Henrik Burns Devils For Rangers 3rd Straight Win

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers protects the net in the second period against the New Jersey Devils on October 24, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Photo by Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images)

Coming into the game everyone expected a goaltending battle because that is the history of this matchup over the past few seasons, and true to form both goalies played very well, with Henrik Lundqvist once again getting the best of Martin Brodeur.  Henrik ended up with 27 saves on the night as the Rangers won their 3^rd straight, but for the most part Henrik was untested until the 3^rd where he made 11 saves on 12 shots.  The biggest save of the night had to be on Jacob Josefson with 1:59 remaining, as he stoned him twice after a bad turnover by Michal Rozsival in the neutral zone.

Final Lines vs NJ

Based on reports of Rangers beat writing crew observations of pregame skate, lines will be as follows:

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan
Avery-Stepan-Fedetenko
Frolov-Christensen-Prust
Boogaard-Boyle-Williams

Lineup Updates: Prust, Williams In; White Out vs Devils. Kovalchuk news, Goaltending matchup

Steve Zipay is reporting that Brandon Prust despite his injury last night will play tonight and today's call-up, Jeremy Williams, will also get in the lineup, taking the spot of Todd White.  It will be interesting to see the combinations that this causes on the 3rd and fourth line.  Here is what I will project:

Dubinsky-AA-Callahan
Avery-Stepan-Fedetenko
Frolov-Christensen-Williams
Boogaard-Boyle-Prust

I could easily see keeping Prust with Frolov and EC as he was the last couple of games, but Williams is not a gritty/4th line type, but more of a scoring threat so tough to see him with Boogaard and Boyle.  This move should also put Ranger fans at ease that at some point Todd White will be gone from this club.

Other News: Ilya Kovalchuk is said to be in tonight's lineup for the Devils.
In net it will be Henrik vs Marrrrty
John Amirante has recovered from his illness and will perform tonight's anthem.

New York Rangers vs New Jersey Devils Pregame: Beware of Wounded Animals

New Jersey (2-5-1) @ Rangers (3-2-1)

Key Opposing Player: ZIP line (Zajac, Ilya, Parise)

Lineup:

Dubinsky - Anisimov - Callahan
Avery - Stepan – Fedotenko

Frolov - Christensen - Prust
Boogaard - White - Boyle

Staal - Rozsival
Del Zotto - Girardi
Gilroy - Sauer

Lundqvist

(No definitive word on Prust being a go or Hank in net as of now)

Jeremy Williams Called Up

With this injury to Brandon Prust last night on the high stick over his eye the Rangers have called up Jeremy Williams as an insurance policy.  Prust has not been ruled out of the game so this only in event Prust cannot go.  I wouldnt get overly excited about Williams an NHL player, but he has shown very good results in the AHL, both this year and his past.  The 26 year old has 4G 2A in 8 game this year and is coming off a 32G 63 point season from Grand Rapids in the AHL.  If he does get in the lineup the 5'11" RW will probably slot in with Christensen and Frolov allowing Tortorella to leave his other three lines in tact tonight vs NJ.

The Search For The Elusive Top Flight Centers Is Over

For the better part of the last decade the Rangers as an organization and all Ranger fans have been desperately seeking a number 1 center to lead this team back to a real semblance of being a contender.  It was in this quest that the Rangers have overspent on guys like Bobby Holik, Scott Gomez, even captian Chris Drury.  The Rangers in the middle part of this last decade of questing got excellent play from Michael Nylander on a top line with Jaromir Jagr.  Even in those years we had only one high quality center on the roster.  The Rangers over the early parts of this period were obsessed with the big names and many times they would get very good production, but usually it was from the wingers instead of having a foundation built down the middle.

I am of the belief that championships are won by teams that can control the pivot as much as any other position in the game.  Great wingers are phenomenal scorers and a joy for fans to watch but the center has a bigger impact on the outcome of games.  Show me a team that doesn’t have a top line center and I will show you a team that is incapable of competing to win it all.  This question mark has hung over the Rangers like a dark cloud for a long time and still hovered as the team entered camp this year.  I am here to tell you that what I saw coming in the future has arrived a little earlier than expected and the sun is beginning to peak through the black hole that was the Rangers pivot position.

