It was sudden, decisive and totally unexpected but it was surely welcomed. A 90 second barrage against the hated Brodeur and the hated Devils. What could be better? It started at the 2:05 mark of the third period and ended at the 3:35 mark of the third period. 2:05, goal Jagr. 2:31, goal Jagr. 3:35 (what took so long?), goal Shanahan. Points, set and match, game over. The comeback actually started with an end to end rush by Malik. Yes Malik! He went end to end ala Brian Leetch, had Brodeur down but barely missed the far corner of the net. That should have been a warning signal to the Devils.
A simple plan by Renney, double shifting Jagr, turned the tide. What was amazing was that Devil coach, Claude Julien, didn't pick it up and adapt to it. Lou Lamoriello would not have been suckered into this one. Jagr double shifted with Jason Ward at center and Marcel Hossa on left wing. The defense pairing on this shift was Karel Rachunek and Sandis Ozolinsh. So the whole unit was changed for Jagr. Instead of catching the Devils line of Madden, Pandolfo and Rasmussen, Jagr got Elias, Brylin and Gionta. Also, Ward and Hossa are net crashers as opposed to the perimeter game of Straka and Nylander. Hence, Jagr scored from in close on Hossa's pass and then Jagr scored on a floater with Ward causing havoc in front of the net.
Lundqvist played a strong third period, 10-10, after allowing a softie on Jamie Langenbrunner's slapper. However, The Prince has shown tendencies in the last few games to play a strong third period. He has now won three out of four, giving up 10 goals for a 2.50 GAA. He is getting back to his game and that will come none too soon.
Now the Rangers take their 7-3-0-0 road record to Carolina, who has found their game. They also have 21 points so its another important matchup for the Rangers against a top flight team. The Hurricanes are coming off of a 7-4 home loss to the Sabres. Should be a good one.
ICINGS: Kasparaitis returned to the Rangers and was a scratch. Thomas Pock was also a scratch. There are plenty of teams that could use guys like Kaspy and Pock. Good fight between Orr and Ranger nemesis Cam Janssen. Janssen seemed quiet after that getting only 3:56 of ice time, getting only two hits, and was on ice for Shanahan's winning goal.
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