Battle Of Hudson

Wow, what a cringeworthy game. But a large, large, large win.

Marty only stops 10 of 15, but the Devils win 6-5, as the Thrashers were much more inept than New Jersey. The Thrashers spent more than 30 Minutes of this game without shooting the puck.

Madden, Elias, Pando, Zajac, Sarge (!), and Patrick Elias once more, on a blistering one-timer on the power play. Remember when, during the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Rangers, they would show those videos of Patrick moving all around the ice during the playoffs in fast motion? It looked like a return to that, and a welcome one at that.

The offense carried the Devils tonight. Hang on, let me hand Satan my soul before I go on. The defense, and particularly Marty, were atrocious tonight. There is no way around it, Marty has to bounce back, and he no doubt will, because he is the best.

Hero of the Night: PATRICK ELIAS (!), 2 Goals, Assist, Game Winner, Return to Awesomeness
Bum of the Night: Marty Brodeur. Sorry Marty, the way this team plays, 10 out of 15 won’t do it.
Asshole of the Night: Garnet Exelby for that dirty takedown of Zach Parise.

Around the League Tonight:

The Sabres are officially back. They beat the Capitals 7-3, two straight by a count of 13-3. Jaroslav Spacek scored twice, and Brian Campbell had 4 assists. Alex Ovechkin added his 3rd of the year in defeat.

Crosby nets two on Hockey Night in Canada and the Penguins beat the Leafs, 6-4. Maxime Talbot added a pair.

The Hurricanes are off to a very good start, as Carolina continues their roll in Montreal, winning 3-1 at Bell Centre. Matt Cullen scored the Game-Winner. Carolina’s now 4-1-1.

Ottawa took down the Rangers, 3-1. Dany Heatley scored his 6th of the year, and Jaromir Jagr finally got #1 in the losing effort. Both NJ and NYR are 2-3-0 on the year.

Six different scorers led the Florida Panthers to their 2nd straight victory, as they dismantled the Lightning, 6-4. Vinny Prospal scored twice in defeat.

8 Different goal-scorers in the Music City, as Calgary and the Preds are tied at 4 after two frames.

Dallas leads Chicago 1-0 in the 2nd because of the work of Brendan Morrow.

Super Joe Sakic gave the Avs an early lead at home vs. Columbus.

Game Over – Rangers win 3-1. I thought it was great that Orr and Hollweg stayed away from Brashear tonight. No need to fight just because Brashear is a goon. Hollweg again showed flashes of his Wolfpack days, when he was a goal scoring machine. He’s going to put in a few this year, I’m sure of it. I really agree with Sam Rosen’s comment that Tyutin and Girardi are a number one defense pairing. They were shut down defenders again tonight.

Overall great game for the Rangers. They need to keep it up against a tough Ottawa team tomorrow. Until tomorrow…

2nd Intermission – I’m going to try putting the updates at the top of the post from now on. It looks a little nicer.

Still 3-1 Rangers, but it was almost 4-1. Prucha deflected a Tyutin shot, but it was ruled that his stick was too high, which it was. That call was correct but the officials have made some gaffes this game. They missed a blatant interference on Jagr in the first, and a nasty slash on Hollweg this period. Still the Rangers have managed 8 power plays.

They were flying again that period, increasing their shot total to 36. The only criticisms that I have are the not getting in the face of Morrison, who leveled Jagr, or Pothier, who slashed Hollweg. Also, Paul Mara needs to be on the bench when Ovechkin is on the ice. Ovechkin is a great hockey player, but Mara looks ridiculous when he’s trying to cover him. Staal did a much better job and someone like Girardi would be able to cancel him out much better. Until the 3rd…

Hey all. The Rangers are currently at the 1st intermission against the Caps leading 3-1. The Rangers have 3 power play goals after starting the season 0-19 with the man advantage. They have gotten goals from Gomez, Straka and Roszival and Jagr has 3 assists. Ovechkin has the lone Washington goal.

This 1st period showed the team the Rangers can, and should be every night. Let’s hope they keep it up. I’ll check back in after the 2nd.

Oct. 27 vs. Ottawa – SOLD OUT (Check Stubhub)
Oct. 31 vs. Tampa Bay – Lower & Upper Level Pairs Available, Mezzainine Available as well.
Nov. 2 vs.Toronto – Lower, Mezzanine and Upper Level Pairs Available
Nov. 5 vs. Pittsburgh – Lower, Limited Mezzanine and Limited Upper Level Pairs Available
Nov. 8 vs. Philadelphia – Lower, Limited Mezzanine and Limited Upper Level Pairs Available
Nov. 14 vs. NY Rangers – Limited Lower, Mezzanine (UPPER LEVEL SOLD OUT)
Nov. 16 vs. NY Islanders – Lower, Limited Mezzanine, Limited Upper Level
Nov. 28 vs. Dallas – Lower, Mezzanine, Limited Upper Level.

