Devils Defeat Rangers in Shootout 1-0 at Garden Tuesday in Playoff Atmosphere

The New York Rangers were defeated at Madison Square Garden Tuesday by their Atlantic Division rival New Jersey Devils 1-0 in a shootout. This was the best game I’ve seen this season with nonstop action up and down the ice. It was also good to see the return of my new favorite Ranger Vinny Prospal. The Rangers have scored a point in 12 of their last 13 games and it was a shame they couldn’t get 2. The refs let them play except for one joke of a call midway through the 2nd period. Brandon Dubinsky and Erik Christensen were called for 2 minute minors and the PK had to kill off a 2 minute 5-on-3. The Rangers did an excellent job keeping the Devils off the board with Zach Parise and Jay Pandolfo leading the Devils with 6 shots each. Parise was visibly frustrated at least twice when he was stopped in the low slot on two excellent scoring chances. The Rangers did a great job of winning 29 of 47 faceoffs. Though the scoreless overtime period The King Henrik Lundqvist stopped 45 shots on goal and Marty Brodeur stopped 51. Both goalies put on a clinic Tuesday night. Lundqvist has kept opponents to 2 or fewer goals in 15 of the last 18 games, pretty much since the team meeting he called after the embarrassing loss to the Islanders at home. Marc Staal continued his excellent play and led the Blueshirts in ice time with 27:31 minutes. The 4th line, in limited icetime was very effective (Ales Kotalik, Brian Boyle 4 shots, 7 hits and believe it or not Donald Brashear). Ryan Callahan was busy as usual shooting the puck and hitting Devils (5 shots, 6 hits). In watching the game I felt that the Blueshirts still need to find a way to bury the puck in the low slot when they get their scoring chances. I almost fell of the sofa watching Sean Avery lean against the Devils net and proceed to yap at Marty in the 2nd period. He was escorted away by one of the linesman. Also in the 2nd period Marc Staal also hit Devil Captain Jamie Langenbrunner and knocked his helmet off. The three stars of the game were Devil Marty Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist and Devil Patrik Elias.