The 2009-2010 NHL season started last night, but our three local squads begin play tonight and tomorrow. How will the teams fare this season? Each team — the Devils, Rangers and Islanders — have very different expectations heading into the season.
The 2009-2010 NHL season started last night, but our three local squads begin play tonight and tomorrow. How will the teams fare this season? Each team — the Devils, Rangers and Islanders — have very different expectations heading into the season.
Devils 5 Tampa Bay 4 (OT): What has happened to Martin Brodeur? He certainly doesn’t look like himself, but he did just enough to push the Devils to a win on Friday.
Devils 3 Rangers 0: Like the proverbial two ships passing in the night, the Devils and Rangers faced off on Monday. New Jersey has played very well of late, surging into the Atlantic Division lead. And, with reports that Martin Brodeur is close to returning, it seems like the Devils are hitting their stride just in time for the stretch run. New York has been awful, giving up 10 goals the other night in Dallas and going in reverse since the All-Star Break.
Staal’s goal was one of the many highlights for the Rangers, who played a superior game to New Jersey except for a stretch in the third period. Chris Drury had a very good game, getting big wins off the draw and adding a goal and an assist. Gomez had two goals, including a very creative empty-netter to clinch the win. Patrik Elias had two goals for New Jersey and a very big uncalled slash that setup the third Devils goal. New Jersey will head home and try and fight off elimination on Friday.
The bad news came from Pedro Martinez who is out 4-to-6 weeks with what is being described as a “mild strain” of his hamstring. What that means is Martinez is definitely out for April, but beyond that is impossible to tell. El Duque told SNY before the game that he needs three rehab starts in the minors, so he could be back in the rotation around April 20th.
New York doubled that lead in the second period thanks to some great work from the Dawes-Dubinsky-Prucha line. Prucha and Dawes got the goals and two points for their efforts, but Dubinsky had a wonderful game as well. Lundqvist lost the shutout in the third, but Montreal never seriously threatened and the Rangers earned two huge points.
Knicks 100, Nets 93: No Stephon Marbury, and the Knicks take down the Nets. Of course, the Nets didn't have Jason Kidd (headache), so who knows which team was worse off. Richard Jefferson's heroics couldn't get the job done for the Nets, who continue to play inexplicably poorly at home following road games. Jamal Crawford filled the backcourt "void" for the Knicks with 29 points, and Zach Randolph had 25. Richard Jefferson had 31 points...
Rangers 2 Tampa 1: New York got back on track quickly, coming out in the first period with intensity and jumping to a 1-0 lead thanks to Fedor Tyutin. Henrik Lundqvist wss his usually brilliant self, making 32 saves including several huge ones while the Rangers clung to a one-goal lead. It wasn’t until Colton Orr hit a knuckleball off the stick of a Lightning defenseman at 2:05 of the third period, that the...
Hornets 84, Nets 82: As much as the Nets appreciate the start to the season Antoine Wright has had, they probably don't want him taking their final shot at the buzzer. But Wright did just that after starting for Vince Carter -- out with a sprained ankle -- and the result wasn't pretty. Carter's injury will have him out the always mysterious "indefinitely," and the Nets will have to find offense elsewhere. Richard Jefferson (32...
For some inexplicable reason, the NHL has scheduled all three local clubs to start their playoff chase tonight and to overlap with each other most nights. Because of that, fans of the various teams should get to know this website to figure out where they can watch the games.
-Islanders 5, Penguins 3: It seems like everyone's beating the Penguins these days, but the Islanders will take the five-goal outburst, including two each from Viktor Kozlov and Mike Sillinger.