Full update later today.

Like the shift after scoring a big goal, following up a big win with another win is very important. A hockey-ism that the Islander Castaways seemed to forget last night against Toronto and one that I am sure Teddy Nolan is going to drill back into their minds before next game.

Back on Wednesday night in Uniondale the Isles put up a typical Nolan-esque performance to get their first win against the rival Rangers. Timely scoring from Marc-Andre Bergeron, a 5 on 3 tally from the newly signed Bryan Berard, and solid tending by Ricky D. secured the Isles 2 more points in the Atlantic division. I think both teams played very well and at times the Rangers controlled most of the play, but it looks as if the Rags are still having a little a bit of trouble getting everyone on the same page. As Isles fans this was a huge win against the Rangers after their off-season spending spree. But rest assured the Rangers already have November 6th marked on their calendars for the rematch.

I’d like to forget about the Islanders debacle last night against the Leafs and focus solely on the win against the Rangers but that would not be fair. It was a historic win for the Leafs and Mr. Sundin as the Swede became the all time points and goal leader for the storied original 6 franchise. The Leafs bounced back strong after a 7-1 drubbing by the ‘Canes and the Islanders never got on the charter flight to Toronto after the Rangers win on the previous night. Wade Dubielewicz had the pleasure of facing the offensive barrage and all of the blame cannot fall on Dubbie’s shoulders though; the forwards turned the puck over in the no-no zone around the Leafs offensive blue line and rarely put any pressure on the forecheck. The defence or lack there of, looked like a bad Pee-Wee team losing their men and swinging their purses in a feeble attempt to stop the Leafs attack.

Its an unnerving loss to say the least. Excuses can be used that everyone has a bad night or it was a factor of back to back games, even more so that it was after a tough win. Honestly though Ted Nolan does not strike me as the type of person who has the word “excuse” in his vocabulary and I fully expect the Isles to come out very strong against Philly on Saturday night. Until then, lets just keep enjoying this title while it still lasts, “Atlantic Division Leading New York Islanders.”

Let’s save this one for tomorrow, as the Devils fall 3-0 to Florida.

THE ROAD TO NEWARK
Game #: 4 of 9
Miles Taveled: 4,567.91

The Devils take on the Panthers again tonight. Marty will be in goal. Hopefully it’ll be on TV.

The Devils need to come out and sustain a good first period, and then worry about a full 60 minute game, because step one to playing the full 60 is playing a solid 20.

Prediction: Devils 5, Panthers 2. I’ll call it right here: Patrick Elias busts out tonight.

I’ll be here to keep those of you who are reading updated on the Rangers/Islanders game. Here is the lineup for the Rangers:

Hossa – Drury – Jagr
Straka – Gomez – Shannahan
Prucha – Betts – Callahan
Hollweg – Dubinski – Orr

Rozsival – Malik
Tyutin – Girardi
Strudwick – Staal

Lundqvist

I’ll check in on this post every few minutes. Enjoy the game.

7:15 – 3 minutes in and Ryan Hollweg takes a dumb penalty for tripping away from the play. He can’t do things like that and expect not to be scrutinized every now and then.

7:24 – Andy Sutton took a 2 minute holding penalty 6:45 in that the Islanders killed off. Lundqvist has been great so far, staving off 5 Islanders shots so far. One shot on goal on the PP for the Rangers, 2 total. Meanwhile, there are scrums after the whistle starting.

7:35 – Callahan and Fedotanko just took coincidental roughing minors. Drury has hit a post or crossbar, and Callahan had a good strip and shot before, but the Islanders controlled the beginning of this game. Rangers look to be waking up now.

7:38 – I don’t know how he did it but DiPietro just stopped Shannahan, a Betts rebound, and Shannahan again. That’s the pressure the Rangers need. Marc-Andre Fleury looks a little flat on defense right now. He was stripped by Callahan and just kind of stood there just now.

7:45 – Huge hit by Petr Prucha. Yup, Petr Prucha. It led to sustained pressure by the Rangers and that led to Berard hooking Callahan to the ice. Somehow the officials thought that Callahan embelished it, and gave him 2 for diving as well. I’m not a fan of the penalty and diving call. If it’s a dive, there shouldn’t be a penalty on the other guy. This might be a different case though, as it was clearly a hook.

7:50 – Tripping penalty to Witt, ridiculous holding the stick penalty to Shannahan after Sutton really hacked Shannahan’s stick and hands, leads to a 3 on 3 and a goal off the draw by Marc-Andre Bergeron. 1-0 Islanders after one full period. Back after intermission.

8:10 – Different Rangers team came out for the second period. Great offensive pressure leads to a Fedor Tyutin wrist shot goal at 2 and a half minutes in. Marcel Hossa may have gotten away with a boarding penalty. There was no replay but on first look it looked borderline. DiPietro just made a great save on Gomez and then Straka missed the net on a separate rush. Good pressure.