New York Rangers @ Boston Bruins Recap: Everyone Plays Their Role In 3-2 Win

BOSTON - OCTOBER 23: Marc Staal #18 of the New York Rangers scores a breakaway goal at 48 seconds of the second period against Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on October 23, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

I asked before the game if the Rangers were ever going to find the consistency they keep talking about and while there were more breakdowns tonight than on Thursday in Toronto this was another step in the right direction as the effort was still there.  The Rangers took advantage of some luck/chances early in the game and it would eventually be enough to get the W, bringing them to 3-2-1 on the year.  This was a big win because the Bruins came in hot, having won four straight as well.

New York Rangers @ Boston Bruins: Consistency?

Rangers (2-2-1) @ Boston (4-1)

Key Opposing Player: Nathan Horton

Lineup:

Dubinsky - Anisimov - Callahan
Avery - Stepan – Fedotenko

Frolov - Christensen - Prust
Boogaard - White - Boyle

Staal - Rozsival
Del Zotto - Girardi
Gilroy - Sauer

Lundqvist

Lundqvist vs Rask Tonight

As expected the NYRangers lineup will stay the same tonight in front of the net and in a traditional move Tortorella goes back to Lundqvist tonight.  Seems as if both coaches are playing on the history of numbers against the opponent in this one as Tim Thomas despite his great start to the year will give way to Tukka Rask who is 2-1 1.34GAA .957 SV% and 1 SO in 3 starts against the Rangers.  While Rask's numbers are very impressive versus the Rangers they dont stack up quite as impressively as Henrik's 13-4-0-2 1.39 GAA .951SV% in 19 starts, if only the number of starts Henrik has done it against Boston.

As I said yesterday I would have given Biron another go today to see how he and the team responded, but can never get too upset when the coach puts Lundqvist between the pipes.

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Who Should Start Tomorrow @ Boston

After last night’s performance in Toronto I would expect that the Rangers roll out the same lineup in front of the net against Boston.  Part of that will depend on the health of Eric Christensen’s groin, but even if Christensen cannot go the more likely move is just to move either Todd White or Brian Boyle up a line and go with 11 forwards.  The bigger question right now is which of the two goalies will be between the pipes when the puck is dropped in Beantown.  No, I am not suggesting that there should be some sort of goalie competition or that Biron has played better so he is the number 1 or any non-sense of the like.  What I am saying is that he might be the better option for tomorrow night in Boston for a few reasons.

The first of those reasons is giving a guy with a hot hand another go is usually a good thing because it can help to build his confidence and keep Biron more focused in the games where he will just sit and watch.  I also look at it as an easy way to reward a guy for doing things the right one, keeping himself prepared to play and taking advantage of his opportunities which is a lesson that can help any other player on the team.  The other main reason I see is that I have noticed over the last few years that this team tends to focus a lot more defensively when a goalie other than Henrik is in the net.   I mean no disrespect to Martin Biron or the performance he put on last night because he was superb, but we have not seen that kind of team effort in game up to that point this year.  I do not know if the effort last night was about playing better in front of the backup goalie or if it was just the total team desperation, but what I would say is giving it another game to sink in and become more ritualized can be a good thing as opposed to them “letting up” because they have Lundqvist back there to be the proverbial bail out. 

The combination of how well Biron played with allowing another game to engrain better habits lead me to argue for Biron getting the start tomorrow and going back to Henrik on Sunday against the Devils.  Besides more rest for Henrik now can only be a good thing for him later in the year when he wont have as much wear and tear on his body as in previous seasons.  Tortorella complained last year he needed a backup goalie he could be confident in going to more, even twice in a row and so now is his chance to show it wasnt just him blowing smoke and see what Biron can do.

Hit me with your thoughts.