Battle Of Hudson

Doc IS calling tonight’s game. Oh, there’s a doins ‘a transpirin’ at the Garden tonight.

Kenny Albert has the call tonight with Andy Brickley and Chris Simpson.

Enjoy it folks. Tonight at 7PM on VERSUS and VERSUSHD. Mike Emrick, Andy Brickley and Chris Simpson will be at MSG to call the action.

Have fun folks!

Enjoy my take on the Rangers, Center Ice, NBC, Simon Gagne, and the Cam Janssen hit (grr)

Check it Out Here

But Steve, I know you don’t want to hear it. But those fans who booed are spoiled rotten. What happens when the team has an off year? Do they jump off the ship? It’s when a team goes through losing when you really find out who the real fans are.

Jessiman reemerging: A failed first round pick of the Blueshirts has reemerged. Since returning to Hartford, Hugh Jessiman has played much better. In fact, he’s now up to six goals and I believe at least five have come since the recall from Charlotte. Jessiman has scored in three straight and tonight, tallied twice in a comeback OT win over Hershey. He also has been racking up penalty minutes, including a couple of scraps. If the former Dartmouth product continues his solid play, maybe there’s hope for him yet. For Ranger supporters, it’s at least an encouraging sign. Congrats to Alex Bourret on notching his first point with the Pack, picking up an assist on one of those Jessiman goals. Bourret was acquired at last week’s deadline from Atlanta.

The Pack have been playing some excellent hockey and should be in the running for the Calder Cup this Spring. With other talented players such as Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Dane Byers, Lauri Korpikoski, Ivan Baranka and Al Montoya, Hartford certainly looks poised to make a deep run.

This reminds me of that loss we had to Toronto before we went on The Streak last year. Without all the effort we had at the end.

Derek, you see when you win all the time you expect more from your team than well, something else ;-).

Rangers-Isles tomorrow on VERSUS, this week is essentially the Rags’ season.

Probly Doc and Olczyk tomorrow, which feels so odd, eh Blueman?

Don’t be surprised if Trautwig is in the VS Studios. He hosted Cyclism Sundays from the house that Marc Fein built in Samford on Sunday.

So much for Steve’s prediction. Boy wonder, maybe you should give that up. It doesn’t seem to work lately. Just busting ya.

Apparently, the Devils decided not to show up for their home game tonight against the Bruins. Boston got the first two and cruised to a 4-1 win in front of a quiet CAA which had little to cheer about. But it is quite funny how much they booed their first place team. What? Your team doesn’t win enough? They can’t win every game. And they had a pretty good home record to begin with. There are going to be nights where even the best teams just don’t have it. When Michael Rupp is your only scorer, let’s just say it’s not happening. Kind of like the game a couple of weeks ago where Cam Janssen scored. When your best players aren’t your best, it usually will result in defeat.

Brian Gionta returned to the lineup but couldn’t spark his club. Instead, the team was so bad the first two periods that Claude Julien broke up his lines and tried some weird combos. How else do you explain Sergei Brylin with Jim Down and Patrik Elias?

The Bruins got the first two from ex-Ranger Aaron Ward (yes he did score and played a heck of a game) and a shorthanded goal by Marco Sturm on a breakaway stick side. Trailing by two entering the final stanza, the Devils predictably came with more fire and cut it in half thanks to some grunt work from Scott Gomez. With him distracting Boston netminder Joey MacDonald in front, it allowed Rupp to cruise in and deposit a rebound as a power play expired. As fortune would have it, that was the only one they would get by the ex-Wing who was picked up off waivers. Yes, the Devils somehow managed to turn him into an All Star. MacDonald did play well, finishing with 26 saves to earn the game’s First Star.

With New Jersey down one, it didn’t take long for the Bruins to retake a two-goal lead when Brandon Bochenski redirected a Stanislav Chistov feed past a sprawling Martin Brodeur less than two minutes later. They credited rookie Phil Kessel with the primary assist. Unless he got a piece of it in traffic, I’m baffled as to why. Kessel did play well though. He has improved since returning from testicular cancer surgery. Enough so for Dave Lewis to even try him on their top line.

The Devils never threatened seriously afterwards. A key block by Ward on a shot in front allowed the Bruins to work the puck out to defensive specialist P.J. Axelsson, who deposited his 11th into an empty net. It gave Boston a huge victory, giving them 69 points to lift them into 11th in the conference over the Rangers. Despite having the same amount of points and games left (17), the Bruins hold the edge due to one more win (32-31). It would seem that both teams are setup to make a run at the final spot held by Carolina. Both have games at hand on the teams ahead of them and have to know that the Canes and Canadiens haven’t played well for a while. The Leafs got Darcy Tucker back yesterday which should help but lost Tomas Kaberle due to Cam Janssen’s late hit. The opportunity is there for either to make a run. Both are only four off the pace with three extra games remaining.

The Rangers have taken the first two games from Boston this season. There are two remaining on the third and fourth Saturdays of this month. The Blueshirts host the B’s on March 17th before visiting Beantown for a rematch on March 24th. So what that means is that those two players who were swapped for each other (Ward and Paul Mara) could play a role in what transpires. Keep a close eye on that!

7PM on FSN & inHD and WFAN and the whole schmere.

Did anyone else not receive an HD feed for Pens-Flyers today? E-mail me, maybe we can figure out what happened.

