The Rangers and Devils have put on every kind of show this season, from a scintillating scoreless goaltenders' duel to slopfests and slugfests, right down to the highly entertaining hybrid they staged Wednesday night.
Highly entertaining and, once again, highly agonizing if you're a fan of the team in blue. These cross-river rivals meet one more time in this regular season, back in Newark on March 25, before which the Rangers will have to figure out a way to play 60 minutes, rather than 20 or 30, if they want the game to mean anything. They dropped another Wednesday night at the Rock, their fourth straight defeat, this one a 6-3 decision to the Devils in a game in which the Rangers kept battling back.
New Jersey grabbed the lead four separate times before this game was half over; only three times could the Rangers answer. The final twist came when Jamie Langenbrunner's slick redirection behind his back put the Devils in front 13:06 into the second, followed 2:13 later by Brian Rolston's 3-on-1 goal that tipped through Henrik Lundqvist's legs off Dan Girardi's reaching stickblade.
Rolston's goal - the second of two Devil goals that found the net off of Ranger sticks - knocked Lundqvist from the game and all the drive from what had been a resilient effort from the visitors. The play began as a four-man Ranger rush, but when Ryan Callahan missed the net - a nagging Ranger habit - and Wade Redden fell down trailing the play, the puck caromed out to three Devils who actually flubbed the rush until Rolston attempted a pass that found help from Girardi.
"That's when you realize it was a tough night," said Lundqvist, who was burned for five goals on 17 shots before yielding to Alex Auld. "I don't think I should analyze it too much. Try to move on."
Move on is what the Devils were trying to do coming off their dispiriting trip out West that led to a players-only meeting on Tuesday, one that many Devils considered an overdue wakeup call. "We showed that we really wanted to win tonight, more than I've seen lately," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "This is what we want."
Rob Niedermayer helped set that competitive tone early on, opening the scoring 4:16 in and then drawing traffic to Lundqvist's net that led to Bryce Salvador's right-point blast going in off Olli Jokinen's stick. Zach Parise scored the Devils' third goal off a goalmouth scramble, but each of those markers were matched by scores from Vinny Prospal (a beautiful passing play with Marian Gaborik and Jokinen), Erik Christensen (a magnificent one-man effort) and Brandon Prust (his first as a Ranger) for a 3-3 tie at 9:15 of the second.
Once Langenbrunner gave the Devils their fourth lead, "the bench was alive, we were trying to push and get that goal back," Gaborik said. "But obviously when it's 5-3, it's tough against a team like this."
Not least because there is Martin Brodeur, who made only 16 saves - just six in the third period - but sprinkled in two beauties that were game-changers. He robbed Gaborik with his left arm just seconds after Prospal's goal, then did even better to dive stick-first and stop Jokinen on a 2-on-1 early in the second.
"That's why he's the best goalie in the league, he makes those saves," Gaborik said.
Gaborik - on a rare night skating alongside Jokinen - showed life after two fairly absent games in his return from a groin injury. But he finished minus-2 as his team fell to 29-29-9.
"We have to grow up. We have to stay strong here," John Tortorella said. "They know where they're at, we all know where we're at - we have to saddle up, practice tomorrow and go to Atlanta (for tomorrow's game) and try to play better and more consistent.
"There's no more trading; this is our club. We have to figure it out on our own."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/rangers/2010/03/10/2010-03-10_new_york_rangers_drop_fourth_straight_in_63_loss_to_new_jersey_devils.html#ixzz0hyMlCbr6
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