By the time Salvador went to the box there were only twelve seconds left, time for the Devils to finally get the clear they didn’t last year and Niedermayer to seal it with his fourth of the year, assisted by himself as he won the faceoff and then fired the puck down the ice to the empty net.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Andy Greene (two goals, +2 in 24:56)
2. Zach Parise (two assists, 5 SOG)
3. Cam Ward (27/30 saves in return from IR)

It wasn’t a good night for the Islanders, who fell to the Flyers 6-2. Mike Richards scored a power play goal and Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux each had a pair as Philly got their first win under Peter Laviolette, tying both the Isles and Rangers in the standings. All three have 29 points. In a losing cause that made a 4-0 contest 4-2 before Giroux deflected home his second to restore order, gifted rookie John Tavares tallied his 12th and 13th for New York. Unfortunately, that was as close as they got falling again to a team that’s had the better of it lately.

Didn’t see any as we were pretty preoccupied with our birthday celebrating with fam. Had some delish sushi and a piece of a cake I couldn’t even finish but it was awesome. Now, headed out for a bit. We’ll try to have more much later tomorrow when we get in from Park Slope. The Rangers visit the Windy City on what ironically will be a pretty windy and yucky December day with rain and snow hitting our area. I can hear the drops outside my room.

See ya ‘ll later.

Another night. Another remarkable accomplishment for New Jersey Devil netminder Martin Brodeur, who turned aside all 22 shots in a 3-0 shutout at snowy Buffalo last night. Finally, MB30 had shutout No.103, tying Terry Sawchuk’s once thought unmatchable record which will soon go by the wayside much like Patrick Roy’s 551 wins.

That the three-time Stanley Cup winner, Olympic gold medalist and four-time Vezina recipient also recently became the most active goalie in minutes played and also soon enough games played demonstrates just how durable he has been throughout a Hall Of Fame 16-year career. When I think of Marty, one word comes to mind. Consistency. All the consecutive 40+ win seasons prove it along with the fact the ageless 37 year-old is still performing at a high enough level to wonder if Cup No.4 is coming back to the Garden State on what’s a very good Devil team. Leave that debate for another day.

As someone who has had to watch the best No.30 provide many headaches, the man is a champion on and off the ice who handles himself the way another great player in the metro area does. No wonder they share so much in common except that the Devil franchise plays in obscurity, even if The Rock in Newark is a great arena. So, what if he doesn’t play across the Path on Broadway under the spotlight. This is what has always driven Kool Aid drinkers nuts. For that reason, Brodeur has flown under the radar despite staking his claim as the all-time greatest player to play the most important position in the NHL. If you don’t have a good goalie, you’ll never win Lord Stanley. Ex. Philadelphia Flyers

We’re not here to discuss the difference between playing in The Big Apple and the sister state where Lady Liberty really stands. Something proud New Jerseyans will remind you if you’re from NYC. Perhaps it has to do with the face both the Giants and Jets have New York across their uniforms while playing at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. So, can you blame them?

It shouldn’t matter that Brodeur plays under the shadows for the Devils. Fact is they’re one of the greatest current sports franchises on par with the Red Wings, Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Spurs and Red Sox. Notice the great company they’re in. Only Detroit and San Antonio have won more championships. We left out the Yankees because they’re still the best franchise, now having won five World Series since 1996. Of course, it’s easy to point out that the Yanks play in the Bronx which ain’t exactly paradise even if the brand new Stadium is a crown jewel. If you’re a successful franchise, it shouldn’t matter where you play. Try telling that to this town where if you make it here, you’ll make it anywhere as Frank Sinatra once said.

Would it kill the Daily News or NY Post to give MB30 his proper due instead of the same old same old recycled covers? Guess that’s what happens when you play for New Jersey. It just doesn’t have the same sex appeal. In the newspaper business, they’re trying to sell papers. So, it’s always going to be something over the top and usually from this city. That is unless there’s a bunch of fluff like Tiger Woods’ marriage on rocks due to incompetence. Does anyone really care about his personal life? But hey. It sells. So, we’ll excuse the tabloids for eating it up.

