This was the first game of the season where we can honestly say that the refs cost the Rangers at least a point. The Devils may have won 1-0, but the Rangers tied the game with 3.5 seconds left in the third. A terrible goalie interference call on Marian Gaborik (he was pushed into Martin Brodeur by Anton Volchenkov) had the goal waved off and preserved the Devils win.

Regardless, the Rangers are still 4-1-1 in their past six games, and still own first place in the Eastern Conference. Chris and I split the review, he had the first two periods, I covered the third.

First Period Notes (Chris):

  • The game started as many anticipated (upon seeing the starting line-ups) as Cam Janssen and Mike Rupp as well as Brandon Prust and Eric Boulton dropped the gloves with just two seconds off the clock. Mike Rupp appeared to injure his hand in his fight although he did return to the ice.
  • The Devils came out strong to begin the game, none more so than their hot, top line of Parise, Elias and Kovalchuk. The trio controlled play when they were on the ice and created numerous opportunities, one of which was only broken up by a desperate block by Girardi on the wide open man.
  • The Devils may have enjoyed too much space because, at least initially, it seemed the gap between the Rangers forwards and defense was far too big allowing the Devils to break quickly and get easy entry to the Rangers zone.
  • The Rangers didn’t help their own cause in the first period with their total inability to create pressure, in part because of their poor play on the puck. The team, uncharacteristically led by Ryan Callahan turned the puck over countless times to begin the game.
  • One of the Rangers first period turnovers led to Stu Bickel taking a holding penalty which resulted in the Devils powerplay goal. Giving a team, on a 6 for 18 PP tear, an early powerplay is never a good idea and after the Devils won a few battles for the puck, slick work from Parise saw Clarkson beat Lundqvist from close-in.
  • During the TV timeout a vocal and animated Tortorella could be seen reading the riot act to his team and in part it seemed to have the desired effect. The Rangers were much better in the latter stages of the first (without being great) as they got a hold of the puck and generate some pressure in front of Brodeur which lead to a few chances of their own.
  • The Rangers had two powerplay chances in the first, oh how I wish they didn’t. Again, bar a brief spell on the first chance the powerplay created little and again, was guilty of a lack of movement off the puck. Prior to Stralman (nearly) being stripped by Parise, there was Brad Richards skating across the Devils blue line with the puck which lead to a turnover. He had nowhere to go and seemingly little options to distribute the puck. To say this powerplay is struggling is a huge understatement.

Second Period Notes (Chris):

  • Like the first period, the Devils created plenty of pressure – through their forecheck – to start the second period, including their defensemen pinching in several times.
  • Turnover, turnover, turnover: how to describe the Rangers play in three words.
  • It took 6 minutes of the second for the Rangers to get some sustained pressure in the Devils zone. Good pressure by the Gaborik line led to a couple of attempts on Brodeur.
  • Great example of how to play Kovalchuk came in the second period from McDonagh. As the Russian skated in with the puck, McDonagh was right up in Kovalchuk’s space and closed him off immediately. The winger had no space to make a move and was pushed off the puck.
  • Clarkson had a huge chance ten minutes into the second but was thwarted by Lundqvist who was called upon far too often because of defensive zone breakdowns by the Rangers. Great save down low.
  • Stralman had a particularly difficult first 30.
  • Parise is a monster. If he makes it to free agency the Rangers should find the cap space.
  • Gaborik had a semi breakaway late in the second and got a good shot on net but the angle was cut because of the covering defenseman. It was the first chance in nearly 30 minutes of play where Gaborik had to open stride and use his speed. Absolutely zero space until that point for Gaborik. After that Gaborik seemed to be a lot more in the midst of the play in the second, creating a solid chance for Del Zotto later in the period.
  • 13 minutes in to the second and the Rangers finally got physically engaged for a sustained period of time. They won battles along the boards, closed down the Devils players, stopping several clearance attempts and generated chances.
  • You’re trailing in the game after one period and you generate just 4 shots on net in 18 minutes of the second. That’s simply not good enough. The Rangers need to take more shots, need to work the opposing goalie much more. Generating a forecheck to create chances or look for the shot (rebounds) to generate pressure – chicken or egg, what comes first?
  • Speed Kills. Approaching Brodeur at speed, Carl Hagelin had the Rangers best chance of the first two periods as he came in and forced Brodeur into a quality save. If anything it showed what a little space and plenty of speed can achieve. The chance was perhaps the first time in the entire game the Rangers got a quality look, close-in on Brodeur.
  • The Rangers first two periods seemed to suggest they need an infusion of talent as they generated little and their puck possession was poor. Oh, Brad Richards was meant to supply that? I know, harsh… but man does that guy need to step up.

Third Period Notes (Dave):

  • This is the period that the Rangers owned. In typical Devils fashion, they played their “five men in the picture” and trapped the Rangers. The Devils mustered just one shot on goal, and it was entirely due to lack of trying offensively. They were content to just play a trap game.
  • Brodeur was giving up rebound after rebound all game, and the Rangers failed to crash the net on every single one of them. The last time they beat the Devils, they crashed the net and put home dirty goals. The Blueshirts have gotten away from that, and that’s the main reason why they didn’t get a goal tonight.
  • The linesmen were quite atrocious tonight. There were a few icing calls that were either wrongly waved off, or called icing.
  • Staying with the horrible officiating topic, what a terrible call on the Gaborik goaltender interference to end the game. It was painfully obvious that Gaborik was stopping well before Brodeur. Hockey is the only sport where there is actually evidence of this: the snow from the blade stopping on the ice. The snow started well in front of Brodeur, and Volchenkov pushed Gaborik into Fatso. That should have been a goal.
  • The horrible call overshadows what was a pretty decent third period for the Rangers…except for that powerplay.
  • Riddle me this. What is worse: The Rangers powerplay or the NHL officiating?

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