Battle Of Hudson

Well, not really. Steve already displayed the impact of that awful collision between Knuble and Shanahan which has hockey fans worried about the 600 goal member.

That pic sadly is actually a better one than the one I’m about to present. We’ll just call this a bizarre photo in the continued out of control bizarro world of fallen music star Britney Spears. This is just sad.

U2 had the hit song “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” For the Blueshirts, this might go down as Saturday Bloody Saturday. They took it on the chin in a costly 5-3 home defeat to the Flyers. Still out of the playoffs with 24 games remaining, this loss was potentially damaging.

From the very outset as I noted in my previous entry, they just didn’t look as sharp as they were in winning their last three to give them hope. But it wasn’t the spotty play against a hardworking Flyer club which was getting the attention afterwards. But rather, the unknown status of Brendan Shanahan. The team’s leading goalscorer collided with Flyers’ forward Mike Knuble in a freak accident as neither player saw the other. The impact left the 38 year-old future Hall of Famer knocked unconscious for several minutes. Hardly even moving before a stunned MSG crowd, he eventually required medical assistance and was carried out on a stretcher and taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital. The encouraging news is that early reports indicated that was he “was alert, awake and most importantly had movement.“

While we won’t know the full extent of Shanahan’s injury, the same also could be said for starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The Swedish gold medallist took a hard Geoff Sanderson shot right into his left shoulder. Though he remained in the game for the second period, he would eventually not return for the final stanza and watched emergency backup Stephen Valiquette allow two soft goals which proved to be too much for his teammates to overcome. I questioned Tom Renney right away when he opted to leave Lundqvist in because he didn’t look comfortable. Hopefully for Renney and his club, it’s not serious. With Kevin Weekes already on IR, the last thing they need is to lose Lundqvist for any length of time.

So banged around were the Rangers in this tilt that they also were without defenseman Marek Malik for the third. The lanky Czech who anchors the top pair with Michal Rozsival left with an upper body injury after taking a high hit from Flyers’ pest Ben Eager. Whether or not he’s back for tomorrow’s crucial NBC network game against Original Six rival Chicago remains to be seen.

The bottom line in this one was this: The special teams which had played such a huge role in rallying the team back into the playoff hunt killed them today. When you have six power plays in the first due to several bonehead plays by Todd Fedoruk and Company, you have to make the opposition pay. But the Flyers proved that their No.4 ranked penalty killing unit was a fluke. Playing very aggressively, they forced the Rangers into bad turnovers and got better chances shorthanded, including R.J. Umberger’s SHG off an awful Rozsival pass in the neutral zone.

Even if you count Petr Prucha’s PPG in the third from Jaromir Jagr, the 1-for-8 effort with allowing a shorthanded goal wasn’t the recipe needed for success. You can’t win much against any opponent when that’s the case. Also, the Flyers got a power play tally from new acquisition Scottie Upshall on a routine wraparound early in the third which gave them a three-goal cushion.

Aside from getting solid performances by top liners Simon Gagne (goal, assist) and Geoff Sanderson (goal, assist), the Cheesesteaks also got a superior effort from netminder Antero Niittymaki. The Finn was razor sharp in making 40 saves, including stopping 21 of 23 Ranger shots in a busy third. Yes, the Rangers never quit after Shanahan went down. They attacked and attacked but Niittymaki was equal to the task. A key sequence which changed the outcome was when the Philly goalie robbed Martin Straka pointblank. If he scores there, it’s suddenly a one-goal game with plenty of time left. But after the stop, Fedoruk took Jagr off the puck and it eventually came to Dmitry Afanasenkov, who then made a nice move and then beat Valiquette with a wrister in the high slot to put the Flyers back in command up 5-2 instead, finishing the Rangers off. Saves such as that one gave Philly its third win in four and first since trading Peter Forsberg to Nashville.

What this game proved is what I’ve said all along about the Flyers. Even when they were losing all those games especially at home, they easily could’ve won more. Just ask Steve about some of the games his team pulled out when they had no business even getting points. Credit must go out to Flyer coach John Stevens for keeping his club together under a very tough season. His team works extremely hard and can’t be taken lightly by anyone as Detroit found out this past Monday when they were blitzed for five third period goals in a 6-1 rout on Versus. If you take them for granted, more teams are going to learn the hard way.