What can’t be ignored is how poorly this sport is treated by ESPN. At one time, they aired games for x amount of years, including a couple we provided stats research for the talent. When I worked there, all the employees involved in making it a great production put everything and more into it. Considering all the money they invested in hockey, it made plenty of sense. One thing about Bristol, Connecticut. If they cover your sport, expect them to give a yeoman effort. Even if it’s resulted in butchering Monday Night Football. The best thing I’ve seen since 2002 was the 30 In 30 features, including The Trade of Wayne Gretzky, which was excellently produced. That’s ESPN at its best. If you want it at its worst, watch Sports Center. A show that once was great as a kid now has zero imagination, even ticking off their own researchers that put in hard hours for ridiculous storylines that have little to do with sports.

That’s what we’re dealing with since Disney took over. If they cover your sport, you’ll usually get great highlights and over analysis. See last night where Aaron Rodgers was treated like a Super Bowl winning quarterback. SC was basically football, football, FOOTBALL with a little AI, then more football, football, FOOTBALL. Sadly, the real King Of The Night- who deserved a lot more than the 11+ percent if most sportsfans weren’t so brainwashed- was reduced to a small blurb showing 2 miniscule highlights of his 103rd career shutout that tied a significant record. Then, they went back to more football. If you caught our last post on the other server early this morning on our birthday, then you already know.

Since hockey is hardly covered anymore after Bristol passed on re-upping due to the lockout with it instead winding up on Versus, where DirecTV subscribers got royally screwed and couldn’t catch one second of MB30’s shining moment, it comes as no surprise that such a special night got lost in the ESPN shuffle. Sadly, it’s worse than Phil’s recurring events in Groundhog Day. Even the Rangers aren’t this bad yet. Somehow, Barry Melrose and Matt Barnaby cash checks for zilch. John Buccigross, who’s one of the best hockey people in The States, remains employed working SC. He wrote a damn good column over a week ago on Brian Burke’s openly gay son Brendan. How unfortunate that we don’t benefit from Bucci’s enthusiasm for the sport.

Earlier this year, I pondered if a return to ESPN would be beneficial to the game. Sure. It would be more available to viewers and promoted better than what we get on Versus along with NBC, who has the NHL by the balls. But when I see how little it’s covered along with the ultimate disrespect to a super special athlete who’s much more likable than most of the pampered they push, it would be an exercise in futility. They don’t deserve Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Nicklas Backstrom, Zach Parise, John Tavares and Matt Duchene. Clearly, there’s more talent on display than ever before.

We don’t deserve to be treated like second class citizens. So, while they can continue showcasing the overrated and image conscientious LeBron, I’ll take our gifted batch anyday with Mr. Brodeur the head of the class. Everything a real superstar should be. One of the best to ever play the game and a truly magnificent athlete. Even Derek Jeter and Peyton Manning would agree.

Right now, they’re facing off at Wachovia Center where the underachieving Flyers are hosting the overachieving Islanders who look to rebound from a bad shutout loss to Tampa Bay. The Isles have been a resilient club all year which explains why they entered tied with the Rangers for ninth in the East with 29 points. A couple better than a Philly team that already had John Stevens replaced by Peter Laviolette and got humiliated in his first game 8-2 by an Ovechkin-less Cap club. They also fell to Montreal 3-1 last night.

Updating the score, Mike Richards tallies on the power play for the Flyers from Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell, giving the hosts an early lead. We’ll have more on whether John Tavares and Co. can continue the Philly floundering later.

So, I was working on a piece about how Martin Brodeur’s latest remarkable feat was disrespected by local tabloids and of course, loathsome ESPN, who can’t even be bothered to take 5 minutes off from beloved football praise of “God” Aaron Rodgers. Was almost done when our server again acted up. Who knows if the draft got saved. All I know is I’m tired of the continuing issues and might return Battle to here because we never had to deal with so much crap.

