A night after the scenarios nearly played out to perfection, the idle Devils again turn their eyes to the scoreboard and hope for help from the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta at Carolina
Last night, the Atlanta Thrashers sprinted to a 2 goal lead on the Carolina Hurricanes before the end of the first period. They just couldn't sustain the same intensity throughout the remaining two periods of play.
Carolina turned the game around and by the end of the second, not only were they within a goal of tying the game but they were in complete control of Atlanta.
The Thrashers found themselves surrendering chance after chance as Carolina spread faltering Atlanta out, as odd man rushes became the angle of attack for the Hurricanes.
Late in the third, Eric Cole found himself behind the Thrashers defense and was fed a beautiful pass en route to his equalizer. The goal would prove to be huge for the Canes as the two teams headed to overtime.
But the Thrashers refused to go quietly into the night as they found a way to turn the pressure back on during the extra period, and it resulted in Tim Stapleton netting only his second goal of the season for the winner.
Rangers at Ducks
A few hours after the Thrashers pulled off a rare road victory, the Rangers faced off against the Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Rangers controlled most of the play early on and capitalized on a poor change by the Ducks to set up the opening goal. Artem Amnisimov picked up a loose puck and broke in on a 3 on 2 as the Ducks scrambled to complete the change. Amnisimov moved the puck to Ryan Callahan who took only a second to move the puck to the right wing to Brandon Dubinsky who ripped a wrister behind the glove and pad of Ban Ellis.
Just four minutes later, Corey Perry changed the complexion of the game as he took a seamlessly harmless shot on goal from the right corner behind the Ranger net. The “pass” deflected off the skate of defenseman Dan Girardi and between the legs of Henrik Lundqvist.
Two minutes later, the Ducks struck again. This time a defenseman took the shot, Lubomir Visnovsky, which again banked off a Ranger player, Marc Stahl, before hitting the back of the net.
With under a minute to go, Visnovsky struck again with another shot from the point. This time, however, it didn’t need any help from Ranger players to get home.
The Rangers had come out of the gate on fire, looking like they’d have another dominating performance off the heels of their route of Philadelphia on Sunday, but the Perry bounce and followed by Visnovsky’s goals seemed to break their backs. They tried to mount a concentrated offensive effort late in the 2nd but ran out of time, and luck, as Ellis was equal to the task.
The Ducks would strike quickly in the 3rd, as Bobby Ryan added his second point of the game with a goal of his own, and the Rangers would answer to keep the game within two off a goal from Marion Gaborik. However, Ryan and Perry would put the lead back to three after some crisp passing on a rush which resulted in Perry’s second goal of the night.
The Rangers continue to squander critical points as they are now within reach of two teams, with only one space between them and being out of the playoffs. With the bottom 7 teams getting their acts together, now is the absolute wrong time for New York to hit a rough patch.
It is, however, fortunate for those chasing them, such as the Devils who are 10 points back with 2 games in hand.
Tonight, there are four games for Devils fans to keep their eyes on tonight:
Buffalo at Boston
Sorry Sabres fans, we joined you last night pulling for mutual demise of opposing clubs, however you’re in our crosshairs and it’s your time to be cheered against. The Devils need Boston to win this one in regulation in order to have a chance in redeeming their Tuesday night blunder against Ottawa. Keeping the gap at 8 points would be huge entering tomorrow night’s contest against the Thrashers.
Flyers at Toronto
Which Flyers’ team will show up tonight: the pathetic waste against meek Eastern Conference foes that can’t seem to motivate themselves to victory, or the one which dominated the Edmonton Oilers the other night? The Devils hope the latter team arrives in Toronto and shuts down a team that’s ahead of NJ’s quest for the playoffs.
Senators at Florida
With both teams behind them, one would think it wouldn’t matter what the outcome of this game was. However, even with a game in hand, the Devils need the Sens to win this one in order to not fall back behind another team. Florida is only a point behind New Jersey so a loss in overtime/shootout is okay due to the tiebreakers, however a Panther win puts the Devils back into 13th.
Canadiens at Blues
Montreal has a 17 point lead on the Devils, so no big deal who wins this game, right? Well, if they falter like every East team has done lately, why not believe they can be caught. So it may be a little farfetched, but keeping teams close is always a plus, so let’s go Blues!
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