For the Rangers, the question is how will they bounceback from this one. The bigger one is who will be available for them tomorrow afternoon? We’ll see. But one thing is certain even with this disheartening loss. Sean Avery continues to be a great pickup. The former King once again agitated well and suckered a couple of Flyers into silly penalties. He also picked up another point with an assist on a brilliant Matt Cullen shorthanded goal with just over a minute left. Avery is making management look really smart. As I said before, too bad they didn’t get him sooner. He is a very solid player. Kudos also to Marcel Hossa on scoring for the fourth time in six on a nice redirect of a Daniel Girardi point shot. The 26 year-old Slovak continues to play well and is growing in confidence since being moved up to the first unit. Congratulations also to the 22 year-old Girardi on notching his first two NHL points (both assists). But I’m certain he would’ve liked to have done it in a win.

Eastern Race In Full Swing Tonight: Don’t forget that there are many games on the slate tonight affecting the Eastern race including the Devils visiting the Island, the Sabres hosting Boston, Carolina facing Montreal, Tampa Bay visiting Florida and Toronto hosting Edmonton. In a game that finished a while ago up in Kanata, the Senators got two more points with a 5-3 victory over slumping Atlanta. The Thrashers remain stuck on 69 points, just one ahead of the Lightning for the Southeast division. If the Bolts win, they vault ahead. Keep an eye on that.

That Shanahan-Knuble collision was something. I hope Shanny’s OK:

Devils-Isles tonight at 7 on FSN and MSG. The Devils have to come out looking like they want it. They haven’t had a good start since the Tampa game, and that one ended badly. They have to come out knowing that they need a win. While Gionta and Whitey going down has hurt the team, the fact is that they’ve sorta become content.

Rangers lost the game 5-3 by the way.

Rangers flat as a pancake against the Flyers and down 3-1 after two. They’ve got nobody to blame but themselves for this one. Todd Fedoruk took several undisciplined penalties in the first in an attempt to injure players but the Ranger power play which entered red hot with six in their last two wins didn’t take advantage.

They’ll need to raise their level considerably in the third just to comeback.

If you know it, then you know Alexander Korolyuk went from San Jose to New Jersey along with Jim Fahey before last season to take retired defenseman Vladimir Malakhov’s salary. Basically meaning that Sharks’ GM Doug Wilson did Lou Lamoriello a gigantic favor so that he could comply with the salary cap and get all his RFA’s signed which included Brian Gionta, Paul Martin, Erik Rasmussen and David Hale.

Fastforward four-plus months later as the Devils then turned around and shipped Korolyuk back to the Sharks for a third round pick. How the heck is this possible? How is it even plausible to get that kind of value for a guy who won’t stay in the NHL and instead plays back home in Russia? Did Lou serve Wilson some extra spiked Kool Aid as part of this handshake agreement?

Whatever the circumstances, even the most diehard Devil fan has to admit something isn’t right here. And it’s time for the league to stop looking the other way and investigate. I don’t care how much influence Lamoriello had in getting the NHL back up in 2005. There looks to be something out of the ordinary here. Either that or Wilson is the dumbest GM in the league because he got it if you catch my drift.

Could any other GM pull this circus trick off? Doubtful.

Rangers battle the Hawks today at 1 in a crucial contest for their playoff aspirations with 25 left. They trail 8th by three and 7th Carolina by four. They’ll aim for their fourth in a row before tuning in later to see what happens with the Islanders and Devils at Nassau Coliseum later tonight.

Here’s three Ranger-centric interviews on WFAN, the radio home of your New Jersey Devils:

Brett Hull (With Russo):
http://www.wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=365105

Shanny (With Mike and Russo)
http://www.wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=365920

Tom Renney (With Joe and Evan):
http://www.wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=365814

Courtesy of The NHL Today:

THEY SAID IT
“It’s hard to believe. It’s like a big energy boost for the whole team. He’s a world-class player, one of the best in the league, and I can’t wait to play with him.” — Predators captain Kimmo Timonen, on Nashville acquiring Peter Forsberg.

“Excitement isn’t a big enough word to describe what we’re feeling. Everyone is so pumped up. He’s one of the best — if not the best — players in the world, and to add him to our team is pretty special.” – Paul Kariya

Fyi…Foppa didn’t play in tonight’s Preds’ 1-0 defeat at St. Louis. Andy Murray’s hardworking Blues got 19 Manny Legace saves and ex-Devil Bill Guerin’s team-leading 26th (a highlight reel goal reminiscent of No.66) to register points 56 and 57 against the Western Conference leaders.

