Rangers vs. Devils: New Jersey Beats New York, Ilya Kovalchuk Not a Total Waste

New York Rangers backup goaltender Martin Biron was in net last night instead of Henrik Lundqvist, who had made the last 32 starts against their rival New Jersey Devils.

Lundqvist was expecting to be in goal the day prior, but perhaps because of the All-Star break and back-to-back games this week, John Tortorella decided to give him a night off.

Biron has been playing exceptionally well this year in his appearances in net for the Blueshirts, and he played another strong game for them, despite the end result of losing in a shootout.

Shootouts are Lundqvist's forte, but even so, who knows if he would have been able to stop Ilya Kovalchuk to give the Rangers another shot towards the extra point and ultimate win?

It was an exciting game last night between the two teams, especially once it got past the midway point in the first period, when things really started to get intense.

Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur managed to keep the Rangers at bay for most of the first period, but with 30 seconds left on the clock, defenseman Anton Stralman snuck a rebound wrist shot past him, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead going into the second.

Devils captain Zach Parise scored a rebound snap shot towards the midway point in the second period to even the score 1-1.

The third period saw a lot of action by both teams, with the Rangers and Devils both scoring two goals apiece.

Rangers forward Brian Boyle scored a go-ahead goal early in the final period, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Then with just over five minutes left to play, Kovalchuk scored a power-play goal to even things up once again.

The Blueshirts quickly answered back with a beauty of a goal by Michael Del Zotto, reclaiming the lead 3-2 a mere 30 seconds or so after Kovalchuk's goal.

But then, with just under a minute of play to the game, David Clarkson of the Devils got one straight through the legs of Biron (that I feel he should have been able to stop), taking the game into overtime.

Thanks to the strong defensive efforts by Ryan McDonagh, he denied Danius Zubrus and the Devils of a goal early into OT.

Derek Stepan of the Rangers almost scored with 1:30 left in overtime, but it went right through the crease.

With no goal in overtime, this game was headed into a shootout.

This is the kind of game you love to see played between the Rangers and Devils, because it was exciting from beginning to end. 

Kovalchuk scored the first and only goal in the shootout, but the Rangers were unable to get any through Brodeur, and the Devils claimed the win.

The Rangers have no time to sit and wallow and at least got one point out of the loss, because they are headed to Buffalo tonight to take on the Sabres.

They have been known to bounce back from a loss as of late, so hopefully that turns out to be the case this evening.

The Rangers and Devils meet up four more times before the end of the regular season, so they will have plenty of time to make up for last night's loss.  They meet next Tuesday, this time on the Rangers' home turf and my bet is that Lundqvist will be back in net for that matchup.