Well sports fans, the New Jersey Devils knocked the New Yawk Rangers down and took their lunch money at the Prudential Center bus stop tonight by a score of 3-0. It was quite apparent the Devils were bigger, stronger and more determined to make something of their lives. Zach Parise was a stud for the Devils scoring twice and was a constant threat in the Rangers end all night. The Rangers defense, when they weren't making horrid outlet passes were losing battles for loose pucks in the corners.
A lot is made about the Broadway Blue Shirts lack of offense, and the forwards have come under a lot of media scrutiny lately but take it from this in-the-know hockey fan, the problem with the Rangers forwards is their defensemen. The Rangers have nobody making good outlet passes hitting forwards with speed out of their own zone, their D to D passes are slow and lazy in their own end and they lack the ability to pick up the pace of the Rangers attack. They also don't have the defensemen to make a quick tape to tape pass on a neutral zone turnover. When you're New York and you have forwards named Drury, Gomez, Naslund, and Zherdev you have two good scoring lines. No, what you're lacking is the back end to help them shine.
The Devils defense on the other hand, while lacking a superstar DO make the smart outlet passes. They dig hard in the corners and take opposing forwards off the puck with smart positioning and moving their feet. Even though he wasn't named one of the three stars tonight, Devil Paul Martin did a great job at holding pucks in the Rangers zone, he won battles for loose pucks and was a smart +1. Martin also led all Devils in ice time with a yeoman-like total of 24:03.
We'd be remiss to not mention amazin' Scott Clemmensen's first shutout in the NHL since March 26, 2004 with Atlanta. He didn't give the Ranger many second chances on rebounds and really has been the lifeline the Devils needed this season. He'll get zero votes for league MVP, but there hasn't been a player more valuable to his team this year. A guy who was third on the Devils netminding depth chart heading into this season, Clemmensen now sports a cool 23-11-1 record.
So, the Devils have opened up a 6 point lead on Sillydelphia and an 8 point bulge on the Rags in the Atlantic Division.
New Jersey is home for an abysmal Islanders team Wednesday, and then the competition gets bigger and better with Boston coming to town Friday and San Jose on Sunday. Speaking of the Sunday game, Johnny will again be there patting kids on the head, and signing autographs under the big old Bon Jovi mural in his Charlestown Chiefs sweater.
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