The Devils fell 5-4 to the Pens in the much anticipated showdown at The Swamp. Even though they fell behind by three after one and were without Brian Gionta (groin) and Colin White (upper body), the Atlantic division leaders fought the second place up and coming Penguins to the bitter end, falling just short during a frantic last minute. But with Martin Brodeur pulled for an extra attacker, they couldn’t find the back of the net against Marc-Andre Fleury. The younger netminder made two tough saves in traffic and allowed his D to get in the path of other attempts, including a key block by Sergei Gonchar before the defenseman cleared the zone to propel Pittsburgh to another win.

With 71 points and still a game at hand, the Pens are very much alive to steal the Atlantic crown. They’re now just five off the pace and closing fast. There are either three or four match-ups left between the division rivals. If the intensity is anything like the end of tonight’s contest, those should be must watches.

Ironically, the deciding goal was scored by superpest Jarkko Ruutu, who beat Brodeur to a rebound for his second of the night (yes he really did score twice even if I thought I was hearing things on my radio). Sidney Crosby did finally get a point in CAA with a power play tally. And Jordan Staal continued his great play with his 24th. Brian Rafalski, Patrik Elias and rookie Travis Zajac all scored in a losing effort for the Devils.

So, what does this Pens win mean aside from the fact the division is now a race again? It still means they need to go out and get a shutdown physical defenseman because for almost the four consecutive game, they nearly squandered a multi-goal lead. The Pens can roll four lines as proven by how effective ex-Ranger Dominic Moore was in one late shift, even agitating Brodeur in what could’ve easily been a roughing minor on the future Hall of Famer. But what this team lacks is the kind of defender who can make life difficult for an opponent late in these kind of games. Pittsburgh might want to give Columbus a call and inquire about Adam Foote. He knows what it takes to win.

What does this mean for the Devils? Well, for starters, it concluded a pretty successful homestand in which they lost just twice. What they can take out of tonight is even without two of their key players, they were very much in the game. And John Madden is a warrior. He missed only one game due to that nasty cut sustained from an Eric Perrin shot.

Wyshynski Special Jagr Column: If you’ve followed Sportsfan Magazine’s Greg Wyshynski’s career the past few years, then you know how talented the writer is. Also covering the Capitals for TFP, he recently wrote an interesting feature on ex-Cap and resident bad boy numero uno Jaromir Jagr. It depicts why the current Broadway Blueshirt is hated in the nation’s capital and even gets into for as physically gifted a player as the 600 goal, 1500 point member is, why No.68 can still frustrate some of his own fans. It’s a terrific read. The link is provided below:

Everybody Hates Jaromir

Check it out. I’m not much of a plug person, but I think you’ll enjoy it if you like reading this site. Thanks to Kevin Greenstein of Inside Hockey for the webspace.

http://insidehockey.com/columns/408

And while were plugging, BoNY friend Greg Wyshynski wrote this great piece on Jaromir Jagr:

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/columnists/wyshynski.html

Enjoy the game tonight folks!

New Jersey (35-16-6, 76 PTS, 1st Atlantic, 2nd East) vs. Pittsburgh (30-17-9, 69 PTS, 2nd Atlantic, 4th East)
7:30 PM
The Swamp
FSNY/inHD
WFAN 660 AM

Last Meeting: Zajac, Pandolfo and Gionta cash in for a 3-0 win in late December. (Watch: http://www.nhl.com/video/app?page=GameHighlights&service=page&gid=541&gtid=2&season=20062007&media=/20062007/02/0541/IH_NHL_2006_2007_541_2_700K_continuous.wmv)

Last Devils Game: 5-2 Win over Montreal on Wednesday (Watch: http://www.nhl.com/video/app?component=%24GameVideoViewer_1.%24NHLDirectLink_0&page=DailyHighlights&service=direct&sp=S%2F20062007%2F02%2F0858%2FIH_NHL_2006_2007_858_2_700K_continuous.wmv&sp=20062007&sp=858&sp=2)

Leading Scorers
New Jersey
#26 Patrik Elias 19-35-54
#23 Scott Gomez 10-35-45
#9 Zach Parise 22-22-44
#15 Jamie Langenbrunner 19-25-44
#14 Brian Gionta 24-18-42

Pittsburgh
#87 Sidney Crosby 25-63-88
#71 Evgeni Malkin 28-36-64
#8 Mark Recchi 19-34-53
#55 Sergei Gonchar 9-37-46
#19 Ryan Whitny 10-3-43

PREDICTION: Devils 4, Penguins 3.