Elias26 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 LINK By TOM GULITTI STAFF WRITER NEW YORK - This time the Devils had no answer for the Rangers' early onslaught. There was no dramatic comeback, just an ugly 4-1 defeat in which they were outworked and outplayed by a team eager to prove itself to its cross-Hudson rivals. In just their fourth regular-season victory over the Devils since 1997, the Blueshirts scored three times in a span of 4:27 - including the first two in just 17 seconds - to jump to a 3-0 first-period lead. For the second time in six nights they exposed a sloppy, sluggish Devils defense with their speed and hunger for the puck, forcing New Jersey to spend extended time on its heels in the opening frame. "I can take a lot, but I thought they were just outhustling us," said Devils coach Larry Robinson, whose team hadn't played since coming back to beat the Rangers in overtime Saturday. "All of their second effort, they were coming up with the puck." Second effort is not something the Devils are used to seeing from the Rangers, who have not made the playoffs since 1996-1997. "They work a lot harder than they used to," Devils left wing Jay Pandolfo said. "They just came out off the bat and were all over us just like last game. For some reason we weren't ready and getting in a hole like that 3-0 in the first period is tough to come back from." Rangers rookie goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 20 saves to post his first NHL victory in his second big league start. Lundqvist had been the hard-luck loser in the Blueshirts' 3-2 overtime loss to the Devils on Saturday, but was sharp throughout Thursday. That helped the Rangers improve their record to 2-1-2, which is good for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Devils fell to 2-2 and have been outplayed in three of those four games. "We really can't afford to look past the next 20 minutes of hockey," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "There are some neat things building between the Devils and ourselves and we're happy about that for everybody concerned." In contrast, the Devils got a sub-par effort from almost everybody, including goaltender Martin Brodeur. The Rangers jumped to a 6-1 shot advantage over the first six minutes. A slap shot from Blueshirts' rookie defenseman Maxim Kondratiev 5:45 into the game caught Brodeur up high, striking him in the right shoulder, temporarily stunning him and causing him to fall to the ice. After the Devils failed to convert on an early power play, the Rangers pounced and scored three times on six shots. Brodeur probably should have had the first one. Martin Rucinsky took a seemingly harmless, soft wrist shot from outside the left circle that beat Brodeur between the pads at 11:35. Ville Nieminen made it 2-0 only 17 seconds later. After a neutral-zone turnover by the Devils' Erik Rasmussen, the Rangers' Jed Ortmeyer pushed the puck ahead to Nieminen, who split defensemen Richard Matvichuk and Brian Rafalski before lifting a backhander over Brodeur's catching glove. "That first goal in the game gave them some wings and kind of set us back," said, Brodeur, who has started 68 consecutive games against the Rangers, including playoffs. "Then, they scored another one right away and that put us behind the eight ball. [As a goaltender] you can't afford to be average and I was average today at best." The Rangers capitalized on Alexander Mogilny's neutral-zone turnover with a rebound goal from Blair Betts to up their lead to 3-0 with 3:58 left in the opening period. "We knew they were going to come at us strong," Robinson said. "We just wanted to keep it really simple and get the puck in deep, but we turned the puck over on a couple of occasions and the next thing you know, bang it's in the net." Lundqvist, 23, lost his shutout 4:16 into the third period when Brian Gionta scored on his third effort on the rebound of Vladimir Malakhov's right-point shot during a 4-on-4. Jaromir Jagr restored the Rangers' three-goal advantage with a power-play goal with 7:01 remaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias26 Posted October 14, 2005 Author Share Posted October 14, 2005 I'm still this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 (edited) Looks like they have no answers.... "For some reason we weren't ready" isn't a very good excuse. At least it wasn't back in my first year of university when I got 57% on my calculus mid-term. Edited October 14, 2005 by Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepperkorn Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Marty and I see it the same way... as Lily Van Schtupe said in Blazing Saddles: My, how ordinawy (yeah, I love that line) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risky Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Where's the soundbyte from Jamie complaining about "how he doesn't know how to play in this new NHL?" Their play was disgusting last night. DISGUSTING. Someone needs to get benched. Something needs to be shaken up. FAST. We have come out flat in the three games since the opener against the Pens and have been playing pathetic defensively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redruM Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 very little emotion in the devils... rangers definitely wanted it more... donot like some of the line combos... Brown w/ anyone is trouble.. and I'm not sure I like Parise-gionta-Kozlov... the big guy plays too small.. they need a banger w/ the smurfs!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Larry has to get pissed. He has to get very angry, very, very angry. And this just doesn't sound angry to me: "I can take a lot, but I thought they were just outhustling us," said Devils coach Larry Robinson, whose team hadn't played since coming back to beat the Rangers in overtime Saturday. "All of their second effort, they were coming up with the puck." He thought they were outhustling? Also the aside of the when they last played sounded like an excuse. I'd think they'd be rested and come out on fire. I expect to see Oliwa in the next game. Sign Albelin, send down McGillis and Brown, we should be so lucky that they'd be claimed off waivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnderDogX Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 very little emotion in the devils...rangers definitely wanted it more... donot like some of the line combos... Brown w/ anyone is trouble.. and I'm not sure I like Parise-gionta-Kozlov... the big guy plays too small.. they need a banger w/ the smurfs!!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I agree completely...especially with the Parise - Gionta - Kozlov thing....Kozlov is a big guy who plays flashy...they need an enforcer type kinda like the Devs had with the "A" line...Arnott could still play but when they needed a hit they could get it from him (for a while anyway). And I know Martin is out but I'm not sure who (probably Lou) thinks in this "new" NHL we can bring up a slow, very low skilled D-man to fill in for one of our most productive defensemen this year and still win. At least Hale could have compensated for the loss of Paul Martin a little better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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