The Rangers in two games against the Devils have outplayed them in five of the six periods played, not counting game one OT, outskating, outhustling and outscoring their Jersey rivals who have lost a big advantage. The Red Line is basically gone, except for opening period faceoffs and after goals. The loss of the Red Line has basically crippled the Devils defense. Can't trap anymore it just won't work. But outside of that the Rangers are playing entertaining hockey. They came out of the gate roaring, scored on a soft goal by Rucinsky and seventeen seconds later by Nieminen and never looked back. Watching Nieminen, Ortmeyer, Ward, Hossa and Prucha crash the net was an absolute delight. And the backline was strong too, clearing away the few rebounds that Lundqvist left. Tyutin has settled in so well he plays like a veteran and his Russian buddy Maxim Kondratien has been solid. In fact when Strudwick returns it should be Tom Poti who sits. The one goal scored by the Devils was more the fault of Poti than Lundqvist. But the delight and the promising prospects of this team is watching these young legs skate and hustle and hit and score. Each line registered a goal. Blair Betts like Niemenin tallied his first and Jagr on a power play got his fourth. All of Jagr goals have come on the power play. They now have three tough home games coming up. Atlanta Thrashers Saturday night, Florida Panthers Monday night and the Islanders Wednesday night. This should tell us more about this team after this stretch.
ICINGS: The referees calling out the penalties to the crowd is not working. Seems they need to make some adjustments to the PA system. As stated all four lines scored a goal each and all were feisty and effective. Kasparitis took one more tripping (lazy) penalty but overall played a tough game with some solid hits.
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