8:25 – This might be the most balanced lineup I have seen the Rangers put on the ice in a really long time. All 4 lines are being rolled, and for the most part controlling the play. The top 2 lines just pinned the Islanders down for the last 2 minutes just cycling and shooting. Ryan Hollweg even showed a brief glimpse of the offensive ability that he has, attempting to beat the Islanders defense 1 on 1. DiPietro coming up big right now.

8:30 – Shannahan and Betts both took penalties, leading to a Bryan Berard 5 on 3 power play goal. 2-1 Islanders.

8:33 – Delay of game penalty to Lundqvist for “handling the puck in the restricted area.” Forced the Rangers to kill off another 5 on 3.

8:42 – End of Period 2. 2-1 Islanders still. Good physical game so far. Should be a good third period.

9:06 – Kind of a slow start right now. Guerin just took a slashing penalty. Powerplay Rangers.

9:08 – Gervais goes for high sticking. 34 second 5 on 3 for the Rangers. Meanwhile, I still have no idea how Dan Girardi went undrafted. He continues to impress me.

9:12 – Whoa. A lot of action on the power play, but no goals. Shannahan teed up a few, Jagr took a few rips, Straka tried and Gomez had DiPietro down on the ice and couldn’t get the puck up from the side of the net and wound up putting it off the side bar and into DiPietro on the ice. Power play is over, 12 minutes even left.

9:16 – Boarding penalty to Roszival. 5 on 3 again. Tough hit, very easily could have been 2 minutes to Guerin for roughing Rosy afterwards, but it was a warrented 2 minutes. A lot of 5 on 3’s this game. Great save by Lundqvist.

9:21 – Rangers kill off the penalties and get a power play of their own when Guerin went for holding. Jagr came up short on a semi-breakaway, and then again off a great feed from Gomez.

9:37 – That’s the game. 2-1 Islanders. As much as I don’t like him, Brendon Witt did a great job shutting Jagr down. Dubinski is under utilized on the 4th line. He could add a little more than what Betts has been giving Callahan and Prucha. The defense was strong again, but I do kind of miss Mara on the point of the second power play unit. The way the defense is clicking though, I’d leave it alone. That’s all for tonight. Thanks for reading.

It is with great regret that I announce that 1 of our Islanders bloggers, Rob Fitzpatrick, is not going to be posting here at Battle of NY any longer.

He gave us a lot of good insight and commentary, and will be greatly missed.

Rob, we hope you visit the site again frequently.

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Tonight’s Rags – Crysles game will be on VERSUS at 7PM. You can watch a rerun of CAR-TOR from last night right now.

Joe Beninati, Ed Olczyk and Billy Jaffe have the call.

Tonight, the Atlantic leading New York Islanders (that has a nice ring to it, no?) take on their hated rivals from Gotham. I apologize for not posting on Monday but I was busy driving Freddy Meyer to the airport so he could get to Phoenix as soon as possible. With Meyer being claimed off waivers that made room for the Isles to sign Berard which is a huge addition. (Btw, must read about Berard) But with good news comes bad news as apparently John Sim is out with a knee injury for the remainder of the year. With the loss of Sim comes the call up of Jeff Tambellini from Bridgeport which in actuality could turn out to be a blessing in disguise if the former Wolverine can put up some points and play consistently.

Back to tonights tilt, we all know the history of these two clubs and what transpired in the preseason but it will be interesting to see some other things. Like how the Isles bounce back from their loss on Monday afternoon to the Caps and to see if Mike Comrie and the top line can keep up their scoring pace. On the other side for Ranger fans it will be interesting to see if the offensive additions can start gelling together here early in the season. Enjoy the game tonight Isles and Ranger fans, I’ll have a recap for you folks tomorrow.

Nigel Dawes’ time isn’t right now. It’s looking like Marcel Hossa will be penciled into his first regular season game on Wednesday when the Rangers travel to Long Island to take on the Islanders. Not only will he be in the lineup, but he’ll be skating on the top line with Drury and Jagr. Martin Straka will shift down into Avery’s place on the second line, leaving the third and fourth line in tact, which makes the most sense. Avery and Straka are similar players in that they play hard and look to make plays, so there shouldn’t be much problem adjusting for Gomez and Shannahan. Hossa also showed last year that he can be very beneficial to Jagr’s line. Let’s hope he can put up a few points, or at least help the others get some.

This is the first Atlantic Division game for both teams. The Atlantic Division might be the closest, most competitive division in the NHL this year, so even these points are huge right now. The Rangers have been linked to be favorites to make it to the Stanley Cup finals this year, the Devils are always good, the Penguins just keep getting better, the Islanders made a lot of changes and the Flyers got a lot better in the offseason. Should be good to see some intense, rivalry hockey so early in the season.