Desperate New York Rangers Face Off with New Jersey Devils in Crucial Game

The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils never seem to fail us when it comes to playing exciting rivalry games, especially when they are set at Madison Square Garden.

Both teams, although the Devils are in second place in the East, are desperate for wins. This is sure to be a game that will be decided by whichever team grinds better, and whichever team is superior to the other on the special teams. Last time these two met in New York, they showed the NHL that 1-0 contests can in fact be thrilling.

The Blueshirts are coming off of a tough loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, in which five goals (4 on the powerplay) would not be good enough for two points in the standings. They were superb with the man advantage, but were abysmal on the penalty-kill. Which is ironic since it is normally the other way around.

I can almost guarantee you that if the Rangers can score five goals in tonight’s tilt, they will come out victorious, but then again, nothing is considered out of the norm with this team.

No changes to the Rangers lineup are expected for this game, as offense, for once, was not the problem in their previous loss. This means you can expect Aaron Voros and Donald Brashear to be the healthy scratches for the second straight game. Remember the other day when I mentioned those two certain players that should be moved from the team? Yea, I rest my case.


Rangers Projected Lineup

Prospal - Christensen - Gaborik
Dubinsky - Jokinen - Callahan
Avery - Anisimov - Lisin
Prust - Drury - Boyle

Staal - Rozsival
Redden - Gilroy
Del Zotto - Girardi

Lundqvist

Scratches: Aaron Voros, Donald Brashear

Like I said on Thursday, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist did not have a bad game despite allowing six goals. Sure, there may have been a couple he would have liked back, but I think Jose Theodore was saying the same thing.

There were way too many breakdowns in front of Lundqvist for him to be able to hold the Capitals to his usual two-goal limit. The defense was not looking very sharp in that game at all. That has to change if they want to beat a defense-first team in New Jersey on this night.

Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky, over the past couple months, have been beginning to become somewhat consistent contributors to the secondary offense. Both registered a goal against Washington, and both were scored right around the net.

I have found that the top of the crease is where these two individuals succeed the most. Needless to say, the Rangers need Brandon and Ryan scoring often in order to become a larger part of the team’s scoring.

I think it is safe to say that Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal have officially broken out of their slumps. The dynamic duo for the Rangers have been red hot as of late, as Gaborik has recorded goals in three of his last four, and Prospal also has two in his last three. Not only goals, but they have also been tacking on the assists as well. They played a big part in the five goals the Rangers scored on Thursday.


Devils Projected Lineup

Parise - Zajac - Rolston
Kovalchuk - Zubrus - Langenbrunner
Pandolfo - Niedermayer - Zharkov
Leblond - Dean McAmmond - Peters

Greene - Salvador
Mottau - White
Fraser - Salmela

Brodeur

The Devils are coming off of a tremendous comeback win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night, in which they scored back-to-back goals late in regulation to tie and win the game. Ilya Kovalchuk, in his first game in red, recorded two assists. They will definitely be in good spirits entering the Garden tonight.

In-game updates via twitter available at twitter.com/RangersTribune .