If we do return, I’ll certainly keep everyone posted. Meaning we’d change the link on Twitter and stories would pop up from the original BONY location. In the mean time, I really feel Marty deserves a lot more respect than he’s getting. Just cause he plays in the shadow over in the Garden State instead of the Broadway spotlight doesn’t mean such significant accomplishments should be ignored. It’s embarrassing how the game gets treated along with a true star athlete who isn’t dumb like an unnamed golfer. What ever happened to class?

Kudos to you MB30 on tying Terry Sawchuk, making 22 stops in a 3-0 shutout of Buffalo.

This is the kinda treatment the greatest goalie in the modern Era gets from ESPN when he ties Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record.

Sad. Reaching 103 shutouts over a brilliant 16-year Hall Of Fame career that’s included most ever wins by a goalie, three Cups, Olympic gold and countless other great marks never to be broken should be celebrated. Not treated as if it doesn’t exist.

More over at our official BONY site.

For anyone who’s looking for our blog, we have moved to a new server.

Please check us out over at our new location:

Battle of New York

Thanks.

End of the game – Avery added an empty net goal to make it 4-1 Rangers. Solid defensive game, Lundqvist came up big when he had to and the offense chipped in. The Rangers haven’t lost in regulation in 11 straight now. Lundqvist also got his 30th win of the season. Congrats. Enjoy the rest of the night.

9:12 – Witt just went to the bench shaken up. He’s had a barking right knee, so it could be something with that. This might be some kind of record, but in the two games this week, the Rangers and Islanders have fought each other zero times. I guess they needed DiPietro out there to start one of those. Al Montoya is down in the desert now, so maybe all will be calm.

9:05 – Another great shift by the top line for the Rangers. Avery, Jagr and Dubinsky all had chances. Blair Betts before that had a solid shift with a few hits. The Rangers have shutdown the Isle’s offense so far this period as well, as they only have one shot on net.

8:50 – Much better start to the third for the Rangers. Marc Staal threw the puck at the net on the powerplay, Gomez deflected and it went in past Dubie. (I’m real tired of his name) It was all set up by Dawes’ hussle. Dubie just robbed Jagr while Avery and Brendan Witt exchange words again. 3-1 Rangers.

8:31 – Wow. What a bad period by the Rangers. The Islanders came out with much more life. The best part of the Rangers’ game was the penalty kill. They were outshot 13-3 in the period and rarely had offensive pressure. They will begin the third period on the power play off of a hard work play by Freddie Sjorstrum. He has otherwise been a little shaky this game. Dawes was robbed at the buzzer, as was Gomez. Need a better third period.

8:16 – Sean Berghenheim just managed to have a shot deflect off of Malik and Roszival and then past Lundqvist. 2-1 Rangers. Why don’t the Rangers ever score those kind of goals. Big save by Lundqvist. All this after a beautiful penalty kill. Islanders are the better team this period.

8:09 – Malik’s defense partner put the puck into the crowd in the defensive zone and took a delay of game penalty. Two man advantage for the Fishsticks for 51 seconds. Good penalty kill thus far for the Rangers.

8:05 – The pace didn’t slow from period one to period two. A couple of opportunities for both teams leads to a holding penalty on the Blueshirts. Malik was the culprit.

7:39 – Jagr just rang one off the post. Then, a solid play by Malik (who?) led to a hooking penalty on the Islanders. One the powerplay, Dawes had a great opportunity and Chris Drury put one into the sprawling Dubielewicz. Anyone else wanna jump off the “I hate Marek Malik bandwagon with me?” He’s starting to win me over again. 2-0 going into the break.

7:28 – Pretty goal just scored by Avery. Brandon Dubinsky dug the puck out along the boards, dropped it to Marek Malik, who fed Avery and Avery had a pretty deflection past Dubieleweicz. 2-0 Rangers.

7:22 – If you aren’t watching this game, you are missing out. A strong shift by the Rangers’ top line was countered by an even stronger shift by the Islanders’ top line. Henrik Lundqvist had to make some good saves. Then Jaromir Jagr set up Sean Avery, who hit the post with the net wide open. Shanahan just took one of those weak hooking or slashing penalties. A tap on the stick and he gets called.