Hopefully, we beat at least Arena Football and maybe Kentucky-Florida in the ratings. The AFL game was an awful one (60-7? Are the Dragons that bad? Are Golic and Greenberg that unentertaining? Answers: Yes.), and the Kentucky-FLA game wasn’t close, so maybe our game, added to the golf audience, got a bump from that.

NBC continues to give us good coverage, while not going crazy on the extracurriculars.

Devils should win tonight. It will be fun to see Gio come back and go against Chara. Always a fun battle.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Marty Biron, on-ice mic’d up, to Sidney Crosby ‘I don’t whine.’

A little history was made at Mellon Arena today when the Penguins swept the archrival Flyers for the first time in the Battle of Pennsylvania over a season.

That’s correct. Pittsburgh won all eight meetings against Philadelphia. However, it wasn’t easy as the Pens fought back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, forcing OT thanks to Erik Christensen’s second of the day. He wasn’t done either. The underrated forward would beat Flyer netminder Martin Biron for the third time in the shootout on a beautiful forehand deke. Naturally, hats were tossed on the ice even if it didn’t count as a hat trick. After Marc-Andre Fleury got a glove on Scottie Upshall’s backhand, league-leading scorer Sidney Crosby sealed point number 79 for his club by sliding a backhand thru Biron’s legs to wrap it up.

For the moment, it got the Pens within one of Ottawa for fourth in the East. The Senators are currently tied with the Blackhawks at one in the first period at Chicago.

In other action, the Thrashers lead the Hurricanes 2-1 after two periods. Atlanta entered play trailing Tampa Bay by two points for first in the Southeast. A win would tie them with each having 15 games left. For the defending champion Canes, the stakes are a bit higher. Holding the final spot in the East by only a point over Montreal, two more than 10th seeded Toronto and four better than the 11th ranked Rangers, Carolina needs this game big time. After today, they will only have 14 remaining. The Canes are in danger of becoming the first defending champ to miss the postseason in a decade. The last was the 1995-96 Devils, who were eliminated by Ottawa at home on the final day. Ironically, current WFAN color analyst Tom Chorske played a role. If I recall correctly, he scored twice.

While the race in the East is much tighter for those final spots, out West it’s a little more decided. After Nashville, Anaheim and Detroit, only three points separate Vancouver, Dallas, Calgary and Minnesota. What makes it so compelling is that the Red Wings are battling the Predators for the top seed. They fell today in OT to the rival Avalanche 4-3. They trail Nashville by a point with 91. Meanwhile, the Ducks continue to lead the Pacific with 87 points, six better than Dallas. The Stars have been playing great hockey of late and could make a run at the division. Out Northwest, it’s a little wackier. By virtue of two more victories, the Canucks lead the Flames despite having the same amount of points (79). Right behind them are the Wild, who have 78. It should be a wild race to the finish to see which team prevails and gets home ice.

With their win today in Hockeytown thanks to Brad Richardson’s OT winner at 2:41 to complete a nice passing play with Wojtek Wolski, it gave the Avs 69 points. They’re still nine out of the final spot which is currently held by Minnesota. It promises to be a daunting task. But even if they don’t catch them and qualify for the franchise’s 12th consecutive postseason (1995-06), they have to be pretty excited about the future. With solid play from rookies such as Wolski and former 2005 second rounder Paul Stastny, things are looking up for the Avs. As usual, they’re getting inspired play from team captain Joe Sakic. He paces them in virtually every offensive category: goals (27), assists (49), points (76), PPG (13), PPP (34).

But while the honorable classy leader of Colorado has done his part, not far behind is Stastny. The son of Hockey Hall of Famer Paul, the former Denver product has been brilliant in his first season. After being up and down for the first half, the former 44th overall selection has evolved into a dangerous offensive player. With much of the focus on talented rookies Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Anze Kopitar, the spotlight has been off. But he finally started to receive some attention when the NHL named him Rookie of the Month for February.

During last month, the 21 year-old freshman became the third rookie in franchise history to register points in at least 13 straight contests. Dad Peter still holds the franchise mark by notching points in 16 consecutive games in 1980-81. Uncle Marian also had a streak of at least 13 in 1981-82. For the month, Paul had 19 points. His strong play continued Sunday when he tallied two assists during the club’s 4-3 win over Detroit. It made it 15 straight with at least a point, the longest since Winnipeg’s Teemu Selanne in 1992-93. The former Calder winner had points in 17 straight.

Stastny’s hot play now places him second in rookie scoring behind Malkin. With 62 points (22-40-62), he should get some Calder consideration. His teammate Wolski also has over 40 points. The former first round selection in 2004 has contributed 19 goals and 22 assists thus far. What the play of both these roookies have done is keep Colorado competitive. Keep an eye on both in the future.

Erik Johnson and TJ Oshie, who are not far off either.

Anyway, I’d like to pose this question. Where the Forsberg did Florida come from?

Now we gotta go all the way up to #3. Really, to be honest, Jersey and Buffalo are the only locks for the postseason right now. How crazy is that?

3. Tampa* – 78 PTS, 15 GR
4. Ottawa – 80 PTS, 17 GR
5. Pittsburgh – 77 PTS, 18 GR
6. Atlanta – 76 PTS, 16 GR
7. Islanders – 75 PTS, 17 GR
8. Carolina – 73 PTS, 15 GR
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9. Montreal – 72 PTS, 14 GR
10. Toronto – 71 PTS, 16 GR
11. Rangers – 69 PTS, 17 GR
12. Boston – 67 PTS, 18 GR
13. Florida – 67 PTS, 16 GR