The Rangers and Islanders have started the second of the home and home this week, and already the Rangers are off to a 1-0 lead. Nigel Dawes fed Brendan Shanahan on a delayed penalty and Shanny went on a breakaway on Wade Dubieleweicz. The pace is a little faster than Tuesday’s game, but it isn’t very physical, yet. I’ll be here updating as we go along.

Same lineups as Tuesday for both teams. Rick DiPietro is back with the team, but not in net. Petr Prucha, Ryan Hollweg and Jason Strudwick are the healthy scratches.

In a game that was mostly dominated by the New York Rangers, the other New York team took away the two points. Derek’s recap covers the stats, I’ll provide some analysis from my point of view.

– Henrik Lundqvist spent the better part of a month at the beginning of the season bailing the poor Ranger offense out. When the offense was scoring one or two goals a game, Lundqvist stood on his head. Now he has some solid offense behind him (three goals yesterday, but the Rangers in the four goal range recently) and Hank is in a slump. Is that all it is? A slump? Let’s hope so. The Rangers threw some serious money at him a month or so ago and it would a shame to have him turn into another Mike Dunham. Maybe he needs to be spelled a little more. Maybe he can’t handle the 65-70 game schedule that Martin Broudeur handles year in and year out. Stephen Valiquette has proven to be a solid backup, maybe he needs to start a few more games. No matter what though, March is a month of Eastern Conference opponents for the Blueshirts. Lundqvist needs to get his act together.

– A lot of criticism on Tom Renney for using Michal Rozsival in the shootout last night. It wasn’t the 15th round, but the fifth. Renney hadn’t yet put out players such as Chris Drury, Ryan Callahan, Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery or the secret weapon, Marek Malik. I’ll be joining that group of critics, because to me, it just doesn’t make sense. Maybe Renney thought that a different approach would throw Wade Dubielewicz off, or that Roszival saw something on the bench that he could try. Maybe Roszy’s morale was dipped because of some shakey play recently (he played a good game yesterday, though) and wanted to try and boost it with a shootout goal. Maybe everyone on the bench went into an extreme sneezing fit and couldn’t stop long enough to take a shot. Who knows? All that I know is that it was a poor choice. Is there any guarantee that one of the other guys on the bench would have scored? Absolutely not. I do think they had a better chance though.

– In a rivalry game of this calibre, I feel that the Rangers missed some of the energy that Petr Prucha and Ryan Hollweg bring to each and every game. Fredrik Sjorstrum was quiet, almost non-existent. With few penalties, Blair Betts was unnoticeable as well. Colton Orr threw some good hits, and got the crowd going. I have always been a fan of having a fourth line as a checking line. Shut down the opposing line for 45 seconds, throw some hits, have a scrap and forecheck hard. The Hollweg, Betts, Orr line was accomplishing that. Sjorstrum brings an element of scoring that a third line needs. With Ryan Callahan playing like a maniac recently, and Prucha waiting in the wings to get back in the lineup, I feel that you don’t necessarily need Sjorstrum.

– Christian Backman started shaky again, but finished alright last night, and didn’t even take a penalty. Not one.

– On the Avery front. His agent said that he hopes to continue talks with Glen Sather as soon as the season ends. If Avery continues to play the kind of hockey that he’s playing with Jagr now, and if Jagr is resigned, I don’t see Sather passing on the opportunity to keep the chemistry that the top line has. They are productive as a unit, and Avery has been semi-successful with every combination that he has played with this season.

I kind of expect a lineup change on Thursday. Callahan and Nigel Dawes are playing out-of-their mind hockey right now, and will be safe. Maybe Prucha or Hollweg gets in on the fourth line. The defense will remain the same most likely, though. Renney might be tempted to keep everything the same, as the Rangers have come away with points in 11 straight games, their best run since 1995-96. We’ll see what happens. I’ll check in before tomorrow’s rematch.